Persepolis Analysis Questions

Chapters 2 & 3: “The Bicycle” & “The Water Cell”

Directions: After reading and annotating each chapter, complete the two analysis questions
below. Your main objective is to display a broad, yet deep understanding of the chapter as a
whole, while accurately analyzing the specific authorial choices (AKA Craft) Satrapi makes to
convey these ideas to her audience. Each response should be at least 3-4 sentences.

Chapter 2: “The Bicycle”

Theme or Global Issue:

Exposure and involvement in violence and conflict leads to a decline in moral and religious
value in an individual.

Insert picture of passage(s):

Explain how the passage(s) support the theme or global issue:

This passage highlights the loss of religion within Marji because she starts the passage off by
talking with God and ends up searching for him because he has left. In the previous chapter, she
wants to be a prophet and feels very connected to God. Despite this, her exposure to the
revolution causes her to lose her devotion to religion and become caught up in the war effort.
Authorial Choice #1 & Explanation:
In the 3rd panel: Marji continues to play dress up and asks God if she “[looks] like Che
Guevara”, a famous revolutionary. The idea of playing dress up reflects her childhood naivety
and misinterpretation of the war as some kind of game. The author also shows God leaving the
room in the background to show that Marji is turning her back on religion and God to support the
revolution.

Authorial Choice #2 & Explanation:

In the 5th panel: The author deliberately put Marji and the mirror in the background to draw
readers’ attention to the empty space in the foreground. This furthers the idea that God has left
the room because he realizes that she is abandoning him and no longer acts like a prophet. By
highlighting her loss of dedication, the author conveys that war-like situations cause an
individual to put aside their religious and moral values in order to fight.

Authorial Choice #3 & Explanation:

In the 6th panel: the author clearly shows Marji’s small figure in comparison to the furniture
around her. This emphasizes her young age at the time to emphasize her naivety and lack of deep
understanding over religion and the reasons behind war. Since she is also searching for God, it
shows her misinterpretation of religion because she believes he is always with her but she does
not realize that he has left and is merely a part of her imagination.

____________________________________________________________________________

Chapter 3: “The Water Cell”

Theme or Global Issue:

GI: Beliefs, Values and education- Education systems hide the flaws and directly teach the
younger generations that their country and government system are logical and better than other
systems.

Insert picture of passage(s):

Explain how the passage(s) support the theme or global issue:
The passage shows a misunderstanding between Marji and her parents over the reasons for the
king’s rule. Marji reveals in the 2nd and 5th panels that her school is teaching her that having a
dictator is a good thing and is justified. This is because schools have the power to teach the
children anything the government wants and they can only focus on the good aspects of their
country while ignoring the bad ones.

Authorial Choice #1 & Explanation:

1st panel: Marji is depicted in a very demanding stance because she is confident that the king
“was chosen by God”. She is confident because she believes what she learns at school is true and
doesn’t realize that the textbooks are biased. The author also positions the parents in the
foreground to emphasize their confusion and hint that they are the ones that are correct and their
beliefs hold more importance. They seem confused about how she got such an idea in her head
because they know the truth and don’t realize the things the school is teaching children.

Authorial Choice #2 & Explanation:

3rd panel: The author depicts Marji in her father’s lap to emphasize her young age. She also uses
graphic weight to draw attention to her father saying he’ll “try to explain it to” Marji because she
doesn’t seem to understand. It is common for parents to have to teach young children about
political and religious issues such as this because children are usually so naive to it. This panel
shows that her parents are trying to fix the wrong information that their daughter learned at
school.
Authorial Choice #3 & Explanation:
5th panel: The author utilizes graphic weight to make this panel the same color in order to draw
attention to the words she is saying. Marji reveals that her beliefs come from “the first page of
[her] schoolbook” and shows the direct message from her school. Being a small child, she only
believes the beliefs she hears from others or learns at school. This means that the schools use
their curriculum to brainwash young kids into believing their country is the best.