Persoplis a Non-Fiction Novel by Marjene Satrapi

Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi is a non-fiction graphic novel about the author and about her experiences growing up in Persepolis, Iran. While the structure of the story is jumbled, it is presented in chronological order and describes events in the main character’s history. Marjane, the narrator, is often witness to numerous events and speaks to the reader about the lessons she learns. As religion and the government play a major role in shaping Marjane into the person she becomes, Marjane remembers specific events from her childhood and develops a better understanding of how these events shaped her.

Remembering her experiences as a child, as a rebellious teen and now as an adult, has given the author an opportunity to reflect on how certain events have shaped her. Through reflecting on her past, she is able to view events important to her development, such as her Uncle Anoosh’s death, and look back at it from all three viewpoints. For example, the death of her uncle seems to be quite simple and straightforward when she was a young child, that he died because the government wanted him dead. As an adult, she reviews the simplicity of her younger thoughts and sees the absurdity of the thought of it being so simple. There would be various political repercussions and the effect it would have on the family. The belief that Marjane had of being a great prophet at a young age felt possible for her because children feel there are no limits as to what they can or want to do. However, as children mature, their views become more realistic; the same events you thought possible as a child now seem impossible and foolhardy.

Marjane’s innocence in the novel is twisted in many instances, as her youth consists of many difficult and confusing exp...

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... the corrupt law system (as illustrated in the comic strip on the essay, page 5).

Marjane has gone through many difficult times in her life, as the government, politics and religion shaped the country and how she developed. Marjane’s beliefs and political views were affected and biased by research at a young age and conversing/debating with her family and no-one else. When she wrote this novel, she did it in a graphic novel style to better illustrate the gruesome scenes and capture her colorful imagination from her earlier years. Her innocence as a child was thrown away in her youth from her rebellious attitude and need to prove she’s mature in a country where she feels she needs to be mature. Lastly, the naïveté of her youth changed her views on politics repeatedly. The various elements of the story did largely affect the reader’s experience reading the novel.