Hlinovsky 1

Taika Hlinovsky

Christine Stevenage

English A, Language and Literature, HL

11.9.2020

Line of inquiry: How does the trauma of forced displacement to Austria affect Marjane’s relationship

with her identity? 

The Relationship Between Trauma and Identity in Persepolis

At 14 years old, Marjane, the protagonist of Marjane Satrapi’s memoir Persepolis 1&2

(2003-2004), is uprooted from her homeland and family and sent to Austria to be safe from the war.

Marjane faces the trauma of being thrust into the culture of a strange nation, one that is unwelcoming

towards immigrants like her. Her friends and acquaintances dismiss her trauma when she brings it

up, and Marjane cannot tell her family in Iran about her problems because she feels guilty about

being in a safer environment than them. These factors cause Marjane to distance herself from Iranian

culture and fall into a pit of drug-use and self-hate. 

Desperately aching for a listening ear and someone to share the burden of her past with,

Marjane turns to her friends and her teachers. However, they ignore her whenever she brings up

Iranian culture and they are uninterested in her past. They believe that she is exaggerating to gain

attention and pity and say things such as “She lies when she says that she’s known war. It’s all to

make herself seem interesting.” (p.199) 

Being ignored and distrusted negatively affects Marjane’s sense of self.  She does not feel

safe presenting herself as Iranian because in Vienna, “Iran was the epitome of evil” (p.198). Being

constantly judged for her background makes Marjane ashamed of being Iranian. She wants to be
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more like the Austrian youth. The desire to fit in leads Marjane to study political theory and

philosophy and experiment with drugs. Marjane also makes physical changes to fit it; she cuts her

hair, starts wearing thick eyeliner, and starts dressing more fashionably.

However, while taking on a new identity, Marjane simultaneously distances herself from her Iranian

identity. She feels that “The harder I tried to assimilate, the more I had the feeling that I was

distancing myself from my culture, betraying my parents and my origins.” (p.196) 

Living in Iran, away from her family and friends, is very distressing for Marjane. She

confesses, “I’m scared for my parents. I’m alone and I feel guilty.” (p.218) Marjane feels survivor’s

guilt for having survived the war where so many lost their lives and for getting to live in the safety of

Vienna while her family was still in danger.  Marjane cannot even bear to listen to news about Iran,

because she knows that she cannot help her family and friends even if they are in danger. Marjane’s

guilt makes her feel that her problems are miniscule compared to the stress of living in a warzone. In

addition, the backlash she experienced in Vienna by revealing her trauma makes her realize that she

must not reveal her secrets to her family so that they are not ashamed of how she forfeited her

culture, traditions, and values.  

Incapable of facing the past, Marjane decides not to speak or think about past events. By

denying the past, Marjane fails to see how her problems in Iran are due to unresolved issues in

the past. Suppressing her feelings weighs on Marjane. Unable to reveal to her friends in Austria the

emotional trauma of war in Iran and unable to tell her parents the shame and guilt of the lies and

suffering she had undergone in Austria, Marjane begins to harm herself both emotionally and

physically through drugs and isolation. Marjane turns to drugs and alcohol to avoid confronting her

inner strife. The more conflicted she becomes about her identity, the more often she turns

to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as tripping. Marjane admits that she did not always like

tripping, but she prefers tripping to “having to confront my solitude and my

disappointments”. (p.221) 
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Marjane feels ashamed about using drugs, but she simultaneously relies on them more and

more to escape the shame of using them. Marjane’s attempt to fit in turns her into someone she

knows her family and she herself would not approve of. Marjane still deeply craves

her family’s approval, which helps her realize the importance of being true to herself. After falling

sick as a result of neglecting her health for several months, Marjane decides to move back to Iran.  

Marjane’s impotence to open up and reveal the things that trouble her to her friends and

family causes her sense of her identity to distort. Processing her trauma is a prerequisite for finding

her identity. Since Marjane never deals with the trauma of her past, she constantly struggles to find

her sense of self. Marjane believes that returning to her homeland would unify her sense of

identity. She tells a psychologist, “In Vienna […] I was reduced to nothing. I thought that in coming

back to Iran, this would change.” (p.274) Unfortunately, being reunited with her family and

childhood home did not bring her the relief she sought. Marjane is unable to heal from her trauma

because she links her authentic identity to the site of the traumatic events, her homeland. Being in

Iran is only a reminder to her of why she left in the first place. Marjane finds herself even further

displaced in Iran where no woman is safe from the fundamentalist regime, neither in public nor in

private. Returning to Iran has given Marjane back her family’s support, but she has lost touch of her

identity. Marjane explicates: “My calamity could be summarized in one sentence: I was nothing. I

was a Westerner in Iran, an Iranian in the West. I had no identity. I didn’t even know anymore why I

was living.” (p.275) Marjane’s complete loss of direction makes her give up on ever feeling better

again, which pushes her to attempt to end her life.   

After her failed suicide attempt, Marjane feels that she was destined to stay alive and tries to

take control of her life and reclaim her identity. Her solution is to become a “sophisticated

woman” (p.277) through a cosmetic makeover. Marjane changes her wardrobe, curls her hair, and

starts wearing makeup again. By altering her appearance, Marjane believes that she will unify her

identity and simultaneously be healed from her past trauma. However, this is just another way for her
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to escape her trauma. Marjane uses inauthentic identities to avoid facing the past. The

seemingly never-ending discrimination and oppression in Iran only adds to her distress. The fact that

most people “in search of a cloud of happiness, had forgotten their political conscience.” and that she

herself “lived from day to day without asking any questions” (p.326-327) aggravated her

further.  Everyone, including her, was hiding a part of their identity by abandoning their

resistance. In the end, Marjane burst out, “I can’t take it anymore. I want to leave this

country!” (p.340). The only thing keeping her in Iran was her family; she did not have a stable job or

a husband. She leaves for France in search of another new beginning.   

Marjane never deals with all of her undisclosed trauma, and therefore can never come to

terms with her complete self and her identity, as accepting your past is vital for accepting yourself. In

all the places Marjane visits, she lets the social environment affect her perception of

herself. However, the ending is left open. It is possible that in France, Marjane is finally able to stay

true to herself and accept herself as she is. Maybe a single, unifying identity is not the optimal choice

for her, instead her identity is one that is constantly evolving and being reconstructed.

 
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Bibliography:

Satrapi, Marjane: The Complete Persepolis, Pantheon Books, 2007