“After a long sleep of 2,500 years, the revolution has finally awakened the people” (Satrapi 11). In “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi we learn about a young girl living in Iran after the Islamic revolution. The Shah is a brutal force who brought great changes to daily life in Iran. They separate the boys from the girls at school and make the girls wear headscarves to cover their hair. The novel is very fast paced and makes it easier to know what happened during the Islamic revolution. Satrapi skillfully incorporates motifs, themes, and imagery into the novel to describe what it was like during the revolution and make it easier for younger readers to understand what happened in such a difficult time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essaySatrapi uses a variety of motifs to symbolize what it was like during that time. Use obvious motifs and also some more hidden ones. An example of an obvious pattern is the veil. Marj didn't know why she had to wear the veil: “We didn't really like wearing the veil, mostly because we didn't understand why we had to do it.” None of the girls knew why they had to wear the veil, but the elders told them to wear it and so they did. At that time women had to wear the veil because it was part of the religion they were trying to carry on. Many people also didn't like wearing headscarves. An example of a less obvious motif is Marj's bed. Marj reflects a lot in her bed and at the beginning of the book, where she talks to God. Marj's bed was also where she grieved for her uncle and told God “Shut up, you! Get out of my life!!! I never want to see you again!” (Satrapi 70). His bed is like his safe place where he can escape from the world and the revolution. She is seen many times throughout the book reading or talking to God in her bed. When Marj wanted to protest to her parents, her father put her back to bed and she said, “He didn't come that night.” Marj waited for God to come but “He didn’t come.” She is scared and wonders what to do without God to talk to. There are many different themes represented in “Persepolis,” but one of the main themes is religion. At the beginning of the novel, Marj talks to God every day and develops a strong relationship with him. “Every night I had a big argument with God” (Satrapi 8). Marj trusted God in everything in her life. Marj even wanted to be a prophet at the beginning of the book. “At the age of six I was already sure that I was the last prophet” (Satrapi 6). Marj was very focused on religion at the beginning of the book. Towards the end of the book, however, his relationship with God disappears completely. Marj even says she "never wants to see him again." When she says this, you can really tell that she's not the innocent, hopeful little girl she was at the beginning of the book. The revolution changed his view on everything, including religion. Some of the images Satrapi uses in Persepolis include the cigarette Marj smokes towards the end of the book. The cigarette means that she is no longer a child: “With this first cigarette I said goodbye to childhood”. He really lost his innocence and hope at the end of the novel. Marj also states "I was an adult now" even though she is only fourteen. She also had friends who were older than her who influenced her to do things she wouldn't necessarily have done on her own. Between her friends and the revolution, Marj grew exponentially faster than any other child who wasn't in a war zone would have grown. Another example of imagery in Persepolis is the “golden” key. The key was not a gold key at all: “It is a plastic key painted gold” (Satrapi 99). The Shah used the key to lure teenagers to.
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