Explain how the author has portrayed a social group in a particular way.

How might the

contexts of the author have influenced their portrayal of these social groups?

PERSEPOLIS
Persepolis shows how the war in Iran affects every social class, not just the poor. Marji, who is from
a middle class background, Mehri the maid who is from a lower class, as well as Mali, who’s family is
from a higher class; all of them are affected. The author has therefore used examples of various
characters other than the protagonist in order to depict how this war in iran affected all social
classes. At the same time however, social classes played a major role in the revolution, and examples
have been given for the same in the analysis below.

EVIDENCE:

1) Page 5-

The author has started out by basically portraying how Satrapi’s mother had to actually
disguise her entire look in order to not be recognized, because of how dangerous their
culture (social group) , or rather country was. Just protesting against veils had lead to the
mother being scared for her life to an extent that she had to dye her hair, wear glasses, and
stay low.
2) Page 10-

The writer has brilliantly used flashbacks to give small backgrounds about stories at the
beginning of the revolution, and this is one of the examples. He uses these short stories to
give the reader more information about the background of how the revolution originally
started; a deeper background history on the social groups in Iran.

3) Page 33-

‘ I finally understood why I felt ashamed to sit in my father’s cadillac’ –

The author explains that Marji feels ashamed to sit in the Cadillac because it shows that she
is in a higher social class than the people she is around. He paints a picture that the Cadillac
represents a difference in social classes which is one of the reasons for the revolution, and
that is one of reasons for the revolution.
4) Page 37-

This is another example of how important social classes were in this book. Marjane’s dad
again gives her the example of Mehri and her boyfriend, to show Satrapi how important the
social status was in the culture. Even though her dad didn’t support it, he explained how
their ‘love was impossible’, and how without hesitation Hossein handed over all the letters
(metaphor to show that their relationship had ended)
5) Page 66-

This whole panel is actually a bit terrifying. It shows the realness and indecisiveness of the
lives in Iran, and how dangerous it really is. It defines the social group of the police in Iran.
The line ‘we are the deliverers of divine justice’ while grabbing and continuing to execute
the completely innocent sister of Siamek just shows the gruesome amount of ruthless power
they held in the society.

6) Page 290-
The writer often compares the conservative attitude towards sex in Iran to the general
freedom in Austria; be it being seen with men in public or something else. In this specific
panel it is seen how strict the patrols are about not being together in public as a couple
unless they’re married. It shows the backwardness of the social culture in general in Iran as
well as the dictatorship-like attitude of the police, who held a higher status than the people
in general; regardless of the social class.

(ok im kind of sleepy its 310. Try developing another point about the veils, I haven’t focussed
much on it; google par mil jayega I guess)
gn