Adrian Powditch

Kitty Nard

English 114B

21 February 2012

Beliefs Fade As We Grow

                        As children we trust, listen, and believe in what our elders tell us. Our parents try to protect us from the wrong doings of the world. Most humans are sheltered from this information until our teenage years and we as people start to understand what actually goes on in the world. Everyone experiences different things in their childhood that makes them who they are. In the memoir Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Satrapi shares how she loses faith in both her religious views and the Iranian revolution as she ages through out the story.

            Marji’s early childhood was shaped on religion. She looked up to God, had conversations with him every night, and she was certain she was the last prophet. For Example in the very beginning of the story Marji shows her belief by saying “I really didn’t know what to think about the veil. Deep down I was very religious but as a family we were very modern and avant-garde. I was born with religion.” (6) Marji knew that she wanted to be a prophet by the age of six and kept her own holy book, just like her predecessors. She did not understand why her maid was not allowed to eat with the family and why her grandmother’s knees hurt so she wrote down her own rules when for when she became a prophet. She addressed problems that were not necessarily major issues in her rules, showing how she was naïve in dealing with the outside world. In addition Marji displayed her connection to religion by talking with God, “Every night I had a discussion with God… I wanted to be justice, love and the wrath of God all in one.” (8-9) Marji would lie in bed every night and had a conversation with God, this shows that she was believed that she had a special connection with him. Marji’s childish imagination allowed her to think that God was the answer to all of her problems. As a young girl she was not able to see past what her parents and peers were telling her about religion and God explaining her strong beliefs.

            As Marji grew up she began to experience things that were not controlled by religion and some outcomes that might make her unhappy. These experiences started her rebellion against the Iranian revolution and her overall outlook on religion. For example when she finds out Kaveh is leaving Iran to move to the United States she states “I think I really liked this boy… Actually I liked him very, very much. It was the end of the world!” (63) After learning more about what the government is doing to the rebellious Iranian citizens and how corrupt the government has become Marji watches her friend move away. This affects her in a way more than that of the stories that she has heard because it is her first personal experience. Marji loses faith towards her government and God during this tragedy. Secondly, when she has begun to gain a temptation to rebel she is drawn in by her friends to ditch class, “No, we’ve got physical education but were not going. We’re going for burgers.’ ‘ I wasn’t chicken, so I followed them. I had already broken the rules once by going to the demonstration in ’79 this was the second time.’” (111) Marji now is knowingly going against what she knows is the right thing to do. Even though she is only going out for burgers rather than going to class she is showing the signs of losing her old beliefs just like almost all humans do as they grow older. Marji has realized that things are not perfect even if you believe in God and she sees what really is going on in her country. These factors ignite her rebellious behavior.

            Towards the end of the story and the start of Marji’s teenage years she continues to lose faith in everything that she used to believe in and now starts to rebel more drastically. Firstly, Marji rebels against her mother once again after she yells at her for cutting class, “As for me, I sealed my act of rebellion against my mother’s dictatorship by smoking the cigarette I’d stolen from my uncle two weeks earlier… Now I was grown up.” (117) Marji is now rebelling against her mother right after she was caught cutting class. She knows that her mother won’t allow her to smoke cigarettes so she smokes one to prove that she is independent and now a woman. In addition Marji speaks to God for the last time after experiencing many tragic deaths to her loved ones, “Shut up, you! Get out of my life!!! I never want to see you again! And so I was lost without any bearing… What could be worse than that.” (70-71) For the first time in Marji’s life she has totally lost faith in God and wants him to never come back to talk to her. This was a major turning point in her life because she has put all of her faith into God and now is taking him out of her life completely. These events in her life effected what she used to love and look up to more than anything so greatly that she is willing to throw it all away. Lastly, Marji expresses her feelings in a way that she has never before, “After the death of Neda Baba-Levy, my life took a new turn. In 1984, I was fourteen and a rebel. Nothing scared me anymore.” (143) Marji’s life has now fully turned around, she knows that she is a rebel and will not allow anyone to effect her viewpoints. She fully lost her faith in God and is now rebelling as much as she can against the government. She is old enough to realize what is happening in her life and how she now has the power to control it. Marji changed in a major way during her story and has now completely lost faith in God and the Iranian government.

            Marji went through many tough experiences through out her childhood causing her understand the world in a different way than she thought it was like as a little girl. Marji worshiped God and her religion very intensely when she was a child. She would have conversations with God every night and even had dreams of being a prophet. This all changed from Marji after she experienced how harsh the world can be. She lost friends and family because of the Iranian revolution and this had a major impact on her religion. By the end of the story Marji was fully rebelling against the revolution and was not as religious as she was when she was a young girl. Marji went through many major experiences through her life that caused her to be who she is today.  

             

1. Stories that shaped Marji's life
-Moscow
-The Letter
-The Water Cell

2. Beliefs Chaged
-Supported Government
-God
-Revolting against the revolution

3.Social Classes
-The Key
-The Maid

Study Guide for in-class essay

Study Guide

1.   

  In the book Persepolis, Strapi’s motivations, beliefs, and education are all shaped by the stories that are told to her by Uncle Anoosh, her Grandfather, and Niloufar.

A.      Uncle Anoosh

a.       “I tell you all this because it’s important that you know. Our family memory must not be lost. Even if it’s not easy for you, even if you don’t understand it at all.’ ‘Don’t worry, I’ll never forget.’” (60) Expresses Belief. Anoosh to Strapi

b.      “But you’ll see! One day the proletariat will rule!’… ‘And so I was lost, without any bearings… What could be worse than that?’” (69-71) shows what she learned throughout the story of “the sheep” and how Anoosh and many others were killed. Anoosh then Strapi.

c.       “Did you hear that Anoosh? Do you realize how ignorant our people are? The elections were faked and they believe the results…” (62) Strapi’s Father on education.

B.      Grandfather

a.       “and that’s how he became king and naturally his son succeeded him. God has nothing whatsoever to do with this story.”(21) Father a story leading into other story about grandfather.

b.      “Do you want to play monopoly?’ ‘I want to take a bath’ ‘We can play after your bath if you want to.’ No! I want to take a really long bath.’” Father to Stapi. Expresses her motivations and why she wants to change everything.  

C.      Niloufar

a.       “all that creepy window washer had to do to become director of the hospital was to grow a beard and put on a suit! The fate of my husband depends on a window washer! Now he’s so religious that he won’t look a woman in the eye. The pathetic fool!” (121)   Aunt educatined Strapi on how corrupt everything is getting.

b.      “Three weeks after these events, Uncle Taher was buried. His real passoirt arrived the same day… he never got to see his son…” (125) Strapi was motivated by this to rebel and learned how messed up everything was getting.

2.       I agree with the review written in the L.A. Times stating that Strapi has ultimately become a powerful voice reminding us to embrace human dignity in various examples such as stories from her peers and the oppression as a result as the Islamic revolution.

A.        Stories

a.      “all that creepy window washer had to do to become director of the hospital was to grow a beard and put on a suit! The fate of my husband depends on a window washer! Now he’s so religious that he won’t look a woman in the eye. The pathetic fool!” (121)   Aunt educated Strapi on how corrupt everything is getting. Story about Niloufar

b. “But you’ll see! One day the proletariat will rule!’… ‘And so I was lost, without any bearings… What could be worse than that?’” (69-71) shows what she learned throughout the story of “the sheep” and how Anoosh and many others were killed. Anoosh then Strapi.

c. “In life you’ll meet a lot of jerks. If they hurt you, tell yourself that it’s because they’re stupid. That will help keep you from reacting to their cruelty. Because there is nothing worse than bitterness and vengeance… Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself.”( 150) Grandma telling this to Marji.

B.      Oppression:

a.       “I remember my initiation. It was the first day of class after summer vacation… After a little while, no one, took the torture sessions seriously anymore. As for me, I immediately started making fun of them.” (96-97) the oppression from the revolution made the woman beat their breasts because they were at war and Marjane was against it.

b.      “The other night, two guardians of the revolution patrols paid them a visit. Someone told us you were having a party, you know that is strictly forbidden!.. His wife cried so much that they let her off with a hefty fine. But he can’t walk anymore..” (105)  how ridiculous the guardians were towards anything out of line for the revolution.

c.       “They were guardians of the revolution, the women’s branch. This group had been added in 1982, to arrest women who were improperly veiled. (Like me, for example.) Their job was to put us back on the straight and narrow by explaining the duties of Muslim women.” (132-133) The revolution supplied women guardians to make sure that no women would stand up and try to look different. She explained that they could keep her for days and whip her for dressing differently.

3.       In the comic Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi shows how the social classes in Iranian during the nineteen eighties were segregated and how they were viewed through the eyes of the Iranians. Persepolis portrays how they were so separated in the chapers “The Letter” and “The Key”.

A.      The key

a.       “They come from the poor areas, you can tell…First they convince them that the afterlife is even better than Disneyland, then they put them in a trance with all their songs…” (101)

b.      “The key to paradise was for poor people. Thousands of young kids, promised a better life, exploded on the minefields with their keys around their necks.” (102)

B.      The letter

a.       “Ok, I’ll get straight to the point: I know that Mehri pretends shes is my daughter. In reality she is my maid.’… ‘Without hesitation, Hossein gave all the letters he had received back to my father!’” (36-37) Father to Hossein(neighbor who mehri falls in love with)

b.      “But is it her fault that she was born where she was born??? Dad, are you for or against social classes?” (37) Merji crying out against the fact that Mehri cannot date Hossein because of their social classes.