persepolis Blog 2

-What is the role of women in the story?

In this story women have many different roles. The first place that I saw this was in the beginning, when women had to start wearing veils. There was a panel showing women expressing their belief by saying "the veil!" or "freedom!", so I wonder which one Marji was for. The women in Marji's family played the role of the women saying "freedom" which is one of the reasons Marji starts to rebel at the end of the story. On the other hand there are Marji's school teachers and the guardians of the revolution who believe in the veil and following the rules. Although Marji's mother was for "freedom", she also followed the rules for the safety of Marji, like when her dad was happy she told off the teacher but her mom was angry because she was thinking of the rules and what bad things could happen to her. And of course the guardians of the revolution played the role of the rule followers because that is their job, to punish those who weren't following the rules.

-In what ways is Persepolis both telling a story and commenting on the importance of stories in our lives.

Persepolis is the story of Marji's life during the revolution, and throughout this book there are mini stories of various people like her uncle, grandfather, and more. In my opinion stories are a great way to get a message of moral across, and many of the stories that Marji is told shape her life. Like I said before when Marji is a teenager she starts to rebel and part of that was because of the what her parents believed was right, another reason why she starts to rebel is because of these stories she hears about her families struggles. Like in the chapter The Cigarette Marji started to hang out with older girls and misbehave by skipping school, and at the end of the chapter she smoke a cigarette and says "with this first cigarette I kissed childhood goodbye". And in the very next chapter Marji's uncle is smoking a cigarette and talking about his son in Holland.

- At the core of the book is Marji's family. What is the family like?

At the core of the book things are becoming more dangerous and her family has to be more careful. Despite this her family stays strong by having parties, even though its against the rules. Even though Marji and her family could be bombed at any time, they have created a place for Marji to feel more safe. I also think that her family gets there strength through hope, that Iran will once again be a safe place for them to carry out there everyday lives.