IB English HL I

Dr. Malashewski

Persepolis: Discussion Questions

Directions
For the next class, choose one of the questions and write a formal response (150-200
words). For the other questions, write some brief notes to record your thoughts.

1. The early chapters of Persepolis focus as much on Marji’s internal fantasy life as
they do on the harsh realities of daily life in Iran. Imagining herself to be the “last
prophet,” for example, Marji elbows her way into an all-male line-up that includes
Muhammad, Jesus, and Abraham (6). Later, after relinquishing her desire to
become a prophet, Marji fantasizes that she will become a revolutionary hero in
the tradition of Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, and Leon Trotsky (10, 16). Why do
the early chapters devote so much space to Marji’s fantasy life? How does Satrapi
depict the function of fantasy?
The early chapters of Persepolis focus on Marji’s fantasy life for many reasons. One of
these reasons is that she was a child– this fantasy showcases her innocence and
imagination as a child. These were the type of extreme dreams that children hoped their
life would turn into. As the novel progresses, we see this fantasy fade away; it symbolizes
how she started to understand how life is and what others have to go through as she grew
older. Originally, Marji wanted to be a prophet, because she had seen these “problems” as
large, unfortunate things that happen to her family such as her grandma’s knees aching all
the time. As seen in How to Read Literature Like a Professor, characters who turn out to
be the heroes are usually “marked” in some way. These problems that were presented to
her gave her the idea that she was the chosen one and was meant to help the unfortunate
in life. As she grew older, she realized that these “problems” didn’t match the problems
low class families actually had to go through. Satrapi showcases her realization with
Marji writing her prophet book about how she was ashamed of the differences between
social classes before realizing “but now that I think of it… we have a maid at home!!!”
(Satrapi 33). When realizations like this occur, that fantasy of being the “hero” fades as it
is common in literature for the protagonist to be the hero because of their low class,
underestimation, things of the nature. The usage of childhood fantasy also helps readers
to understand Marji and see how her innocence slowly fades away as the war goes on.
2. What do you make of this graphic novel’s visual aesthetic? How might Satrapi’s
use of sharply contrasting black-and-white images be well-suited to the novel’s
content? How might her use of abstract ideographic images be appropriate to the
novel’s content? Why doesn’t the author make use of gray areas, shading, or
color? Why does she dispense with fine-grained detail?
- Marji sees in a very black and white way
- She thinks it’s as simple as good and bad, wrong and write, you need
to just do this to solve this problem, etc.
- Mostly as she’s a child
- Represents the tone of the book
- Darker, more serious topics
- Gloomy
- Simplistic drawings

3. Americans have been primed by the mass media to perceive veiled women as
silent victims who lack the ability to make free choices and require liberation
through Western military intervention. Is it significant that, on the first page of her
novel, Satrapi depicts schoolgirls taking off their veils and using them as resources
for creative play: as a monster mask, a skipping rope, a harness, and so on (3)?
And what do you make of the fact that the first image of Marji’s mother, Taji,
depicts her as engaging in a street protest (5)? How might Satrapi’s novel
complicate the construction of Islamic women as passive victims?
- Oppression/sexism
- When the veils are off, the girls are able to play, and say what they
wanted, etc
- However when they were forced to wear them, they had to act or
speak a certain way, be poised

4. What do you make of the author’s depiction of Marji’s effort to imagine what a
man who has been “cut to pieces” (52)? Is the panel a realistic depiction of a
dismembered man? Or does it more closely resemble a disassembled doll? What
might the image reflect about Marji’s understanding of the event? Does the image
convey that Marji’s innocence has been lost? Or does it convey that her innocence
has been preserved? Why might Satrapi spare the reader from having to confront
such horrors in realistic detail?
- Resembles more of doll parts
- Doll like = representing childhood innocence
 - She hasn’t physically experienced/witnessed the horrors of the war
- Not graphic because she hasn’t actually seen what it actually looks like

5. When a series of popular protests results in the Shah’s being removed from power,
the people of Iran hold what Satrapi describes as “the biggest celebration of its
entire history” (42). In the panel where Satrapi represents this celebration, what
does her depiction of the clothing and hairstyles worn by the Iranian people reveal
about their attitudes toward individuality and self-expression? What does this
image suggest about how the Iranian people will respond when women are
required to wear the veil?
- Progression
- Marji relates the black clothing/veils as oppression (fundamentalist
man/woman)
- Image includes patterns and not just solid black (aka
oppression)
- Allowing them to express themselves through their clothing
rather than the all black they were initially required to wear

6. When Marji learns that her country has come under attack, how does she respond?
How does her attitude towards the Iran-Iraq War differ from the attitudes of her
parents? Do you notice any parallels between Marji’s patriotic fervor and her
early religious fervor?
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