10 Questions About Persepolis: the Story of a Childhood

1. Why does Marjane mention Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and Trotsky?
She idolizes them because they were major figures during certain revolutions. Che and Castro
for the Cuban Revolution, Trotsky for the Russion Revolution.

2. Why does Marjane think the Shah was chosen by God?

Because her teacher and schoolbooks told her so. Since the government controls their
education, they want the young, impressionable children to believe what they believe and
brainwash them.

3. Why is photographing the events forbidden?

The government doesn’t want the protests to be documented and/or broadcasted because they
don’t want the rebellion movements to increase.

4. Why does Marjane’s father think there will never be peace in the Middle East?
Middle East has always been the target for industrial countries such as UK and USA because they
were developed countries that needed the sources in Middle East. Therefore, these countries
always try to overpower the governments in Middle East, either by force or manipulation.

5. According to Anoosh, why is it nearly impossible to persuade the population to follow

Marxism?
Because he believes that an ideology isn’t suitable to be everyone’s shared purpose. Since there
are different social classes and people have different levels of education, they might not be able
to understand a complex ideal such as marxism, and having a less complex thing to fight for, like
religious ethic or nationalism, is more uniting.

6. Who does the government recruit to serve on the front lines of the war?
They recruit children, especially ones from lower social classes. Most of the recruits are
inexperienced, uneducated children who are easy to deceive. They believe the government’s
religious claims that could never be real. They promised Heaven and handed out literal keys to
Heaven. Like the Catholic Church did during the Crusades.

7. Why does Mrs. Nasrine ask God for forgiveness?

She is stepping on grapes and “wasting food” or “disrespecting food” is ,not strictly but,
forbidden in Islam and so is consuming/producing alcohol.

8. What was Marjane’s motive for breaking her parents’ rules about cutting class?
She was influenced by her friends who wanted to sneak out and get something to eat, she didn’t
want to chicken out so she won’t be a misfit along her friends.

9. Where did many of the seriously wounded travel for treatment?

Patients who suffered because of chemical weapons were sent to Germany for treatment since
they couldn’t get the proper treatment in Iran. The chemical weapons they were attacked by
were also made in Germany.
10.  How did Marjane’s behavior change after Neda’s death?
She was deeply affected by her friend’s death. She faced the seriousness of the situation and it
was now personal to her. Despite seeing what could happen to her peers, she started acting
more careless and blunt. She was braver and bolder. She stood up to the principal of her school
and called out her teacher for lying in her new school.