Marjane Satrapi's Literary Piece: The Shabbat

Response Piece to “The Shabbat” Marjane Satrapi’s literary piece entitled “The Shabbat” is a story that shows that even children have a deep sense of perception. Although the author is only about 13 or 14 years old when the story takes place, she is exposed to many adult like scenarios at a very young age. This makes her very mature, having a deeper sense of things taking place around her at all times.
The story centers around the lives of the Satrapi’s, namely Marjane, her mom, and dad. They sit around and discuss the Iraqi missile crisis with neighbors. Some sirens go off yet the family doesn’t run because the missiles cause such immense damage that hiding in the basement would do no good. Many families flee the area, but Marjane’s family stays. She has a friend named Neda Baba-Levy, whose family is Jewish. They are the Satrapi’s neighbors, and live at the end of the street. One day as Marjane is out shopping for jeans a missile explodes in their neighborhood. She
As Marjane put it “Our currency had lost all its value” (25). This again makes Marjane perceive even more how much their currency has fallen during this wartime, as shown by her mother having a hard time accepting that drastic change of currency. When Marjane is purchasing her jeans, she hears a boom, and her inner senses tell her things aren’t right, which are confirmed when she arrives in her neighborhood to see a crowd by her house. She has a strong feeling that either her house or the Baba Levy’s was hit by the bomb, but luckily sees her mom. When she questions her mom however about the whereabouts of the Baba Levy’s, her mom tries to change the subject, which makes Marjane be even more aware that things aren’t right. This negative perception is unfortunately confirmed when she spots a turquoise bracelet that belonged to Neda, “The bracelet was still attached to…I don’t know what” (Satrapi