Persepolis...Blog 1

-"In spite of everything, kids were trying to look hip even under risk of arrest". How did they do this?

One of the funny parts of this novel was when Marji went to the store by herself dressed in "punk" clothes. And she is caught, so she basically had to cry and lie to get out of it. Kids also dressed in "punk" clothes or in "hip" clothes when they went to parties "I got to go to my first party. Not only did my mom let me go, she also knitted me a sweater... I was looking sharp". In this type of environment I probably wouldn't have been as brave as Marji, and gone out alone with "punk" clothes on, cause I probably would have gotten caught and arrested. The ways Marji showd rebellion was by, dressing how she wants, speaking her mind at school, and smoking a cigarette. And this rebellion shows she is a normal kid because she likes to dress hip and rebel against her teachers. So she is normal, but different.

-Written as a memoir, is persopslis more powerful than if Satrapi had fictionalized the story?

The other graphic novels I have read is Persopolis, and Maus... twice. These two stories are actually alot alike, because they are both about struggles people have gone through, but written in creative ways. I thought Maus was a good book but Persepolis might be better, mainly because of the humor Satrapi uses. I think this book is better as a memoir than a fictionalized story because you get to hear some of her personal stories to help you relate to the book.

-What has Satrapi chosen to emphasiae in her childhood?

Throughout this story Marji has many experiences during the "Islamic revolution", and the pattern I saw through these experiences is, Marji likes to speak her mind and stick with what she believes. In the beginning she talks about being a prophet even though most people think its silly, and also when she was older she spoke her mind in front of her teachers even though she could get in trouble. Although Satrapi's drawings are pretty simple, I think the dialogue and drawings really complement each other, because the drawings help you imagine what is going in the story and without the dialogue you wouldn't know what exactly is going on.