Ready Reference Treatise: Persepolis

By Raja Sharma

“Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi was first published in 2000. It is an autobiographical graphic novel. The novel describes the author’s childhood up to her early adult life in Iran. It was the period during and after the Islamic revolution in Iran.

Persepolis was the ancient capital of the Persian Empire. The title of the novel is a reference to Persepolis. When it was published for the first time, it was highly acclaimed and it ranked fifth in the Newsweek list of ten best fiction books of the decade.

Ready Reference Treatise: Persepolis
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Jun 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310848414

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

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Ready Reference Treatise: Persepolis

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: Persepolis

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2015 Raja Sharma

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Chapter One: Introduction

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi was first published in 2000. It is an autobiographical graphic novel. The novel describes the author’s childhood up to her early adult life in Iran. It was the period during and after the Islamic revolution in Iran.

Persepolis was the ancient capital of the Persian Empire. The title of the novel is a reference to Persepolis. When it was published for the first time, it was highly acclaimed and it ranked fifth in the Newsweek list of ten best fiction books of the decade.

The book was originally published in French language. The book has been translated into several different languages.

The dissonance between the politics and class, the history of the Middle Eastern relations, the process of growing up during the revolution, and the moral ambiguities of the Iranian Revolution are some of the major themes that the author deals with extensively.

The release of the book in the United States caused immediate effect. The book was published after the 9/11 tragedy. It was the beginning of the Iraq War. The American-Iranian relations were already very strained.

The novel very descriptively presents the tumultuous history that lies behind Middle Eastern politics.

With a personal perspective, the author describes the Western views of Middle Eastern culture and religion. The author seems to have very keenly observed the Western views of the Middle East.

The book also describes the class disparities. The author presents these class disparities as contradictory and conflicted.

The author’s family was Marxist and communist, but they had a maid working in the house. They had a more privileged lifestyle than the lower class people. It was obviously contradictory to their Marxist views and ideology.

Through these contradictions within her own family, the author obviously wants to show the contradictions in Iranian society, both past and present.

Some of the critics blame that the author has presented one-sided portrayal of Islamic culture, although the novel is said to be a work of political and cultural art. The description of the Islamic regime after the Iranian Revolution is mostly one-sided.

Although the author’s interpretation is based in Middle Eastern culture, it is infused with Western cultural sensibilities. It is also said that the author does not take seriously the Muslims who cling to their conservative faith.

There is no doubt that this graphic novel is now considered as a highly significant work of modern literature. Maus was said to be one of the most popular graphic novels, but Satrapi’s novel has now reached the stage of being one of the most widely popular works of literature.

The book has also been adapted for television.

Chapter Two: Plot Overview

At the beginning of the novel, there is a short introduction. The book provides a brief history of Iran right from the first occupation by Indo-European nomads, to the advent and establishment of the Persian Empire, to the Islamic Revolution in the year 1979.

The author very specifically mentions that through this book she wants to show to the world that Iran is not a country of fundamentalists and terrorists. She also mentions that the West has done the inaccurate characterization of Iran.

When the author is a ten years old girl, she is compelled to wear a veil to school. It is imposed by the people who call for a cultural revolution in the country. Several protests take place in the country, both for and against this Cultural Revolution in Iran.

Before the Cultural Revolution, she used to study at French non-religious school, but when the revolution begins the school is abolished and the boys and girls are compelled to study at different schools.

The author’s mother does not approve of the changes and she protests. The European newspapers publish her mother’s pictures.

After that, her mother is obviously scared. The author believes that one day her mother will be the last prophet.

She is described to have conversations with God. In her conversations she imagines of a world with equality and there will be no suffering for the old people.

One day, she tells her classmates and teacher about her plan. She is ridiculed by her classmates and teacher. However, she continues to retain the hope that one day she will become a symbol for love, justice, and the wrath of God.

When the author is with her friends she is frank and open. They often pretend that they are revolutionary figures such as