An Analysis of Persepolis
What happened in Persepolis? This week I took a look at one of the alternative readings, Persepolis. This, I would say is a coming of age story. We are introduced to this young girl named Marji. She has to deal with the changes of growing up while at the same time has to live through a violence-infested world, pretending things are all normal. Marji lives in a major turning point in history for Iran. The country was in constant ruins and violence was everywhere. It became so bad that Marji had to leave to go live and grow-up somewhere else.
A year after the Iranian Revolution, Marji attends an all girls school. The thing is, this school is no ordinary school. It is a private religious institution. Marji and her family never really practiced religion but Marji had no choice but to attend. You can imagine how hard it must have been for her to get used to that type of environment.
There is constant violence in the streets. It became so bad to the point where Iraq started to bomb Tehran. Marji and her family had to take cover in a bomb shelter. A neighboring Jewish family was even blown up during the process. The thing is, growing up in your teens you are already dealing with a lot of emotional and physical stress. On top of trying to live like a normal girl Marji also had the issue of dealing with the violence that surrounded her everyday.
Marji became rebellious and started listening to punk music and wearing American clothes. She did this as an out of her everyday life, a break from reality for just a little bit. Upset with her behavior, Marji’s parents sent her off to Austria to attend a new school all by herself. While she was there Marji begins to experiment with sex and starts to sell drugs. Her then boyfriend Markus cheats on her. As a result Marji goes to live on the streets. Only two months in, Marji winds up in the hospital, sick with bronchitis. After her parents find out about this they have Marji come back home to them.
Having to re-adjust to a new life once more, it took a heavy emotional and psychological toll on Marji. She couldn’t handle what was happening to her and tried to commit suicide. Her attempt at suicide ended up in failure. Instead, Marji decided to re-invent herself. She got a new hair style, clothes, along with a new attitude. She got a job as an aerobics instructor and enrolled into art school. Marji realizes that this life of heres isn’t really meant for her. She makes the decision to leave once more and start fresh somewhere else. She says goodbye to her parents at the airport and leaves. This is just like how she left for Austria when she was a young girl, but now she has grown up. She is now a strong, independent woman.
I thought Persepolis was a very interesting and unique take on a coming of age story. Growing up, I couldn’t imagine going through what Marji went through. Living every day not knowing if you were going to get blown up or not must have been a lot to deal with. Especially when you are a young girl already stressed with the reality of developing into a young woman. Having to move from one place to another must have been a lot for Marji as well. Trying to find that place where she could call home, to have a normal life for once must have been a very scary part in her life. If I were in her shoes I wouldn’t know what to do. I would just walk around aimlessly, all alone and constantly be scared of this new, foreign place that I’m living. I feel that being in Marji’s situation, as a young kid especially, you become very lost in the world. I’m sure that is what Marji was going through internally. Eventually she goes back home and finds out that life there isn’t meant for her, and so she leaves once more. It was a giant roller coaster to get to where Marji is at the end of the story. Everything she had to go through, she finally found out who she wants to be and where she belongs.
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