Marjane Satrapi – Persepolis, The Story of a Childhood

Reading Journal – Session 10 – 10/1/2017

Marjane Satrapi – Persepolis, The Story of a Childhood 

I don’t usually read comics, so this is not a genre I am very familiar with. I’m also not very familiar with the history of the Islamic Revolution, so my background knowledge consists of basically nothing. In a way, I feel like I missed a lot of details about what happened in the bigger picture, but I also feel that maybe it is better that I know so little, so I more or less have the same perspective of the somewhat naïve little girl who tells her story.

In fiction, it is more powerful to have a personal perspective when dealing with historical events. Gone With the Wind employs the love story of Scarlett O’Hara and Rhett Butler when describing the Civil War, Titanic follows Rose and Jack, making it a more powerful movie than the ones that came before, The Normal Heart is presented from the activist’s perspective fighting during the AIDS crisis to have a greater and more personal impact. Persepolis does that same and it is even more powerful because it is the true personal story of a little girl growing up during the war. The desire to fight for the country, fight for what is right by protesting, telling the truth, but also the desire to listen to music and hang up posters on the wall, go to parties and have a better story to tell about a hero in the family to best someone else.

The comic format never uses unnecessary words, metaphors or countless transitions of prose. But it can say so much with just a few drawn lines and it has a really powerful effect. I was glad that this format was chosen to tell the story of the childhood. It was impactful but it also never lingered too long, it switched between destruction, death, happiness and humor and it felt like a very good representation of what life was like during this time. I enjoyed reading it very much.

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