Plan

Introduction:
Hook: In Persepolis, a memoir of a childhood, Satrapi draws on her experience of
growing up In Tehran during the Islamic Revolution (1979) and a part of the Iran-Iraq
War (1980-1988).
 Introducing the division between the Orient and Occident
 Introducing how Satrapi contradicts this
Thesis statement: In the graphic novel Persepolis, Satrapi aims to reverse the
Oriental gaze and disturb the East/West dichotomy by unveiling similarities between
the East and West while conducting an irreducible character who cannot fit into one
simple category: a Middle Easterner.

Paragraph 1: a resemblance in desires

Topic Sentence: The differences between “us” and “them” lie in the Nurture of the
Orient and not in its nature.
 For most modern Western students, the country of Iran has held negative
connotations
 To contradict this, Satrapi uses her childhood thoughts and desires to display
the similarities between the reader and herself.
 Examples, are unveiling a prominent resemblance between the desires of
Orient and Occident children, thereby closing the chasm between “us” and
“them”
 This is emphasized by Marji’s age.

Paragraph 2: a resemblance in culture

Topic Sentence: To diminish the East/West dichotomy even further, Satrapi also
shows the influence of western culture in Iran through her illustrations and the
population that she portrays.
 Her style, although inspired by Persian art, also draws upon Occidental art.
 She uses Christian elements in her drawings
 She starts changing her faith in religion by searching for answers in
philosophy and books
 This shift in her faith, which is simultaneous with the first revolution in Iran,
puts her in a position to embrace “Westernisation” more seriously than before.
 More people transform with this shift which results in a population that involves
Occidental elements such as card games or alcoholic parties which are all
condemned by the new Government.

Paragraph 3: criticizing the influence of modern western societies in Iran

Topic Sentence: Although “Westernisation” is embraced more after the first revolution
than before, you could still argue that Satrapi’s “Westernisation” is just a form of
discouragement of the Islamic regime of Iran.
 Being raised with attitudes and considering them as normal is more due to the
restrictions of the Islamic revolution than it is a product of the “Western”
hegemony.
  These examples are not strange when you consider that Iran has been
identified by the US as a hostile country.

Conclusion
 It looks like Satrapi and Persepolis are caught in an ideological, political, and
theological war between the “West” and Iran. Persepolis shows a critical
overview of both “East” and “West”, without making one of them favourable.
 Satrapi does this by creating a heterogeneous, irreducible character that
unveils behavioural and cultural similarities between the “East” and “West”
which reverses the oppressive Orientalist gaze.
 The term “Westernisation” still has to be nuanced when it comes to Iran.
 In spite of these nuances, Satrapi does succeed in disturbing the East/West
dichotomy and reversing the Oriental gaze by letting the reader understand
that she, with many others, does not fit in one simple category: A Middle
Easterner.

Bibliographical References

CHUTE, H. The texture of retracing in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, 2008.

FOUCAULT, M. A ordem do discurso. São Paulo: Edições Loyola, 1999.
LESERVOT, T. Occidentalism: Rewriting the West in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis,
2011.
SAID, E. Orientalism. New York: Pantheon, 1978.
SHAHEEN, JACK G. Arab Images in American Comic Books,1998.
SPANGLER, S. Building Prior Knowledge and Exploding Stereotypes, 2010.
WHITLOCK, G. From Tehran to Tehrangeles: The generic fix of Iranian exilic
memoirs, 2008.
 Diminishing the East/West dichotomy
in Satrapi’s Persepolis
In Persepolis, a memoir of a childhood, Satrapi draws on her experience of growing
up In Tehran during the Islamic Revolution (1979) and a part of the Iran-Iraq War
(1980-1988). Behind this autobiography lies not only the will to prevent stories of
Iranians from fading away, but also to convey an urgent message. Foucault (1999,
P.53) suggests that the world is not divided into pre-discursive categories, but that
discourse is a violence humans impose on the world. According to Said (1978, p.5)
an instance of such categories is the divide between Orient and Occident. Said sees
Orientalism as coming to terms with the reality that affirms the difference between the
West and the unfamiliar East, in a distinction between “us” and “them”. An example
of this is described by Jack G. Shaheen in the article Arab Images in American
Comic Books. In the article he states that Arabs in comics are most often portrayed
as villains, alternating between “the repulsive terrorist, the sinister sheikh or the
rapacious bandit”. By contrast, Satrapi underlines a different perspective of the Arab
image, focusing on her own, and her family’s memoir, showing the different
perspectives from which the Iranian population and its culture can be portrayed. In
the graphic novel Persepolis, Satrapi aims to reverse the Oriental gaze and disturb
the East/West dichotomy by unveiling similarities between the East and West while
conducting an irreducible character who cannot fit into one simple category: a Middle
Easterner.

For most modern Western students, the country of Iran has held negative
connotations connected with “fundamentalism, fanaticism, and terrorism”, as Satrapi
points out in her introduction to the memoir. The reasons for those feelings are
primarily based only on Iran’s portrayal in popular media since the country is largely
ignored in Occident school curricula (Susan Spangler, 2010). While Western
students might have heard about Iran as part of the Persian Empire in their history
class, their feeling is likely to be tainted by films such as 300 in which Persians are
portrayed as demonic, evil and as villains (Susan Spangler, 2010). To contradict this,
Satrapi uses her childhood thoughts and desires to display the similarities between
the reader and herself. On page 102 Marji tells the reader that her mom had let her
go to her first party. Not long after this occasion, Marji’s parents are going to Turkey
and she asks her parents to bring back posters of her Western idols ( “Kim Wilde”, P.
126-134). Both of these examples, together with many more, are unveiling a
prominent resemblance between the desires of Orient and Occident children, thereby
closing the chasm between “us” and “them”. This is emphasized by Marji’s age. Her
loving, honest and fearless mind, like most children, exposes all her thoughts and
desires. Even though her environment contradicts “ours”, her thoughts and desires
still correspond with the ones of Western children. This demonstrates to Western
children that the differences lie in the Nurture of the Orient and not in its nature.

To diminish the East/West dichotomy even further, Satrapi also shows the influence
of western culture in Iran through her illustrations. First of all, her style, although
inspired by Persian art, also draws upon Occidental art. Chute (2010, p. 145) states
that Satrapi’s choice to draw in black and white was inspired by the avant-garde, in
particular, drawings by the French artist Félix Vallotton who is known for his black
and white illustrations. In addition, Satrapi uses Christian elements in her drawings.
Gillian Whitlock (2006, P.975) explores, for example, the similarity between Marji’s
mother fainting when her daughter leaves Iran (p. 153) and the pietà which is a
classic Christian image depicting Virgin Mary holding Jesus after his crucifixion.
Furthermore, the graphic narrative shows that the Iranian population is influenced by
Western culture. An example can be found on page 13 where Marji compares God to
Marx. Marji depicts God and Marx quite similarly, with the comment that “Marx's hair
was a bit curlier”. God and Marx are oppositional figures on many different levels, a
figurehead of a religion and a philosopher, who is also an atheist. It is at that moment
that she starts changing her faith in religion by searching for answers in philosophy
and books. This shift in her faith, which is simultaneous with the first revolution in
Iran, puts her in a position to embrace “Westernisation” more seriously than before.
Marji´s example is just one of many souls that are undergoing this transformation
because of the new Islamic regime. This results in a population that involves
Occidental elements such as card games or alcoholic parties which are all
condemned by the new Government.

Although “Westernisation” is embraced more after the first revolution than before, you
could still argue that Satrapi’s “Westernisation” is a form of discouragement of the
Islamic regime of Iran. Being raised with attitudes and considering them
as normal is more due to the restrictions of the Islamic revolution than it is a product
of the “Western” hegemony. In Occidentalism: Rewriting the West in Marjane
Satrapi’s Persepolis (2011, p. 126), Leservot states that the “West” in Persepolis is
“reconstructed by Iranians not to respond to the West but to deal with their own
political issues”. This argument could be backed up on pages 261 and 272. On page
261, Marji sees her friends again after her time in Austria and thinks that “They all
looked like the heroines of American TV series”. When she confesses her sexual
experiences in Austria to them on page 272, these friends call her out as whore and
turned out to be “traditionalists” in Marji’s words. In this example, you can clearly see
that “Westernisation” is used as a form of discouragement of the Islamic regime
instead of “Western” hegemony. These examples are not strange when you consider
that Iran has been identified by the US as a hostile country. Former US President
George W. Bush grouped Iran with North Korea and Iraq in the “axis of evil” which is
a highly evocative term in the US as it was originally used in WWII to indicate
Germany, Italy and Japan.

Ultimately, it looks like Satrapi and Persepolis are caught in an ideological, political,
and theological war between the “West” and Iran. Persepolis shows a critical
overview of both “East” and “West”, without making one of them favourable. Satrapi
does this by creating a heterogeneous, irreducible character that unveils behavioural
and cultural similarities between the “East” and “West” which reverses the oppressive
Orientalist gaze. As argued throughout this thesis, the portrayal of a group that is
usually perceived as homogeneous by the “West”, when constructed as
heterogeneous, is already in the process of disturbing the East/West dichotomy.
Although Satrapi succeeds in reversing this Oriental gaze, the term “Westernisation”
still has to be nuanced when it comes to Iran. The influence of Western societies
such as wearing make-up or alcoholic parties is more due to the restrictions of the
Islamic revolution than it is a product of the “Western” hegemony. In spite of these
nuances, Satrapi does succeed in disturbing the East/West dichotomy and reversing
the Oriental gaze by letting the reader understand that she, with many others, does
not fit in one simple category: A Middle Easterner.