Pictures Are Truly Worth a Thousand Words

Persepolis, a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi tells the story of her life growing up in revolutionary Iran. This is the first graphic novel I have ever read, and I love it! At first I thought I was going to have a tough time with the graphic novel; I was expecting to be lost while reading the story. Surprisingly, it is the first book I enjoy reading. While reading a regular novel, I get bored easily but since graphic novels have detailed pictures telling the story, I know what is going on. Graphic novels display exactly what the author is trying to portray to the readers. I like this because I am not one to use my imagination that often, especially when reading a novel. I always find myself reading the words over, and over again and yet I have no idea what I just read! Persepolis is different. The pictures keep me interested in the story. By examining the pictures carefully while you read, the reader can see what the author is truly saying. The details in the pictures are actually more important than the words in the novel. Marjane can put very few words to a picture in her story and the reader can interpret exactly what she is trying to convey. For example, on the bottom left corner of page 52, Laly was telling Marj that her dad is a hero and you can see how Marj feels about that; she feels inferior to Laly because her own father is not considered a “hero.” If this was portrayed with just words, I would have never known how Marj truly felt about that situation. Graphic novels help the reader connect with the characters more; by actually seeing how the character acts, it makes them more relateable.