Reza Shah was an Iranian army officer who eventually rose through army ranks to become the Shah of Iran. He is first mentioned in the book The Complete Persepolis when Marji’s father tells her the story of how Reza Shah came into power (Satrapi 20). Following the death of his father, Reza’s mother took him to Tehran, where he then enlisted as a private in an Iranian military unit. Despite being so young, he showed an unyielding will from the beginning and demonstrated a good capacity for leadership. Because of this, he quickly gained the respect of the seniors. Around this time, chaos started in Iran, and Reza Khan wanted to take power and form a strong government supported by a disciplined military force. On February 21, 1921, he occupied Tehran. …show more content…
Reza Khan valued the idea of regenerating Iran and leading it toward a path of ongoing progress. He did not want to let someone less experienced and knowledgeable than him rule the country. Reza Khan's progress toward this desired supreme rule was quite rapid. He showed great political talent, never revealing his true intentions, and could easily weaken his opponents. Reza Khan also knew that to complete his ultimate goal, he would need full control over a military force. To achieve this, he levied some taxes, built up the army with the proceeds, and then used the army to collect more taxes. He did this until he finally gained control over the whole country. As war minister, he was the real power behind many prime ministers in succession until 1923 when he finally became the prime minister himself. Then in 1925, the Majles deposed the absentee monarch, and a constituent assembly finally elected Reza Khan as
This completely changed the perception of the United States within Iran. Many Iranians believed that “American influence and power made a mockery of their national autonomy and desecrated their religious beliefs” (Farber, 37). The real struggle came once the Shah sought asylum in the U.S. Iran believed this to be a betrayal and demanded the Shah be released to the revolutionaries. Due to the fact that the United States did not refuse the Shah, the revolutionaries took the embassy in Tehran and all of the people that worked there hostage. One of the hostages wrote back to his parents during the crisis “‘We will not be set free until shah is released and the longer we stay here like this the better is a chance for something terrible to happen’” (Farber, 156). The siege was led by Iranian students who supported the revolution and the Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader that the revolution had selected to take the place of the
America and Iran had tricked the Soviets which left them very angry, and this inevitably led to the Cold War. But less than a decade later, America had done something which caused Iran to change their opinion of them. In 1951, Iran had recently elected a prime minister by the name, Mohammed Mosaddeq, which he nationalized the countryś petroleum industry, long the domain of the British-dominated AIOC. This move, however, pitted the two governments against each other in a bitter political fight. The Truman administration had tried to work between both sides, but Dwight Eisenhower had quickly concluded that Mosaddeq represented the problem rather than the solution to the crisis. They decided that they wanted him out and later he was kicked out and Mohammad Reza Shah took his place for the next twenty-five years. Shah not only gained access to sophisticated American weaponry, but also obtained tacit White House permission to forgo any serious effort at reform. Over the years, the internal resentment against the Shahś political and economic policies was building to a peak, but the depth of the problem escaped the notice of American
The introduction to Persepolis gives a great deal of background information to the unrest in Iran leading up to the Islamic revolution. Iran had been in a state of unrest for “2500 years” (page11). Iran was ruled by foreign nations and exploited by the western world for its rich expanses of oil. In 1951 the prime minister of Iran tried to take back his country’s wealth by nationalizing
First, the Shah, out-of-touch with what his people wanted, became the catalyst for massive xenophobic and anti-Western feelings to spread throughout the nation. By giving up traditional Islamic ideals and becoming sort of a “puppet” for the U.S. and the Western world, the Shah made a mockery of himself and of those traditional Islamic values, which were paramount in Iran. For many years, Iranians wrote letters to the Shah, voicing their discontent with many aspects of his rule — the spread of the Bahá’í Faith, the collapse of Islamic traditions, and the crumbling economy. The Shah, however, did nothing to fix these issues. Instead, he designed a political reformation movement, hoping to silence his opponents, to introduce personal rights for women, and to establish a sense of fiscal equality. This series of reforms, which appeared to be a blatant attempt to Westernize Iran, became known as the “White
In Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi draws a clear line between formal and informal education. For Marji, her informal education gained through observing those around her helps her answer life's big questions, like how to express ideas and thoughts. Her formal education also is able to teach her about the world around her. Marji’s books on Marx and Darvishian allows her to see the world from a different perspective. When all of these educational forms come together, Marji starts to develop her own personality and identity. Along the way, Marji naturally starts to see how much power educators have in shifting certain narratives due to their bias. Throughout Persepolis, although Marji’s formal education helps her obtain a more worldly perspective
In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis and in Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone, both authors commentate on the romanticism of violence that is often associated with war. Because of this, the authors are able to dispel misconceptions surrounding war. Furthermore, the memoirs allow the authors reflect upon their own experiences of war during their childhoods, as well as examine how cultural shifts perpetuated by both war and the increased influence of western culture that took place within their cultures shaped who they became. Through their memoirs, the authors portray the reality of war and violence through cultural experiences.
When it comes to culture, different views can cause major conflicts, and these said conflicts occur in the novel Persepolis. The book is a memoir about Marjane Satrapi, also known as Marji, growing up in Iran under the Shah’s rule and the Islamic rule. Even with the many different cultures in Iran, she stuck up for what she believed in and rebelled against the things she thought were wrong. In Persepolis, Marjane’s growth is affected by various aspects of culture including religion, government, and social organization.
Reza Shah Pahlavi’s rise to power ended the 131-year reign of the Kajar dynasty and established the Pahlavi dynasty in 1925. Much to the chagrin of not only Muslim clerics, but also the general population, Reza Shah Pahlavi leaned heavily towards secular ...
A revolution is a mass movement that intends to violently transform the old government into a new political system. The Iranian Revolution, which began in 1979 after years of climax, was an uprising against the Shah’s autocratic rule, resulting in much religious and political change. Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi made efforts to remove Islamic values, create secular rule and “westernize” Iran through his White Revolution. In addition, his tight dictatorial rule and attempts at military expansion felt threatening to the people, who desired a fairer governmental rule immensely influenced by Islam. Afterwards, governmental affairs became extremely influenced by Islamic traditions and law which created changes religiously and politically for years to come.
Part of modernizing Iran was turning it into an absolute dictatorship. The Shah was a ruthless leader. He jailed those who did not follow his laws. The Shah violated the basic principles of human rights, such as freedom of speech and religion. The Shah's son was also a ruthless leader who made himself like a king; he denied Iranian citizens peace.
Iran was included in the territory of what was then the ancient Persian Empire. For centuries Iran (land of the Aryans) was also referred to as Persia, which was the official name until 1935. Fourteen years had passed before the Iranian government allowed the use of both names. Few groups of people today have significant history like the Iranians, descending from the ancient Persians, who possess one of the world’s richest and oldest cultures. Historically, a variety of other cultures and groups had once occupied the ancient Iranian plateau as early as 4,000 B.C.E, with little importance. Beginning by the third millennium, Persia was ruled by some of the greatest kings of all time, from Cyrus the Great to Darius the III, who turned the Persian Empire into one of the world’s greatest civilizations.
The Iranian Revolution, “was the 1979 overthrow of Iran 's monarchy and the establishment of an Islamic Republic. Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi was replaced by the cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The revolution established religious leaders as the ruling class and integrated fundamentalist Islamic law into all aspects of the government, military, and public and private enterprise” (Definition of Islamic Revolution). The symbolism that is associated within the novel shows her rebellious stages such as, smoking a cigarette due to the amount of deaths that occurred in the revolution. Satrapi became curious about her surroundings and she seeks for knowledge and information about the Iranian Revolution in different ways such as reading. Ultimately, the symbolism depicted throughout the novel, Persepolis contributes towards Marji Starapis development into
Iran was a country ruled by the Shah (King), who began his rule in the beginning of the 1950’s. He would help Iran greatly improve conditions. He began to improve relations with the United States securing oil deposits throughout Iran with American companies. However, the shah slowly became more and more dependent on the United States. He began asking the United States for advice on almost every decision he made. Although no such reports were printed in the United States (to my knowledge) there are sources, which lived in Iran and experienced a...
In the sixth century B.C, the land that we now call Iran was the center of the largest empire in the world. The kings of Ancient Persia( such as Cyrus the Great) were the leaders of a great civilization that made amazing advances in laws, goverment and communication. Founded in 550 B.C by King Cyrus the Great, the Persian Empire spanned from Egypt in the west to Turkey in the north, and through Mesopotamia to the Indus River in the east. Unlike most empires at that time, the Persian kings were benovelent rulers, and allowed a diverse variety of diffrent people with diffrent ethnic backgrounds. The Persian empire was split into three diffrent empires with three diffrent time periods but the first empire was called the Achaemenid Empire. It began with King Cyrus the Great and ended with King Darius III.
The Child Sexual Behavior Inventory (CSBI), developed by William N. Friedrich, is a 38-item assessment tool measuring the occurrence of sexual behaviors in children age 2-12 years who have been sexually abused or who are suspected of being sexually abused (McKnight, 2001). Using parental report, primarily mothers or female caregivers, the CSBI looks at nine different domains of sexual behavior, including boundary problems, exhibitionism, gender role behavior, self-stimulation, sexual anxiety, sexual interest, sexual intrusiveness, sexual knowledge, and voyeuristic behavior (Bernt, 2001). I chose this test because as a survivor of child sexual abuse, I feel it is my duty to educate others on what is and is not “normal” child sexual behavior. As applied to my field in Child Welfare, I think that it will