Women In Persepolis

Introduction The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was one of the most significant and ambivalent events in the history of XX century. The abdication of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and the establishment of Islamic Republic were declared as the main results of this political phenomenon. Despite many ideological controversies, the radical Shi’a Islamist clergy and more moderate opposition parties shared the common anti-imperialist goals within the state. On the eve of revolution, they have gained the massive popular support and intended to create the unique political system.

In the opening chapter, Kimball begins his discussion by describing his encounter with the then Ayatollah, Ruhollah Khomeini, in Qom, Iran on Christmas Day. He described the Ayatollah as being very charismatic and grandfatherly, as well as being an extraordinarily influential religious and political leader (Kimball, p. 1). The two discussed a number of important issues like the Iranian revolution, Christian-Muslim relations, Jesus, and the U.S. hostages (Kimball, p.

Ronald Reagan would win the election of 1980 and one of his major campaign platforms was the promise to end the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The Ayatollah’s supporters were then elected to the Iranian parliament. This meant that there was no reason to hold the hostages, having the Ayatollah in power with his supports in parliament meant that they effectively controlled all aspects of Iranian society. Then Iraq and Iran would become involved in a war. Iranian assets which had been frozen in the United States, were now needed more than ever if they wished to have access to their foreign currencies, without which they risked losing the war and then their country.

When I was in elementary school we were required to wear uniforms. I remember being frustrated at having my freedom of what to wear cut down so drastically from what I was accustomed to. As I grew older and I began to take more interest in my appearance uniforms became even more and more of a frustration to me. In the book Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi, Marjane had a similar experience in that she too was forced to wear in a sense a uniform. This book explores the theme that an oppressed society fights back against the government’s corrupt ways often leading to conflict.

Iran has faced the consequences of their Shiite based government through conflict with countries spanning multiple continents, such as Saudi Arabia and the United States. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Iran’s government became controlled by religion, causing tense foreign relations. The Iranian government is lead by a religious figure and

Inability to reach the deep seated nationalistic and rooted ethnicities in Iran was a figurative death sentence for the Shah’s long-winded rule. Expectedly, this was a large focus and claim to power of the Ayatollah’s during the and in the aftermath of the changes that came with revolutionary Iran. The Shia population was especially empowered, and this was a shift in sociopolitical ideology that did not go unnoticed around the region. Shia Muslims constitute for a mere ten percent of the worlds Islamic population, yet in Iran, and its most immediate neighbors, Shia Muslims were the vast majority, though often an oppressed population by pro-Western and Sunni leaders. As the Ayatollah Khomeini instituted clergy members exclusively from Shia

She wants to change the men in her country’s perspective of women in their country. She wears her veils as symbol of freedom. One of the most visible signs of cultural change in Iran has been the requirement for all women to wear the veil in public. While many Muslim women find this practice empowering and affirmative of their religious identities, the veil has been coded in Western eyes as a sign of Islam’s oppression of women. This opposition is made more clear, perhaps, when one considers the simultaneity of the Islamic Revolution with women’s liberation movements in the U.S. and Europe, both developing throughout the 1970s.”

During the Islamic Revolution, religion was very important to the fundamentalist Islamic regime that took power over the secular state. In her graphic memoir, Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi, a spiritual young girl, suffers a deep loss of faith due to the oppressive fundamentalist religion in Iran. This loss of faith causes Marji to experience disillusionment and a loss of identity, which greatly shapes her character. Through her experiences with God, Satrapi comments on the difference between spirituality and fundamentalist religion and displays the negative repercussions of an oppressive religious state.

The story begins with the life of marjane and ends with her life. But in the background, the novel involves the war in Iran. Iran is always at war which includes the Iranian revolution and the struggle of people after the revolution. Though these are not implied does not affect their significance. They have a very important function of shaping the actions of the characters of novel which have long lasting effects.

Imagine if everyone had a pre-determined negative image about you? This is what life was like for Marji, the protagonist of the novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. The book is set in the year 1980, in Iran where Islam was a major religion at the time. This is also the time for the Islamic Revolution which kicked the Shau out of office and made Iran a theocracy. In Persepolis, Satrapi challenges negative stereotypes about Iranians through important characters who oppose the Islamic Regime.

Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi, is a memoir depicting the life of a young girl growing up during the Islamic Revolution in Iran during the late 1970’s. Before the Islamic Revolution the country of Iran was run by a westernized ruler called the Shah. After the Shah is overthrown the country’s new government places new religious rules making if obligatory for women, and sometimes men, to wear specific clothing in public. A key theme I picked up on in the book is the theme of rights, specifically women's rights. Marjane Satrapi writes the women and their roles in her book as strong willed and very active in politics.

This evil act pursued by the Shah and police was a defeat for the Iranian people, but they continued to demonstrate daily. Although many people fled the country, including Marji when she got sent to Austria by her parents, the people of Iran and Marjis parents who stayed, fought for humanity and eventually

Later on the family watches on the television, the corrupt idea behind the women 's strict dress codes. The words, “Women’s hair emanates rays that excite men. That’s why women should cover their hair” (Satrapi 74). This statement shows how in Iran women are treated different and quietly wrong. This is also an epidemic around the world today that is highlighted in the book.

Gender Lens CSE: While looking at Persepolis through a gender lens, we can see how the women are objectified in their society, through the fundamentalist regime. The forcing of the veils causes the Iranian women to be seen as the lesser gender, with pleasing men as their sole purpose in society. It says that “To protect women from potential rapists they decreed that wearing the veil was obligatory. ‘Women’s hair emanate rays that excite men. That’s why women should cover their hair!’”

Have you ever read a graphic novel with a variety of worldwide problems? From: racial issues, economic issues, women’s rights, political repression, social issues etcetera. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is the authors memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Marjane Satrapi tells her story through black and white comic strips of her life in Tehran from her childhood ages six to fourteen. Persepolis portrays a memorable portrait of daily life in Iran, as well the perplexing contradictions between home life and public life.