For this week’s reading, we will be focusing on Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis. The book mainly centers around the different political regimes associated with Iran. For many years, Mohammad Reza Shah dictated the country of Iran but during the 1970’s, he provoked the White revolution, basically modernizing the country, allowing western imperialism and democratic-based ideas like human rights to take told (Afary). Because of Iran’s close ties with the United States at the time, the country was losing its monarchy values established in the early 1920’s. Many high-ranking officials did not like Shah’s reform programs because it took away their sense of normalcy in their government, so they decided to overthrow him, thus sparking the Iranian, or Islamic Revolution.
On April 1st, 1979, Ruhollah Khomeini declared Iran an Islamic Republic. Like a dictatorship, the new Islamic Revolution forced people like Marjane Satrapi to quickly adapt to this new lifestyle. On page four of the reading, the author states she went to a non-religious French school, but because of the new government authority, all bilingual schools shut down because “they are symbols of capitalism” and all girls must wear veils to mimic the Muslim religion. Additionally, the Family Protection Act of 1967, giving women marriage freedom, was voided to match the Muslim tradition (Afary). During this period, the country become very divided. Some people liked conforming to the Muslim religion, but others, like Satrapi and her family, protested the new regime because they felt a new dress code and restrictions on their everyday lives was unfair. This caused major violence, hatred, and death all throughout the country.
Just a year later, Iraq invaded Iran due to an alleged territorial dispute over the Shatt al-Arab, a waterway serving as a boundary line between the two countries (Hardy). Although, Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s leader, had a different motive. He wanted to overthrow Khomeini and his new regime because he felt threatened by the Islamic Revolution. Hussein simply did not want Iran to conquer Iraq, so he invaded first. This war lasted for nearly eight years, but neither country found true peace–only explosions, suffering, and casualties came from the war.
Hi Connor!
I really enjoyed this reading and especially like how you added the more recent events with Iran and Iraq to display that these issues are still very prevalent today. I think Satrapi and her family had every right to fight for their rights given to them as human beings that the dictatorships try and take away.
Connor,
Nice job on your presentation! You did an excellent job on giving background of the reading, “Persepolis”. I feel you gave a good summary to the start of the reading, however some advice I could give would be to give us even more information. I felt like you stayed on a pretty basic level of information, and would have liked to see even more about the book overall. However, I thought you did a really good job with the information you did give!
Hi Connor, your presentation was very informative of the context of Persepolis. I hadn’t heard of the Islamic Revolution or anything that was happening in that region, so your presentation was interesting to read. Great job connecting it to the story!
Hey Connor; I really appreciated reading your presentation. I didn’t really know anything about the Iran/Iraq dispute, so it’s interesting to read more about it. After I did my own presentation project on Khomeini and his rise to power, I think learning more about what occurred afterwards is incredibly intriguing.
Hey Connor,
Thanks for sharing! I, like many other students, are not that familiar with the social and political issues that have gone on in Iran. I am glad your blog post touched on the key points leading up to what I believe was the main antagonist (the Islamic Revolution) of the story Persepolis.
Connor
Your presentation was good, I really enjoyed how to put everything in perspective and I totally agree on how Satrapi and her family stood up for their rights. Other countries government can really not care for their people.
Connor, thanks for the research presentation on Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis book and its focus on the political turmoil in Iran. It was important to understand the historical context of the subsequent White Revolution and complex dynamics at play in Iranian society during the 1970s. I was thinking of applying to Army Program after reading this post https://www.arnabontempsmuseum.com/historical-overview-of-the-army-sharp-program/ and the way you described Iran/Iraq dispute made me rethink the decision and understand better the historical context.