RA: Persepolis

Harry Chin

Professor Knapp

English 1A

7 April 2013
 

Rhetorical Analysis: Persepolis 

Marjane Satrapi the author of the graphic novel Persepolis illustrates the life of Iranian citizens during the 1980s. She wrote this novel not because people outside of Iran such as western societies are ignorant, but rather that she wanted to educate those who have no knowledge of the Iranian culture and society. The western society media portrays Iran as a violent society with lots of killing, terrorism, and a place where we extract resources from. The reason why Satrapi wrote this novel is because she wants to help educate people in the outside world about Iranian culture and views of the Iranians.  She wants us to understand that not all Iranians follow the stereotypes that are given to them. To understand a culture, one must dive deep into cultural norms and open mindedly be an Iranian to understand the exact meaning behind many certain things.

This graphic novel was a simple book to read. Satrapi wanted her readers to enjoy reading about the Iranian culture. She wanted to make it seem as an easy read while also containing a lot of information about Iranian society as well. Her graphics that were drawn are supposed to be humorous and easy to understand the characters emotion. But, at the same time, the text that was spoken was serious and all the things that took place are based on real experiences. This book was about how she grew up from an innocent child into an educated rebellious woman after all the experiences that she went through. Satrapi is trying to let her audience know her childhood through the story Persepolis. The novel contains history such as the Islamid reolution and the killings of many protesters. Also, we saw reactions of Satrapi’s family and friends. She was a girl who was young and innocent, but eventually after many sad events she came up with her own resolution on what to believe in. This one event where Marjane was dreaming right after her uncle died she said, “And so I was lost without any bearing, What could be worse than that? It was the beginning of the war” (Satrapi 71). After her uncle died, she realized that the government was corrupt. This event shows her growing up and developing her thoughts. This is the beginning when she started to grasp the real world. She told god off in her dream and this meant now she was being tainted with all the knowledge.

            By reading Persepolis, an individual will understand the struggle of Satrapi’s childhood. Many cultures have different childhood, but they can all relate some way if they are able to understand what happens in a culture. In each part of this book, Satrapi emphasizes why much of the truth is left unspoken. She gives a brief overview of people’s daily activities in their life’s and how at certain points in their life people had it rough. We have to put ourselves in her shoes and look at this with Iranian child’s goggle. To present visual pictures, it helps the reader imagine a more surreal understanding of her experiences and how devastating and significant certain events are.