A Struggle Through Life

              In the book Persepolis, the reader is introduced to an Iranian girl, Marjane. Marjane speaks about her life and her struggles of growing up in a time of war in her home country, Iran. Although she is young while the war is going on, she still suffers from it. In my opinion, this story is more effectively told through its form of a graphic novel. You can truly see Marjane's interpretation of things through her pictures.

              Before reading the book, I had slight knowledge of Iran and it's struggle with war. I have read books that are slightly similar  and there is obviously the history that is accessible online and in history books. However, I haven't actually gotten a picture of what people went through during this time. I have heard about the massive deaths and how terrible it was to see people dying everyday, but no book gave me a distinct feeling that Persepolis did. Marjane effectively portrays how she saw the war. She felt lost and alone most of the time because she was young. She explains how losing her uncle to the tyranny of the regime in Iran led her to lose her faith in God. Her interpretation of this is astonishing because she was young when this happened. I feel that if this was not a graphic novel, this struggle would not have made as much on an impact. It is not only the writing that captivated me at this point-- many people speak about their loss of faith-- but it is also the pictures that are drawn to display how she felt. She not only displays the struggle of war, but the effect that it had on her life.
              Marjane speaks about the struggle Iran had with war and the effect it had on her and her family specifically. She showed that every single family in Iran were effected in some way. Whether it was a death of a family member or the new repressive government laws that were issued, everyone suffered. She shows that even though she was not in Iran at the time, she was still affected by what was occurring. She could not escape the place she was from, it was a part of her. Through her graphic novel, Marjane Satrapi was able to portray her struggle with the war through her life. She suffered from what was happening to other Iranians, it hurt her to know what was going on. She felt guilty about what was happening and had to deal with this struggle while she was in Austria, punishing herself for something she could not control.