Persepolis 4

Karly Simmons
Written Communications I
Dr. Fuqua
14 September 2013
Persepolis
One might only image the misfortune of growing up during a time and in a place plagued by war. The conflict resulting from this war not only affects the government, but also life a home for many. Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel, Persepolis, brings to light the negative effect of social statuses in Tehran, Iran. Social statuses change throughout the book and people in Tehran find their world flipped upside down as the invisible lines, once separating the social classes, vanish. As the revolution progresses life once revolving around social rank is now centered on rules of religion. Freedom and individuality are prices paid by the individuals of Tehran throughout the entire novel. Abi, Marjane’s father was telling Marjane of about her grandfather who was once the prince of Tehran. He also told her of how the father of the Shah confiscated everything he owned and appointed him as his prime minister. Marjane’s grandfather became a communist and realizes his disgust towards social class systems. He says, “”It disgusts me that people are condemned to a bleak future by their social class”” (Satrapi 23). At this time Marjane’s grandfather realized how devastating social classes are when it comes to identity. Her grandfather was later imprisoned and everything Marjane’s grandparents owned was taken by the Shah’s father, as a result they had been forced into poverty. Marjane goes to her grandmother to ask about her life after the Shah’s father left them with nothing. Her grandmother responds,“”Oh yes, so poor that we had only bread to eat”” (Satrapi 26). She adds, “”I was so ashamed that I pretended to cook so that the neighbors wouldn’t notice anything”” (26). Up until the Shah had taken everything from them, Marjane’s grandmother had the identity given to those of the upper class. When her family became striped of this identity she became worried as to what others may think about her new identity similar to someone in the lower class. Social classes rank not only can make a person lose sight of his or her self, it can also keep one from being able to pursue love and happiness. As a fortunate middle class family, the Satrapi’s own a car, live in a nice apartment and even employ a maid. The family’s maid, Mehri, began working for them at the age of eight; she belongs to a lower class family whom had too many children to care for. Mehri lies to the Satrapi’s neighbor Hossein by telling him that Marjane and her are sisters. As a result a romance blossoms between the two of them. After receiving the first letter from him, Mehri goes to Marjane to ask her to read her the letter. Being raised in a lower class family, Mehri had not learned as a child to read and write. Marjane begins to read and write letters for Mehri, until the day her father finds out about their relationship. Upon hearing about the romance, Ebi goes to the neighbor to clarify the issue. Ebi tells Hossein that Mehri is not his daughter and is the Satrapi’s maid. After receiving this news Hossein “without any hesitation” (37) gives Ebi all the letters. Mehri is heartbroken and Marjane is confused as to why they cannot be together. Marjane goes to her father to discuss the issue. Ebi tells her, “”You must understand that their love is impossible”” (37) This confuses Marjane so her father explains to her ““Because in this country you must stay within your own social class”” (37). Marjane is conflicted about this issue and questions her father’s views on equality and liberation for the working class. Although, Mehri and Hossein fell in love, they are not allowed to be together due to the difference in their social class. Hossein no longer sees Mehri as the women he loves, but instead as a lower class peasant. The lower class is treated as though they are expendables throughout Persepolis. One day, Mrs. Nasrine, the Satrapi’s new maid, tells Marjane’s mother about a plastic key that her son had received in school. She tells Mrs. Satrapi “”They told the boys that if they went to war and were lucky enough to die, this key would get them into heaven”” (99). Mrs. Nasrine adds,“”They told him that in paradise there will be plenty of food, women, and houses made of gold and diamonds”” (100). These keys are only given to the boys of lower class families, showing that these young men are viewed not as individuals, but as part of an insignificant group of people. Marjane reflects, “Thousands of young kids, promised a better life, exploded on the minefields with their keys around their necks” (102). As thousands of boys Marajne’s age were dying, she was living what was considered a fairly normal life of a middle class teenager in Iran. As a child born into a middle class family, Marjane feels an undeniable amount of guilt towards the comfortable lifestyle she has been given. Marjane realizes that she knows very little about the reasons for the revolution so she begins to read books to make herself more knowledgeable about the war. Ali Ashraf Darvishian soon becomes Marjane’s favorite author, he writes about the life in the lower class. In one of his books she read“Reza became a porter at the age of ten, Leila wove carpets at age five, Hassan, three years old, cleaned car windows” (33). Marjane realizes her shame towards her fortunate life. She reflects, “I finally understood why I felt ashamed to sit in my father’s Cadillac.” Satrapi concludes, “The reason for my shame and for the revolution is the same: the difference between social classes” (33). Based on her reading she comes to the conclusion that if social classes never existed, there would be no revolution, and she begins to hope that social classes would vanish. What she is unaware of though, is citizens of Iran would soon find themselves in unfamiliar positions, positions in which it does not matter what occupation or position in society one holds. The revolution progresses to a stage of chaos. Religion starts to become the new center of power. The lower class find themselves in jobs once held by the upper class based solely on their affiliation and faithfulness to their religion. Marjane’s uncle Taher was struggling with a heart condition when a grenade was thrown. Taher’s wife tells the Satrapi’s, ““Taher couldn’t deal with it…when I came into the living room, he was lying on the floor…””(121). Taher had just suffered from a heart attack and needs open heart surgery. The hospital in Iran is not equipped for an open heart surgery so they were told Taher would have to be granted a permit by the director of the hospital to go to England. Taher’s wife goes to speak to the director of the hospital and comes to find that he was their old window washer. She describes the director, “All that creepy window washer had to do to become director of the hospital was to grow a beard and put on a suit, the fate of my husband depends on a window washer!”(121). Taher never receives his visa from the window washer and dies. This shows the negative impact the fall of the lines between the social classes and the takeover of religion had on Tehran. It allowed uneducated people to take over positions of authority and led to more bad than good disproving Marjane’s original thought on the reasons for the revolution. As the religious takeover proceeds, the people in Iran begin to have to change the way they live. Freedom and individuality are taken away from them. Parties and alcohol are no longer allowed. Families had to get together with others in secret; at these parties they had “everything that was forbidden” (106). This contraband made the gatherings very dangerous. Universities were closed. Marjane shows her disappointment towards religion taking over and shutting down the universities “I wanted to be an educated, liberated woman” (73). She then comes to the realization the religious takeover meant she would “have ten children” at the age Marie Curie first started her studies (73). Women were required to trade in their makeup and jewelry for veils. At the age of fourteen Marjane’s teacher told the class “I’ve told you a hundred times, it is strictly forbidden to wear jewelry and jeans” (143). Young girls were now unable to express themselves through their attire and they were forced to all dress alike. Unwedded couples who once held hands while walking down the street find themselves now unable to touch each other. These are just a few examples of how religious rule changed life for everyone in Tehran. Everyone had to watch what they said and how they acted in order to avoid the serious, often fatal consequences. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, highlights the role of social class ranking in a society and how it can be quickly changed by a power switch. This novel shows the lack of individual identity that results from a society based largely upon ones rank in the social class system. Marjane shows the unfairness this system creates for people by not allowing them to associate themselves with individuals outside their social class. It goes on to show how religious rule also strips people of their freedom and individuality. Although Persepolis focuses on the flaws and unfairness of the system, it also shows the negative effects connecting with the collapse of this system. This novel illustrates that it can always be worse than what it is and Marjane Satrapi demonstrates this by showing the after math of religious rule. Ten years after the first time Marjane left Tehran, she decides to leave once again for good this time. She leaves to persue her freedom, a freedom not obtained without a prices paid.