PERSEPOLIS

Chapter 1 The Veil

Novel begins in 1980
Education was affected by the response of the veil by the girls not wanting to wear the
veils and by the separation of the boys and girls in the schools
Some women wanted to wear the veil, some didnt. Those that didnt want to wear the
veil demonstrated in the streets against it
At one of the demonstrations, a German journalist took a picture of Marjis mother. Her
mother then got scared, died her air, and hid herself.
Conflict between her religion and how she acts modern
Marjis reasons of wanting to be a prophet:
o 1) her maid didnt eat with her
o 2) her father drove a Cadillac
o 3) her grandmothers knees always ached
She wanted to be justice, love and the wrath of god all in one
Zarathustrian was the first prophet in Marjis country before the Arab invasion; Three
rules for living:
o 1) behave well
o 2) act well
o 3) speak well
Marji wants to be a prophet but tells her parents she wants to be a doctor because they
musnt know that she wanted to be a prophet
Chapter 2 The Bicycle
The children began to reflect the political realities of the adult world in which they live in
by dressing up as Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and Trotsky as they demonstrated in their
garden.
The Persian people faced oppression from the emperors, the Arab invasion from the west,
the Mongolian invasion from the east, and modern imperialism.
The books shaped public sentiment by teaching Marji about the children of Palestine,
Fidel Castro, the Vietnamese killed by the Americans, and the revolutionaries of her
country; was also used to enlighten the public
Marjis relationship with God begins to change by Marji acting awkward with him and
acting like he doesnt exist; God gets mad and leaves her alone for a while; Marji also
puts being a prophet aside and replaces it with the revolution
There is a fire at Rex Cinema; the police were there but they wouldnt allow civilians to
save the people inside. By the time the fire engine got there, everyone was dead.
Marji wants to demonstrate in the streets with her parents but they say no because it is too
dangerous for her.
Chapter 3 The Water Cell
Marjis parents find her request to play monopoly humorous because it is a capitalist
game and they are demonstrating against the Shah whom is a capitalist

According to Marji, the king was chosen by God; A low ranking officer was told he
would become emperor, it said so in her school book. Her father and the feeling to Marji
her grandfather was a prince.
Reza, the father of the Shah, was different from Gandhi and Ataturk because he wasnt
educated or a leader
Rezas original political move was to make a republic; He makes a trade off to give them
what they want as he gets power.
Marji learns that her great grandfather was the emperor who was overthrown by Reza; It
added a conflict to her life since it involved her personal family.
Marjis grandfather then accepted his new government role of being Prime minister; his
beliefs changed because he had to study Europe and read the Marx.
Marjis mother reveals in a flashback that as a little girl she was scared the police would
come and take her father to jail.
God then returns to Marji after a long absence because she needs him since she is
emotionally upset.

Chapter 4 Persepolis
Marjis grandmothers response to questions about the past makes her not happy
The Shahs rules were ten times tougher than his fathers
Marjis father went to take pictures of the demonstrations everyday that made her mother
very nervous
Ironically, as a second dead man is carried out on a stretcher during the demonstration,
the dead man was thought to be a hero even though his widow told them he had died of
cancer.
Chapter 5 The Letter
Marjis feels so ashamed because everyone around her has to live life hard as she is living
high in a Cadillac because of the difference between the social classes.
Mehri is Marjis maid; He came to join Marjis family as she left her home as a child to
work
For six months, Marji helped Mehri write letters to her boyfriend since she didnt know
how to read or write
The news of Mehris clandestine affair reached Marjis father by Mehris real sister being
jealous and telling her uncle, who told her grandma, who told Marjis mother, who told
her father about the affair. The father then told the young man that Mehri was his maid
because of the different social classes. He didnt think it was right
Marji was upset about Mehris break up so she told her they were going to go
demonstrate
On Black Friday, there was a rumor that Israeli soldiers killed many people. Marji learned
the consequences for doing things behind her parents backs.
Chapter 6 The Party
The Shah attempts to appease the people by testing a dozen Prime Ministers. He failed by
trying to make a democracy. Everyone wanted his departure

The U.S. changed its public policy toward Iran by having Jimmy Carter to refuce to give
refuge to the exiled Shah and his family
The teacher having told the students to tear out all the photos of the Shah in their books
contributed to Marjis anger and confusion when she returns to school
Marji and her friends want to attack Ramin because they found out Ramins father was
the Savak and killed millions of people.
Marji learns two lessons from her mother:
o To learn to forgive
o To not blame Ramin for his fathers actions

Chapter 7 The Heroes

According to Laly, she says her father is on a trop. Marji believes when she is told
someone is on a trip that it actually means they are dead.
Siamek and Mohsen have been in prison for the past few years because they were
revolutionists
The CIA helped lead the training in torture practice
Laly is still mad at Marji because of what she said but is happy that she was right and
Marji was wrong about her father.
According to Marji, a hero is someone who was in prison
Now that the revolution is over, Marji feels that one that loses should be tortured.
Marji is confused and doesnt know what justice is anymore
Chapter 8 Moscow
Anoosh is Marjis uncle; since he was in prison, Marji thinks he is a hero
Fereydoon is Marjis great uncle; to gain independence of Azerbaijan
Anoosh travels to his parents house after he escapes from prison
He leaves his family because he thought he would get in trouble if he was with his
parents so he went into exile with the USSR
His girlfriend then came to his prison cell because she wanted to make a child with him.
She paid the guard to allow them to do their duty and make a baby.
Anoosh tells Marji the stories because he doesnt want the family history to be lost
Anoosh made a swan out of bread in prison that symbolizes freedom and beauty. Marji
might think that it symbolizes his life in prison.
Marji had no one to look up to but now that she has talked to Anoosh, who she thinks is a
hero, she can look up to him.
Chapter 9 The Sheep
According to Anoosh, it is impossible to persuade the population to follow Marxism
because half the countrys population was illiterate so he said it would be impossible.
99.99% of the population voted for the Islamic Republic (propaganda) was the reported
outcome of the elections.
Marjis dad thinks that if he goes to the U.S. he would become a taxi driver and his wife
would because a cleaning lady (they would get bad jobs)

Mohsen died because he was drowned in his own bathtub

Siameks sister was the executed
Anoosh is put into jail but she thinks he died
Anoosh wanted to see Marji because she in the star in his life and the daughter that he
always wanted to have.
Anoosh was going to be executed because he was a Russian spy
God visits Marji after Anooshs death and Marji tells him to leave her life.
The significance to the title, the Sheep, is to symbolize people as sheep or followers.
The Iranians follow and believe everything they are told, like sheep.

Chapter 10 The Trip

The U.S.s response to the embassy take-over was with the fundamentalists; this upset
Marji because she couldnt visit her friend, Kaveh, in the U.S.; the embassy and
universities were also closed
They closed the schools because they had to revise the books the children were using
The rationale for making the veil obligatory was so women couldnt not be raped and
thought about badly since apparently womens hair attracts men so they had to cover it up
Fundamentalist cover up their entire body and dont shave their beards. Modern people
are a little relaxed with the way they dress
There was kind of justice, after all.; If one thing happens another thing happens for
men, so it goes both ways.
Ordinary citizens were wearing the veils and chadors because they had to follow their
guidelines
Marji had to tell her friends that she prayed all days
At their Madrid hotel, Marjis family gets startled when they see a black cloud hovering
over Iran on the news; Marjis mom says its probably pollution but it isnt.
Theres no place like home is ironic because there is going to be a war and their home
will soon be taken away or burnt down, so no more home sweet home
The last invasion of Iran was 1400 years ago; The reason for the second Arab invasion
were the Iranian Fundamentalists tried to stir up their Iraqi Shiite allies against Saddam
With the news of the invasion, Marji wanted to fight.
Chapter 11 The F-14s
Marji sees Iraqi fighter jets
Marji starts talking about the time her father was learning in the military; her father
changes the subject. He says the real enemy is the fundamentalist government
The nature of the war takes everyone by surprise
It would be impossible for Iran o retaliate effectively against Baghdad because Iran
would need pilots but they dont have any
Marji is angry at her father because he dad doesnt like her ideas
It was so unusual to hear the national anthem because thye havent heard it for more than
a year.

Pardisse described in her paper how she will take care of her mother and brother because
he dad is dead; Marji tries to console her friend by telling her that her father was a
genuine hero but Pardisse says she wishes he were alive and in jail rather than being dead
and a hero

Chapter 12 The Jewels

Marjis mom says the people dont act like civilized people; here mom suggests a
confusing statement by saying she needs more rice as she leaves the store, even though
she just questioned and insulted people about not being civilized
Iranians are required to ration their supply by getting a small amount of everything
Everything of Malis family was destroyed; Marjis family let them spend the night;
Malis family was all about materialistic things and they were snobby
The common attitude about the refugees the other shoppers express are that they dont
like them because the shoppers take everything as they are taking everything also
The refugee families lost their food and they are afraid their will lose their husbands
Chapter 13 The Key
The primary difference between the Iranian and Iraqi armies is that Iraq has more modern
weapons but Ira has more people.
The Persian philosophy of resignation are that you are to respect your elders
One of the countrys rituals are to hit themselves to show their appreciation
The students tried to ease the tension of a very serious situation with humor
Marjis generation is so rebellion because they rebelled against everything since their
parents did not teach them how to behave
Mrs. Arsin was Marjis new maid; she received a key from her son which mean a key to
paradise
The government recruited boys to serve on the front lines of the war; They persuaded
them by saying it would take them to paradise
The government gave boys the keys because they were trying to convince them it was a
key to Heaven after they died if they went to fight in the war
The clothing of the 80s were ripped and included chains which reflected the political
realities of the time period
Chapter 14 The Wine
People went to the basement for refuge. The environment of the basement reflected the
emotional state of the people/country because they were basically trapped by the
government
Marjis mother is putting up masking tape on the windows to prevent flying glass from
the bombs to fly in their house and black curtains to hide from the neighbors
The government found a deck of cards, records, video cassettes and a chess board.
Timooshs dads punishment was 75 lashed from a whip.
Marjis family continued to hold partied despite the danger because they said that the war
would be unbearable without parties.

The wine came from Marjis uncle that made the wine and his housekeeper crushed the
grapes for him.
Marji doubts maternal instinct because she didnt know what to do when her aunt left
her with the baby.
Two violations Marjis dad was guilty of was driving drunk and having alcohol at home.
His wife was worried about the situation.
Marjis grandmother says she has diabetes and has to get in the house. She is planning to
get rid of all of the alcohol they have in t he house. They eventually got rid of the officer
just by paying him money.

Chapter 15 The Cigarette

The war had been going on for two years. The new reported that the Iranians destroyed
13 Iraqi planes. However, Marji and her friends realize that its a lie, and the Iraqis
actually shot down 2 of their planes.
Marjis motives for breaking her parents rules were that she wanted to stay with her
older friends and they were breaking the rules so she followed them.
Marjis destination was Kansas on Jordan Avenue; Kansas was able to survive the
regimes repression because they had no idea what it was (it was a burger restaurant)
Marji describes her mother and her tactics as being a torturer, dictator, and guardian of
the revolution.
The survival of the regime depended upon the war; the human cost of his survival was a
million people
The regime became more repressive by arresting people and executing them
Marjis symbolic act of rebellion was smoking cigarettes
Chapter 16 The Passport
The internal war, anyone who was caught showing resistance to the regime was
persecuted
3 year (1980-1983)
Those poor 20 year olds get slaughtered. They kill me
Her parents think she is very stubborn
Uncle Taher had his third heart attack
People are giving blood, losing limbs and having heart attacks
Marjis aunt ask the hospital director to help her husband so he can get his passport but
the HD only says if god wills it
To make passports; for a price of $200 in 5 days
Chapter 17 the Shabbat
What was the new strategy? How does the author Iranians?
o To use ballistic missiles against Iraqis; Iranians love to gossip and over exaggerate
What did the siren signify? What did Marji realize for the first time?
o If the end has come; she realized how much danger she was in

What does the picture on the top of page 137 reflect the mood? Where does Marjis only
hope lie?
o The streets are abandoned; to get a French education. Shows loneliness;
desertedness
What motivated the Baba-Levy family to stay in Iran? Why is this so unusual? What was
Nedas dream?
o Their ancestor had come three thousand years ago and Iran was their home; their
daughter did not pray much but talked about romance; a prince would take her to
his castle.
How does Marjis mother attempt to protect her daughter? How does Marji discover the
truth? What does the last frame on page 142 reflect?
o Saying that the Baba- Levys were in a hotel. She sets Nedas bracelet in the
remains; er pain and suffering, death

Chapter 18 the Dowry

How did Marji;s like change after Nedas death? What happened at school?
o she was 14 and a rebel; she gets in trouble for wearing jewelry and jeans
what did Satrapi learn about the government in her new school? how did she respond?
o Its forbidden to wear jewelry, Marji does not care and continues to wear jewelry;
she gets expelled for hitting her principal.
How does Marjis dad respond to her behavior at school? her mom?
o The dad doesnt care and says she is like her uncle; her mom freaks out and is
worried
What happened to Niloufar? Why? How do you know? What is Marjis reaction?
o Executed but a guardian had to marry her and lose her virginity since it is against
the law to execute a virgin; the husband is to pay the dowry; Marji is shocked.
Where do Marjis parents decide to send their daughter? Why?
o Austria because its easy to get an Austrian visa, and Marjis moms friend lives in
Vienna; Marji can get her German education
What is her grandmothers advice to her?
o Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself
Who made up a large segment of those leaving the country?
o Young boys (considered future solider) they were forbidden to leave after they
turned 14
Marjis dad says dont forget_______ or________
o Dont forget who you are or where you are from
What is Marjis last memory of her parents before leaving?
o Her mother fainted