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Persepolis And Patria Character Analysis

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Persepolis And Patria Character Analysis
The novels In the Time of the Butterflies and Persepolis are similar in that, authors Alvarez and Satrapi focus their novels around strong, female characters who are living in an oppressive regime. The main characters in both of these novels all possess unique personalities that motivated them to rebel and take action against the regime's rules and standards. In order to develop these female characters, Alvarez and Satrapi depict the characters moments of weakness and doubt or the loss of religion or innocence. By emphasizing on these moments, Alvarez and Satrapi were able to create strong, dynamic female characters that thrived from their weaknesses. In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, she depicts her childhood during the Islamic revolution …show more content…
On the surface, Patria is portrayed as the most mundane of the Mirabal sisters because she is very religious and family-oriented character. However, Alvarez uses these characteristics and emphasizes on the events that led up to her loss of faith in order to shape her motivations for joining the revolution. In the beginning of the novel, Patria had no interest in being part of the revolution. However, her views change when surprise invasion when she was on a religious retreat. During the explosions, Patria witnesses a traumatic event when she looks out the window and witnesses the death of a young boy. She relates to this boy as if he were her own son and the terrible scene had a profound impact on her. After this traumatic event, Patria began to doubt God’s ability to protect her and her family. In her narration, she says, “I'm not going to sit back and watch my babies die, Lord, even if that's what You in Your great wisdom decide” (Alvarez 162). This event had a compelling effect on this character in two aspects. In one aspect, since Alvarez emphasized on Patria loss of faith, she was able to to transform the character, Patria from an ordinary, religious woman into a strong member of the revolution. In another aspect, by highlighting this traumatic event in Patria’s life, Alvarez was able to create depth in

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