It just so happens that we finish reading Persepolis when I'm starting my existential play. Putting two and two together, I'm left with a major question: Who cares?
The book is a coming of age story about a Muslim Iranian girl during the 80s. It's safe to say that most people can't totally relate. Of course there's some teenage girl problems in there, but the majority of the story revolves around the horrors of war and the oppression of women in Islamic fundamentalism. Furthermore, this story is nonfictional. I assume all the events happened to Marjane Satrapi in some shape or form. Unlike fictional stories, everything in this book isn't created to say something. Instead, these real memories are chosen to say something. Why these events? Why should we, anyone who's not similar to Marjane, care at all?
I don't have the answer. I liked the story, it was informative and entertaining as any coming of age story is, but I didn't come away with anything. Marjane's memories are all unique and haphazardly connected, creating an alien story in my opinion. Her childhood was war and she was a stubborn kid. She fled the sexist oppression in her country to find boy problems. The story is uncanny, familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. I don't really know what coming of age stories are supposed to do. Growing up is hard for everyone?
Maybe the story's moral is that even though Marjane had one of the worst childhood's possible, although with a foot in the average childhood, she made it to maturity. And I think this may tie into that end scene where she remembers how her grandma told her to be true to herself. I don't know. All I'm saying is that I definitely couldn't write an essay on the core message of Persepolis or why it (aside from the art and culture) stands out from any other coming of age novel. But maybe someone else can.
I really like this post. The whole time while reading the story, I was confused about what the moral of the story would be. In the end, I was dissatisfied because similar to what you said, there was no real moral, like many coming of age stories. From all of these stories all I can really get from them is that no matter whom you are, you struggle while changing from adolescence to a mature adult. No matter if you are American of Iranian, you have struggles. I do not detest the fact that Marjane's life was more difficult than that of an American citizen. She had to suffer through war in her country, something Americans of our generation do not know. However, she was able to escape the oppression of her country by moving to Austria... of course not escaping the grief of war, but physically was able to be free. She made the same mistakes most teenagers make; getting caught up in drugs, dating someone completely wrong for her and struggling to find her "true identity" by changing her look. After all of this, she returns to Iran only to later leave the still oppressive nature of the country. It leaves the audience with no true moral, making me wonder if the only point was to be informative that life in Iran during that time period affected everyone.
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