Persepolis tells the story of the Author Marjane Satrapi as he grows up during the Islamic revolution in Iran during the beginning of the 1980’s. Satrapi is a child attending school when laws in Iran begin to change. In her formerly non-religious French school she is separated from her male classmates in school and is made to wear religious veils. She sees both her parents begin to protest against the government while Satrapi begins to see the injustices in the world around her and begins to turn to god for aid and starts looking to work to fix the world around her. She learns more about the history of the government under Shah and sees people like her uncle who were held as prisoners and tortured while in jail. As more and more become outlawed her family manages to take a short trip away from Iran before returning to their home being bombed. As she grows older her rebellious spirit persists and she is eventually sent away to live in Austria. Here she finds pride in her heritage after facing physical and mental adversity and eventually she returns to her home to see her family where she reconnects with them before leaving once again to make positive change in the world.
The Islamic revolution, or the Iranian revolution as it is also called began around 1979 when Mohammad Reza Shah was exiled and a new Islamic Republic was established. It is important to understand the context of events leading up to this crucial turning point as they have wide reaching effects on events in the story. In the early part of the 20th century many social groups joined together to attempt to push agreeable reform for the citizens of Iran. These attempts were repeatedly thwarted. However later to do continued pushes towards change and interference from foreign countries a monarchy was established and Mohammad Reza Shah assumed his position as leader after years of turmoil. Shah would later begin what was called the “White Revolution-an aggressive modernization program that upended the wealth and influence of landowners and clerics, disrupted rural economies, led to rapid urbanization and Westernization” which was likely done as a result of increased western oil consumption and led to human rights debates (Afary, 2021). These new reforms were not met with parise as protests began to occur as a result of the decreased standard of living. The changes described above helped contribute to the growing disdain for capitalist ideas seen early in the story of Persepolis as disdain for foreign interference caused mounting anti-capitalist ideas to arise.
Later as ideas from people such as Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini began to arise more and more Iranians who were disenfranchised by modernization began to oppose the Shah regime. As the government failed to deliver on it’s promises of wealth distribution the people grew more and more unsettled, culminating in what came to be known as the Islamic revolution. After struggles for power and strict enforcement of laws on behalf of Shah, he was eventually forced into exile and would later flee to the United States for cancer treatment. From here Khomeini would declare an Islamic republic and it is around this time that our story takes place. The new republic would create sweeping changes and advancements for women where repealed. This is why we see Satrapi wearing a veil, these laws were enforced by state police that “enforced a new traditional Muslim dress code and delivered improvised justice to perceived enemies of the revolution” which is also seen in the novel when Satrapi encounters and subsequently avoids capture by Guardians of the revolution (Regan, 2020). The changes in power during the Islamic Revolution lead Satrapi towards rebellion and seeking justice which is why it is important to understand how such an oppressive administration can take power through the people.
The novel Persepolis and the events leading up to the Islamic revolution reflects back on previous themes we have worked with; however the one I would like to focus on is Hagel’s idea of the Master Slave Dialectic. In the beginning when The Shah held power the Islamic citizens were slaves to his master, they worked towards satisfying his regime’s lust for wealth and power through the oil economy until they realized their position and refused to serve the master, overthrowing him and becoming the masters themselves. Subsequently as the master they began forcing their ideas on the people of Iran resulting in groups such as women becoming slaves as a result of their actions. The situation is Iran and the Islamic revolution is perfectly encapsulated by this idea of shifting power struggles between master and slave.
Works Cited
Afary. March 25, 2021. “Iranian Revolution”. Encyclopedia Britannica. Accessed September 29, 2021. https://www.britannica.com/event/Iranian-Revolution
Kojeve. The Master-Slave Dialectic. Accessed September 29, 2021
Regan. April 28, 2020. “Iran After the Revolution”. History101. Accessed September 29, 2021. https://www.history101.com/iran-after-the-revolution/
Satrapi. 2000. The Complete Persepolis. Pantheon.
Great job on this post. I felt like your summary of the book was very clear, and interesting to read. I liked that you added in the government failing, the people were very much in need of the wealth that was going to be promised, leading to the cumulation of problems. I also think it was important that you added this in begin this was the start of the reason for Islamic Revolution, when there was so many changes throughout the country happened. Overall, this was done very well and even helped my understanding.
Nice work on the post. The way you summarized the entire book made me concentrate on the important events that has to be discussed. The veil and one of the changes brought about by the Islamic Revolution are introduced in the first chapter of Marjane Satrapi’s novel Persepolis. People in Iran, dissatisfied with a variety of issues, including the shah’s authority and the neglect of Islam, use revolutionary measures to bring about change. I liked how you connected this text to Hagel’s idea of Master – Slave Dialect by saying the situation in Iran and the Islamic revolution is perfectly encapsulated by this idea of shifting power struggles between master and slave.
Good job on your post. The way how you described the whole passage brought me a general overview of the content without escaping the necessary events to understand the passage. I especially like the part how you described the part where the revolutions and changes were enforced. It seems once a regime could not satisfy the demand of citizens, it would be very likely to be overthrown by the public. Under oppressive administration, there would be more people stand out to seek justice just like what Satrapi did. Finally, I really enjoy how you imply the situation in Iran and the Islamic world to the model of Master and Slave theory, this properly described why the revolutions and rebellions happened.
Your summary of the overall plot of this book is very detailed and very good, especially the explanation of the revolutionary background is very helpful to my understanding, and you have a very good explanation of Marji’s character formation and protest spirit. At the same time, the background story describes the interest disputes of various authorities very well. Obviously, the Iranian revolution has not brought welfare to the people. What you said may be the result of the increase in Western oil consumption. All this is brought about by capitalism in Russia. Obviously, the people are dissatisfied, so the protests have always existed. Through your description, I know that after many revolutions and counter-revolutions, the country has been in war all year round, so the people are displaced and have no fixed place, which leads to some personal experience of the author. This background introduction is very helpful to my reading, very good.
You ability to give detail to the novel is amazing and very well thought of. You gave great explanation of the “Islamic Revolution” and gave historical context in a great manner. I liked how everything flowed and you were able to go in order and explain everything in a way that made sense and was interpretable to the readers and made sense with the movie. Great job!