The graphic novel, Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi tells the autobiographical story of an Iranian woman and her experience from childhood to young adulthood amidst the Islamic revolution. Throughout the novel, there will be an emphasis on the requirements and limitations imposed on women and how it affects Satrapi growing up. It is crucial to have prior knowledge of the revolution’s impact on the lives of Iranian women to develop a better understanding of Satrapi’s story.
For context, the Islamic Revolution was a popular uprising in 1978-79 that resulted in the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty and the establishment of an Islamic republic. The Revolution brought upon many changes in Tehran, the most relevant being the strict dress codes imposed on men and women. The right to choose what women wanted and did not want to wear was revoked. In 1981, it became compulsory for all women in Iran above the age of 9 to wear the veil. There was gender segregation within the workplace, schools, beaches. Laws regarding divorce, child custody, inheritance, and many more were all in favor of men. Women were essentially subjugated to a lesser role in society.
Throughout the novel, Satrapi challenges the traditionalist ideals placed on women in revolutionary Iran. She addresses the contradictions and unfairness surrounding her and tries her best to not conform to the standards of society. Her struggle to escape the gender roles enforced truly shows how deeply rooted they are and it begs the question: can you really escape gender constructs?
References:
Goldman, Ben. “Persepolis Themes: Gender.” LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 26 Aug 2015. Web. 6 Aug 2021.
ComixBawse “’Persepolis’ – Women under the Male Gaze: Can Gender Constructs Ever Be Escaped?” ComixBawse, 5 Feb. 2018, https://comixbawse.wordpress.com/2018/01/22/persepolis/.
“The Stolen Revolution: Iranian Women of 1979 | CBC Radio.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 9 Dec. 2019, https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-stolen-revolution-iranian-women-of-1979-1.5048382.
I found your post fascinating. I like how you open with describing Marjane as an Iranian woman. So much of this book is about finding identity and examining intersectionality, so that sentence has much more weight than it seems. In my own perspective, i had little knowledge regarding the Islamic Revolution in Iran. Iran has been an Islamic nation for the entire time I have been alive, so I never considered that Iran was anything but that, except in what felt like distant history, even though I knew otherwise. As Marjane grows up in a changing society, can you find parallels for our generation, as we grow up in a world changed by COVID, 9/11 at the time of our births, the rise of right wing groups, etc?
I also had very little to no knowledge about the Islamic revolution in Iran and I always had a single story about them. I thought the Veil they were was their original religious costume but after reading Persepolis and the presentation, it is much more clear to me. I definitely think growing up in a changing society is challenging but with the resources available these days I believe it will be a little easier compared to Satrapi.
I find the question she uses to begin her book to be very unique. It’s a bold statement and not only grabs the attention of the reader, but also lets the readers get an idea of what to expect when reading this story. Before reading the story, I found that the Iran women were treated unfairly. Women’s rights are severely cut down. Although, as of right now, Article 21 states that women can go to school, hold public office, and drive. But, they are still not able to do as much as a man is. In fact, they are about able to do nearly half of what men are allowed to.
I think that this book is about so many things, but the navigation of gender roles and trying to grow up as a young girl in such a traditionalist society is definitely a heavy theme. I read the first part of Persepolis when I was a freshman in high school, and I don’t think I truly understood the weight of the subject matter. I am already understanding so much more upon re-reading than before. Women’s rights and abilities to express their individuality have been held hostage by this oppressive state for as long as I have been alive. Satrapi brings a perspective of someone who lived before all of this started, and that has been really helpful in addressing my own assumptions about her culture.
I agree with your idea. Actually it would be really hard for us to really understand the book and ideas behind the book. Satrapi provide us a different perspective for us, since she grew up as a woman in a quite different cultural experiment. Which can help us to deal with the situation of most women about their unequal rights.
I completely agree with you. Just like the author of the blog post has explained, the definition of gender roles and the concept of gender segregation seemed to be the main theme in Persepolis. Lucky that you are reading this book for the second time. I am doing it for the first time and I feel that it sets out a lot on Islamic revolution that I was not informed on.
I think that this presentation is so interesting. I think that a lot of the book centers around Marjanes identity. In the book it emphasizes how Marjanes intersectionality is a women from Iran but after reading this presentation, I have more knowledge on Iran. Having more knowledge on the Iranian revolution allows me to understand Marjanes struggles and perspectives as she grows up. After reading this presentation, I have learned more about the context that influenced where the rules and discrimination of women came from. there was a lot going on in Iran at the time that had a huge affect on women that you would not expect.
Your post was well put together and informational. Being a woman in that society has got to be frustrating. I can not even imagine not being able to have a voice for myself. I imagine the women growing up in Iran are prepared not to have a voice but how could that not lead to unhappiness? I appreciate Marjane Satrapi giving us her perspective on women being lower in society in their culture because it gives us insight on how they are feeling.
This post brought up some very important themes about the way that gender norms are structured in society and how they are often intertwined with the political climate. I can only imagine what it must be like to so suddenly have so many of your rights revoked by your government. Despite having once had those freedoms, with the fall of the Pahlavi dynasty, the new governing body of Iran collectively decided that it would designate half of its population as lesser, to a near Subaltern status. Therefore, to answer the question that you posed at the end, history proves that gender constructs can never truly be escaped.
I learned a lot from this post. I never realized how many problems woman in Iran and under the Islamic faith had. This information makes me feel for all women affected by these unjust laws and it makes me feel a little better that someone out there is spreading this information to the rest of the world. I like how Satrapi uses great reasoning and explains how contradictory these rules are as well.
Hey Thomas! I am interested in knowing what information your school taught in high school, or what news channel you watch! In my high school, we were taught that Iran had a lot of misognist beliefs and that the women were sometimes treated poorly in the country. I am slightly shocked that you did not know that there were problems that Iranian women ran into in the country!
It’s a wonderful post. It makes me learn a lot of things I haven’t noticed before. I mainly like the second paragraph about the background information of the Islamic Revolution. I started to realize that how serious is the unequal situations between men and women. I think some people are born into the mainstream. Of course, they have yearned for being out of the mainstream, but they have been used to being subordinate to the mainstream since childhood, otherwise they will have no sense of security. Some people have rebelled against the mainstream. Therefore, they are often in danger. The person who stood out and changed the situation is the one we should respect.
This post just tells a lot about the author and the background information. Maybe this is also why author want to write the book. Actaully I’m interested of the Islamic revolution, why it brought so many unequal policies to the women. The rights in the post represent how women there changed specificly. It’s really hard for Satrapi to do what she did, and thank you to show what she need to face and how bravely she changed her life. And actually I also have the last question, and till now, my answer is no. You can change a little bit, but never really escape.
Hi!
I’ve visited Iran a couple times because I’m an Iranian-American and have extended family still living there, and these dress codes are constantly enforced. There are groups of women working for the government that tour areas of cities, enforcing the dress code and writing citations for improper dress. The police also give couples (or people who may seem like a couple) a hard time when they are alone walking somewhere. One time I was walking with my same-age cousin to a coffee shop and we were stopped by police asking how we knew each other and that it’s against islamic principles to hang out with one of the opposite gender before being engaged/marriage unless related.
Hi! I think your context presentation gives really great background on the things we need to know prior to reading the book. I like how you talked about the Islamic Revolution and gave background and facts on the event. I believe knowing these things now will help me get a better grasp as I read the book. I also like how you talked about the unfairness that occurs throughout the story. You added a little of everything. Great post!
When I first read the name of this book, I had no idea what it was about. After reading, I realized it is about the Islamic revolution and how it affected a girl living in Iran at that time. Moreover, I think your post did an excellent job explaining what was happening during that time and how it affected Marjane Satrapi and the struggles she went through and how it helped her find out who she really was.
This is a great post! the biggest stand out to me that I truly did not understand was the true inequality that men and women have in the Islam culture! I really hope that this culture can soon find some sorts of equality and continue to grow just as we have as americans!
Thanks so much for sharing the context and the historical background related to the reading. It’s crucial for readers to understand it so we can interpret the deeper meaning.After reading through this, I start to ponder why gender roles among cultures is so different, yet the common thing is that women’s often considered as inferior to men. It may be caused by religions and geographical factors.
I enjoyed learning the information about the Islamic Revolution and what came along with it in regards to women rights. Women in Iran live a tough life with many unfair restrictions and I can’t imagine dealing with that on a day to day basis. I feel strongly for these women because these harsh restrictions put against them make their life an unhappy one. Marjane Satrapi gave me a taste of how women are being mistreated and shed light on the issue of women being treated unfairly.
I think that you did an excellent job on this context presentation. I had a little previous knowledge of the history of Iran, but this presentation brought to light details that I needed to know about. Women anywhere shouldn’t have to deal with these restrictions. Everyone should know about how unfairly women are being treated.
Thank you for a complete and brief introduction to the Islamic revolution. Your post was quite helpful for me to read through the reading part. Before knowing that I thought Iran women wear a mask but do not know they have experienced more unfair things than that. These are really unfair things but Satrapi can bravely fight against the unfairness surrounding her. This is the most important thing to eliminate inequality.
This post is great, I wish I would have read it before I started the novel because the post gave me exactly the right amount of information that I would need, to have a good idea as to what I am about to read. I think the part where you mentioned gender segregation sticks out to me. It is incredible to actually think that millions of people are still being forced to live as others and less-thans, when at the same time there are millions of people living freely and completely unaware of the situations that other people have to face. It is simply mind-boggling.
From reading other novels set during this time period I had some idea of what women had to go through, but I did not realize how harsh the regulations placed on women were during the Islamic revolution. We still se women with more regulation today, and its unfortunate that while in different cultures and societies women have different levels of rights, women almost never have completely equal rights
I really enjoyed your post as it had me contemplating my previous thoughts. The islamic Revolution was something I was not totally aware of, specifically women rights. I feel like it is hard to escape gender constitutions entirely. There are many places around society where the gender gap is not pivotal, and will be diminished. But, some of these religious cultures like Iran, it will be very hard.
I really thought that your post help add to my understanding of the plights of women in relation to the Islamic religion. I was aware that the religion was quite strict on its laws about the female gender, but was unaware about the extent. It is difficult for women in Islam to truly escape the inequalities that the system sets up for them, but slowly the world is making progress. Islamic states just need to make sure that they are doing their bit to catch up with the rest of us.
After comparing my reading to the book and the context research you post, I think I have more understanding of the detail and the whole background of how the segregation law happened during that time. Ths makes me how hard would the women be under the control of Iran government and especially those who did not have an choice.
I like you post! It gives great background information and was very clear and easy to follow. The background helped me understand the book better. When reading a book from a first hand account and perspective, it is very important to have knowledge of the surroundings as well. You also bring up how the different genders were treated differently and how women were mistreated. Women in Iran had a very difficult time escaping the inequalities they faced and were permanently set back by them. But, you have to give marjane respect for sticking true to herself and for sticking up for what she believes in.
Hi, I found your post to be informative. I did not know much about the Iran-Iraq War before your post. After reading you post, I realized that it started in 1980 and it was Iraq invaded Iran due to political and government issues. I found the pictures you used to be also interesting.