Tayo And Marji Identity

As the esteemed writer, Virginia Woolf once wrote, “I am made and remade continually. Different people draw different words from me.” These words continue to prevail truthful as time goes on, proving that different occasions and people can impact a person’s personality no matter their age or past experience. But these words raise the question of what instances produce the most meaningful or impactful character development. Tayo, a half-blooded Native American, in Ceremony and Marji, a teen growing up in the Iranian revolution, in Persepolis both display evidence that traumatic experiences can greatly impact the development of a person’s self-concept and identity by affecting the way the person sees the people around them, the way they see the
As a consequence of the war, both Marji and Tayo become desensitized to it, which results in a major personality change in both characters. For example, Marji develops a negative outlook on the world due to what she continues to see around her. For example, she abruptly blurts out “We have to bomb Baghdad” after her and her family were bombed by the Iraqi pilots (Satrapi 82). Tayo’s experience with war results in a similar effect to that of Marji. He tries to numb himself from the horrors of his past which results in a lack of guilt and empathy, which is evident after he stabs Emo. The narrator states, “He got stronger with every jerk that Emo made, and he felt that he would get well if he killed him...His hands didn’t hurt either; the blood felt like warm water trickling down his fingers. He didn’t feel anything (Silko 58). After going to war Tayo faces PTSD which enhances his feeling like an outcast in his own community even more. The war desensitizes Tayo from violence due to the vivid and gruesome images he saw and heard about. After Rocky’s death in the war, Tayo loses his compassion because he no longer has anyone to care about, and he remains compassionless for months after he comes home. This enables him to assault Emo with a clean conscious, unaware of what he is truly doing because he no longer feels any sort of empathy towards Emo. Similarly, Marji also loses her compassion for others. She no longer views the world with a film of innocence over her eyes, she sees and understands that the world carries many bad people who do many bad things. She begins to generalize everyone in Baghdad as an associate of the Shah, and due to her disdain for the Shah and his regime, believes they are the enemy. She no longer cares that there are innocent families living in the capital, and would be willing to risk their lives to achieve what she wants. She is