PERSEPOLIS

PERSEPOLIS: The Conflict



PERSEPOLIS: The Conflict

Introduction

Persepolis is an autobiographical graphic novel written by Marjane Satarpi. Persepolis is about the early years of the author's life before and after the Islamic Revolution of Iran in 1979. The book provides the reflection of Iran and its culture for its readers. It also highlights the culture of Islam and Women in Iran. The novel discusses the life of women in Iran who had to struggle hard in the stringent culture and was forced to abide all that was offer to them. The author has used light humour, to describe the critical issues that were faced by the women of that time especially those who were living an avant-garde lifestyle before the Islamic revolution.

Description

The Iran Iraq war and the fundamentalist religious beliefs imposed on the naive mind of the writer created the conflict of thoughts and understanding towards the way of living life. The writer who was forced to wear the veil at the age of 10, searched for her true identity by fighting against what was right and wrong in the prevailing conditions of that era. The novel evidently reflects the conflict between the Islamic culture in Iran and the 'avant-garde' life style of Satarpi and her family were living. Persepolis is the memoir of a young woman who grew up in the midst of the national conflicts of 1970 between Iran and Iraq.

The Conflict

The writer describes Iran Iraq war as the main conflicting issue of that time. She discusses how the war had impacted on the innocent minds of young children and how they were affected. It discusses the human cost of war and the political repression. It discusses how the writer moved on in the midst of such repression and war. It combines the rebellious aspects of the young girl with the revulsion of the war and dictatorship. Having seen the new ruling system to be more restrictive and stringent, the family helped the writer flee from the country so that she could lead a free life.

1970 Iran

The revolution of Islam in Iran was brought by Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979. It was the year when the creation of first modern Islamic nation state came into being and was known as Islamic Republican of Iran. The conditions of Iran in 1970 depict the essence of dictatorship present in the country at that time (Eisenstadt, n.d, p.267). Iran had adopted some of the western institutions and was against Islamic fundamentalists. Reza discouraged veil and encouraged women to keep themselves unveiled and wear western clothes. He preferred a westernized form of modern society in Iran.

The revolution in 1979 shattered all the myths that had developed about the modernization and development in Iran. It was one of the major turning points of that time that changed the scenario of adopting westernization of society and indication of renaissance of Islamic beliefs in the society (Pakoz, 2007, p.13).

Satrapi and the conflicts

Throughout the book, Satrapi has used words that reflect the uncompromising critique of war ...