Religion In Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis

Before the interactive oral, I thought Islam had a large role in Marji’s life in Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis. Marji proclaimed herself to be “very religious” (6.1). Moreover, Marji conversed with God many times, and belief in God is an attribute of religion. For these reasons, I did not question Marji’s declaration of faith.

During the interactive oral, one cultural and contextual consideration that was discussed was the basis of Islam anent Marji. My attention was drawn to page 75, panel 6 wherein Marji’s mother tells Marji to “say you pray” if anyone asks her what she does during the day (75.6). Hence, it is evident that Marji did not pray until her mother told her to do so. As discussed, there are five pillars of Islam:

shahada, salah, zakat, sawm, and hajj.

Salah, the second pillar, is the daily ritual enjoined upon all Muslims and is performed five times a day (at dawn, noon, afternoon, evening, and night). Contrary to my preliminary notion of Islam having a large role in Marji’s life, it seems that Marji is not religious—she does not uphold all five pillars. It seems that Marji, instead, is spiritual, which would make sense culturally and contextually. Religion is collective and requires traditional organization. Conversely, spirituality is individual and does not require a distinctive format. But nevertheless, spirituality fulfills the same psychological needs as religion. That is to say Marji is able to maintain psychological stability and individuality by practicing spirituality. Marji’s spirituality likely alludes to Satrapi’s cultural background. Persepolis is Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. During that period of time, women were stripped

of autonomy through the imposition of Sharia Law. Sharia Law is fundamentally religious, so the women who adhered to Islam submitted themselves to the governing authorities. For the women who flouted Sharia Law, pursuing spirituality was a powerful alternative to religion, as it fulfilled their psychological needs whilst fostering individuality.
After the interactive oral, I was better able to understand Satrapi’s message. By evaluating the subject of Islam in consideration of cultural and contextual elements of the graphic novel, I realized the following: individuality is of the utmost importance and should not be sacrificed for religion.