Magnus McArthur

Mrs. Yeaton

Grade 10 Pre-AP

August 13, 2017

10 Questions Assignment:

“I Am Malala” By: Malala Yousafzai And “Persepolis” By: Marjane Satrapi

1. Compare the wealth of Malala, “I Am Malala”, and Marjane’s, “Persepolis”, family.

How did this factor shape their future and thought process? How do they perceive money

and in what ways does it affect them?

Answer: The wealth of these too characters families contrasts quite a bit judging by the way

each author illustrates it. On page 6 of “Persepolis” the author shows us that Marjane’s father

owned a Cadillac which is a high end vehicle and is an expensive automobile. Also Marjane’s

family has the money to take care and provide for a maid as shown on page 36 which is like

caring for another family member when it comes to cost. Again Marjane’s family net worth is

portrayed when her family buys her gifts and posters on page 127. Malala on the other hand

sometimes went to bed on an empty stomach because her family couldn’t afford enough food.

“... there was never enough money. After paying the rent and salaries, there was not much left

for food, so we had little for dinner.”(Yousafzai 20). In “I Am Malala”, the woman's rights

activist’s family perceives money as something that they constantly needed more of to run the

school and to buy food but didn’t affect their thought process of giving children an education

along with treating all people equal. Money didn’t affect Marjane’s life very much because as

shown on page 138 the country's currency lost all of its value so what her family needed to focus
on was surviving the war, continuing Marjane's education, and enjoying their days in the war

zone.

2. Describe each main character's relationship with God. How does it create tone or

relevance within the books? How do each character's views compare to each other?.

Answer: In Persepolis the author shows early on in the book Marjane’s relationship with God.

The book illustrates the little 10 year old girl having actual conversations with God himself

which the author uses to create conflict and discussion between the two beings. Marjane states in

the beginning, “What do you want to be when you grow up?... I’ll be a prophet!”(Satrapi 8),

showing her devotion to God and how she praises him. As the book goes on she begins to lose

faith in God because she thought that God was not there for her which creates somewhat of an

emotional tone in the novel. Marjane’s relationship with God is relevant because it shows us that

instead of relying on God for all of her problems and troubles she was strong enough to make her

own path without his help. A test to prove she could be independent. In “I Am Malala”, the

woman’s rights activist prayed without answers from God because she had faith, trust, and

believed in him to help in times of struggle. Her conversations with God create a sense of hope

that everything will be ok for herself and acts as some form of relief in the novel.

3. Analyze Malala and Marjane’s individual will and determination to have an education.

What stops them from learning? How anxious are they to learn?

Answer: Both characters have the desire to pursue their dreams as whoever they want to be in

the future and an education can have a drastic affect on their future. Malala throughout her young

years has fought for women’s rights to go to school as the boys did. “Girls are getting more

deprived of our rights. I spoke about how much I loved school.”(Yousafzai 71). Clearly she

wanted to go to school with all of her heart but Fazlullah, the Radio Mullah, claimed it was
haram for girls to go to school. Marjane on the other hand loved to learn but her school after the

revolution, as shown on page 98, her school changed to teachings of practicing religious

ceremonies, knitting winter hoods for soldiers, and decorating. “...When we had to decorate the

classroom for the anniversary of the revolution...When we had to knit winter hoods for the

soldiers...hitting yourself is one of the countries rituals.”(Satrapi 96-97). The Government in Iran

and their ways are what stopped Marjane from learning as she did when she was 10 years old. As

Malala fought for her right for education, Marjane stood up for what she believed was right and

eventually got a proper education in Austria.

4. Compare both of the authors tones in each work. How are they similar and different?

What kind of mood does each specific phase convey in the Graphic Novels?

Answer: In the Novel “Persepolis”, the author uses the author uses a literary element called

comic relief which relieves the tension in literary work. The author creates a very serious tone

and many times portrays an emotional mood in the Novel. “Ahmadi was assassinated. As a

member of the Guerillas, he suffered hell... they even burned him with an iron.”(Satrapi 51).

When the matter becomes very serious and emotional Satrapi uses comical relief to make the

mood quite amusing at times. “Those stories had given me new ideas for games. The one who

loses will be tortured. Yeah!...the mouth filled with garbage.”(Satrapi 53). Directly after Marjane

was talked to about being tortured in prison, the author turns stress upside down and creates a

small scene with her illustrations speaking on the matter on if it was fictional and a game which

is amusing. “I Am Malala”, uses a very similar method as Satrapi did although with very little

comedy. Yousafzai uses a literary element called Allusion as a stress reliever. Talk of comical

cartoons and funny slang english words lightens the mood and creates a soothing peaceful tone at

times.
 5. Describe the similarities and differences of Malala and Marjane’s parents and each

guardians methods of pushing their child forward.

Answer: Malala’s parents, especially her father, pushed her to do what she wanted and were just

as brave as Marjane's parents fighting against the system. “ I stepped out of my hiding place and

asked what was going on. My father said he was going to a meeting last night to speak out

against the Taliban.” (Yousafzai, 50). “Day or night, my father's courage never seemed to waver,

despite receiving threatening letters as well as warnings from concerned friends. As the school

bombings continued, he spoke out against them.” (Yousafzai, 69). Throughout the book Malala’s

father speaks out against the Taliban and is threatened to be killed. The only time where Malala’s

father shows his fear, it is for her safety and that is what always should be on the mind of any

parent. When both himself and Malala are threatened to be killed on page 118, he is almost in

tears for his daughter; not himself. Marjane's parents are just as brave going to demonstrations

where citizens are killed and her father going out to take illegal photos he could be executed for.

On the other end of courageous, Malala’s mother is illiterate and Marjane’s is not, not to mention

they both have tough love for their children.

6. Explain how both main characters see the male species and how they appreciate or

think about their existence.

Answer: Within the first few pages of “I Am Malala” Malala immediately expresses how she

feels about boys, in a word, slobs. She speaks on how their backpacks are never clean and how

she cares about women’s education somewhat more than young men’s education later on in the

book. The only male she really appreciates is her father that cares for her as much as another

father would love ( in Pakistan ) his son. On top of that she also states near the beginning of the

book, “God,I said, you did not check with me before sending these two. You didn’t ask how I
felt. They are quite inconvenient sometimes.” (Yousafzai, 13), which implies that she doesn’t

need her current constantly arguing siblings. Throughout the novel she is so caught up in her

school work she has no time for boys friendships or “games”. Marjane on the other hand is a

totally different story. “So when are you leaving? In about a month. Oh. I think I really liked this

boy.” This illustrates that Marjane sees boys as no harm, or as trouble like Malala views them.

They both see the male species as equal to females just in different perspectives.

7. Compare each main character’s friends and how they influence them. Also how does

their thought process change based off of what they say.

Answer: Near the beginning of the book, Marjane is acquainted with these two boys and the

book illustrates that they are playmates later on. These friends of Marjane's do not have much

impact on her besides the fact that both of them left the islamic regime to move to the United

states. She took this unfortunate event quite harshly and was something that overall had an affect

on her. But, the friends who did have an influence on her were when she was around thirteen

years of age near the end of the book, “If I wanted to be friends with fourteen year-olds, I had to

do it. I had already broken the rules once by going to the demonstration in ‘79.” (Satrapi, 111).

Marjane, as we can see, is not a very big trouble maker and says specifically that she has only

broken the rules once before hand. These older “friends” of hers had a negative impact on her

life by convincing her that she should skip class. In the end these school mates she hung out with

did pressurize her in a bad way but her thought process that what she was doing was pointless

and wrong did not change. Malala on the other had only really specifies and describes one of her

close friends named Moniba, “The friend of her heart” (Yousafzai, 5). This close friend of hers is

always tricking to her to forgive about incidents she never caused. Though Malala did end up for
giving for her “Mistakes”, Her thought process did not shift based on what Moniba accused her

of.

8. Decipher the similarities and differences between the events that occur on page 50-51

of “I Am Malala” and pages 108-111 of “Persepolis” and what each event's relevance is.

Answer: The scene in “I Am Malala” Reads to us about Malala’s trip to Shangla and how

during the trip her family listened to cassettes to pass the time. Since this specific item was

deemed haram by the Taliban and the Radio Mullah, her cousin hides the cassettes in a quick

manner for they had stumbled upon Talibs that were searching cars for forbidden belongings. A

very similar event occurs in “Persepolis” When Marjane's family is heading home from a

celebration when they are stopped by men of the islamic regime checking for ID and license of

registration. These men believe that they have forbidden items such as alcohol in their possession

(which they did). Both of these event have a very suspenseful feel to them and an interesting

sudden shift in a smoother running story. These sudden changes in tensity make a very pressured

tone upon the reader and gets the brain thinking. If each story did not contain these events in the

novel, then the book would begin to get repetitive. “One day I was traveling to Shangla with my

mother and brothers...As the traffic slowed to a crawl, he put in a cassette to pass the time.”

(Yousafzai, 50). With a peaceful feeling before the rising action in the scene, Yousafzai keeps

the reader at ease without worry of future events.

9. Find the what is similar and also what is different about not just the encounters but the

enemy/protagonist’s targets and goals. How do they shape the paths of the reader?

Answer: The Graphic novel “Persepolis” Contains a protagonist known as the Shah ruled Iran

where Marjane lives. His goal was to stay supreme leader or king of Iran and rule how he wanted

while telling the residents he will let them live modernly and they will “reign their splendor”.
This dictator in the regime killed innocent citizens for his desire, “The BBC said there were 400

victims. The Shah said that a group of religious fanatics perpetrated the massacre. But the people

knew that it was the Shah’s fault!!!” (Satrapi,15). Although the leader killed many innocent

people and he fled the country, the next regime would be even worse. The islamic regime was so

dangerous to live under with executions a war going on with Iraq as well. Malala lived under

very similar conditions. Her part of the country had been controlled by terrorists who also did

executions for being in possession of haram items and was controlling as an islamic regime as

well. In “I Am Malala” a war also occurs but is a battle between the Taliban and the Pakistani

government. Both novels had protagonists whose goal was to rule an harshly strict islamic

regime and both targeted their own people along with the enemy attackers. Each main character's

path was effected by the internal conflict with the countries and both Malala along with Marjane

left their countries due to this.

10. Summarize the commonalities and differences between the main character's journey,

what they learned and how they have matured. How did both characters journeys end

different.

Answer: Malala and Marjane are very similar people who had similar amounts of bravery and

had a similar path. Each woman suffered through a war for multiple years and had gotten so used

to the sound of gunshots and bombs that it became something they adapted to. The pair

experienced deathly situations with the protagonists that could have possibly ended in their

executions or jail time. These hardships made Malala Yousafzai a stronger person and made her

braver than anyone I know and you know. Marjane on the other hand changed her thinking

process on things in a different way. In Marjane's story she tries to live the best fun filled life she

can live without the Iran Government interfering and wants to have an education she wants. She
becomes a strong woman but lives in fear. In Malala’s story, Malala allows the fright to pass by

her without consuming any negative thoughts or beliefs and has a desire to receive any education

she can. At the end of Marjane’s story, she leaves her family for Germany and is very frightened

as she is for most of the graphic novel. As this novel ends before Marjane's new life away from

the chaos and conflict in her country, “I Am Malala” illustrates her life within the rubble and

out. Malala states after she is in Birmingham, “In those first days of being in the hospital my

mind drifted in and out of the dreamworld. I thought I had been shot, but I wasn’t sure- were

those dreams or memories?” (Yousafzai, 138).