Persepolis by Marjane Satarpi

                   The autobiography Persepolis by Marjane Satarpi is about her childhood and later, adulthood in Iran in the 1980’s when a war was going on. This is unique book because she chose to tell it in a comic. Really, Marjane had been through a lot in her childhood, faced so many issues especially when she was a Muslim girl in a not really religious family.

                   In the book, when a war is going in Tehran, Iran, Marjane’s family is super cautious of the rules. Because Marjane’s family is not very religious its hard for her to act like a proper woman. For example, wearing a hijab to school, or not wearing skirts and other things which break dress code. Her family protests against the government, especially her mother who once was almost raped. Once her father’s car had been stopped by a policeman stopped because he smelled like he had drunk alcohol. So her father devised a plan to get rid of all the alcohol in the house. On page 109 her father says “Grandma! Marj! When we get home, get out first. I’ll try to stall him. Flush all the alcohol; down the toilet.” And they do just that. And Marjane’s father is safe from being arrested.

                   Later in the book, Marjane gets married to her boyfriend. At first their marriage is all happy, but she soon realizes she is not herself with him. They fought on every little thing. Marjane blames this on rules of Iran. Couples who were not married in Iran were not allowed to be near one another out in the streets. Marjane only knew him inside her house or his. To her, married life was very different. But her friend had divorced and she was hit on by multiple men. Marjane didn’t want that for herself but with encouragement her family convinced her to divorce him. One night the couple had a talk and she told him “when I was in love with you, you didn’t let me in. Now it’s too late Reza. I don’t love you anymore.” And so they divorced and Marjane lived happy by herself

                     Persepolis reflects how a young girl’s (Marjane’s) perception of life must have been growing up in Iran. How cruel life and government were. How people criticize what gender you were or what social class you were from. In this book most took Islam to the extreme. Islam is extreme (I’ve had experience). I can see how it unfair it seemed to Marjane, especially since her family was so modern. I’ve had boys tell me to put a hijab on my head because they didn’t want to see my hair. Or tell me what to wear because I was a girl. I am devoted feminist in Islam. I’m the one who tells boys to back off when they are being sexist.. I can tell Marjane was much like me. She came from a modern Muslim family but was surrounded by religious rules that didn’t satisfy her. And like me, she was devoted to Allah. I don’t think its fair how sexist people are, especially in Islam. Everyone is supposed to be equal, female/male, lower/middle/upper class, and white/Asian/black/Hispanic.