Persepolis

Persepolis is a passionate, emotion-driven and evoking book. Marji takes the reader on a rollercoaster of feelings from sympathy, to anger, to pride, yet she somehow manages to pepper the very serious themes of her story with her never failing sense of humor. “Politics and sentiment don’t mix,” is an ironic statement coming from Marji’s father, when the premise of the book revolves around the various climates of emotion the Satrapi family perseveres through, as their country is in a state of incessant political turmoil. While it may be an ideal thought of the political realm that policies and feelings do not overlap, in reality it is just that, a thought. Politicians are people, and people are driven by their beliefs; thus, political actions reflect personalities.

The politics presented in Persepolis are especially interlocked with emotion because they often attack personal liberties. The Iranian women are forced to wear scarves to cover their hair, which is believed to release fragrances, enticing sexual urges too overwhelming for men to resist. One way Marji’s intense inclination toward rebellion is displayed is in her refusal to wear her scarf properly. She is often shown with her scarf pushed back on her head, allowing some loose hairs come through in the front, a practice that earned her the label of “whore” on many occasions. Her mother and grandmother similarly display their distaste for this law, as they begrudgingly wear their scarves in public, often incorrectly, and instantly rip them off as they return to the privacy of their home.

Another way that the Iranian government and “Guardians of the Revolution” attempt to 'roboticize' their women is by monitoring the way they dress. Anything reminiscent of western culture is perceived as “decadence”. These laws especially spark a fire inside of Marji. A fire which her parents let burn, and sometimes, add fuel to. They purchase such decadent illegal items for Marji when they go to Turkey and craftily manage to smuggle them back through Iranian customs. Marji’s parents also ignite her passion for justice by insisting that she educate herself as much as possible on the facts of her country, and warning her not to accept the swayed word of her teachers as truth. Marji often speaks out in class questioning the teachers’ contradicting lessons, another practice that does not add to her popularity among authority figures.

Also creating an indefinable line between politics and sentiment is the fact that the Satrapi family lineage is comprised of a long line of political activists, whose vigorous pursuit for what they believed in often resulted in persecution. Members and friends of the family, alike, willingly risked their lives for the fight against political injustices, and oftentimes, that was exactly the cost. To say that politics and sentiment do not coincide would be to belittle the fight which these men so strongly believed in, and, in turn, detract from the value of their lives.