Individualism In Persepolis

Even though Satrapi does not include other reasons for veiling, it is evident throughout PErsepolis that she believed people were only veiling themselves because they were scared of what may happen to them otherwise. Marji and her family are standing near a window people watching as a women with a veil passes and her mother says, “look at her! Last year she was wearing a miniskirt, showing off her beefy thighs to the whole world” (Satrapi 75) demonstrating Marji’s view on veiling, that women were too worried to show individuality as her and her mother did. The veiling act is the first traumatic split Marji has with her identity and society (Jelodar). During Satrapi’s childhood in Persepolis her actions symbolize individualism against the …show more content…
Revolution. Family. Punk Rock. All part of growing up” (Manzanares) depicting the main points of Persepolis are to be seen as a normal Iranian lifestyle during the late 1970s. Andrew O’Malley, argues that Satrapi was only using her rebellious actions to engage with the “western” imagery of Iran (Leservot). That these acts did not show the braveness or distinctiveness one was lead to believe, but used only to relate to a more American life. A guard in Persepolis exclaims, “you think I’m stupid?!!! I can tell by your tie! Piece of westernized trash”( Satrapi 108) to MArji’s father, he can see by the way her family dress along that they are a more western family and not tradition Iranians. The Iranian regime eventually became aware of these western symbols and were so intense Western icons were no longer used for pleasure, as in cigarettes, parties, music and fashion …show more content…
In contrast to, these same effects could also be the reasoning behind so much conformity involved in Iran and her graphic novel. Satrapi uses symbols such as veiling, her rebellious actions as a teen and culture to show her identity throughout. The logic behind veiling or unveiling was open for interpretation for a majority of Iranian time. However, through Satrapi’s decisions it is clear she choses not to affiliate herself with the traditional way of veiling because it subdues her integrity but no where in Persepolis is it suggested that the women she believed to be conforming were, perhaps they were veiled for religious purposes or they were in fact veiled because the government instructed it. As well for the symbols of the cigarette, music taste, and clothing Satrapi choses to mention in Persepolis; it could be argued Satrapi was only showing the desired American lifestyle, the “western” side of Iran in her graphic novel, that she was not showing any individualism in her actions by rebelling in any harmless matter she could think of. The hardships Satrapi faced as an Iranian in the middle of war and as a woman, are what shaped her to write this graphic novel the way she did, Persepolis is something Marjane Satrapi lived through, not thought up out of thin air. The little acts of

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