Connections

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi connects to the memoir Night  by Elie Wiesel. Both books have the same purpose, the same theme and have similar occurring events. The purpose in both authors Wiesel and Marjane was to make sure people never forgot what happened. They did not write the story to just retell it they wrote it to make sure people don't make the same mistakes. In Marjane Satrapi's introduction of the book she wrote, "One can forgive but one should never forget". This was the last statement in the introduction meaning she wanted it to be the last thing people read before they started the memoir, that way they knew the purpose. By Marjane Satrapi and Elie Wiesel writing their memoir they are educating us. Knowledge is power, and that power helps each of us to help prevent and stop further events like those from happening again. The literal connection between the two stories where that they both were about young kids who went through a horrible experience and their coming of age. Both books have the same theme of Coming of Age. The figurative meaning of both books are connected because they both are made to make being never forget their horrible experiences. They want to teach society about the events in hopes of making sure the events never happen again in the future. The video clip I selected about Night is about shows how just a couple extremists can take over an entire country. However even though these few extremist existed not everyone in the country was a bad person. Elie being one of the few to retell the story after the mass genocide had to make sure people knew that it wasn't the whole country of Germany that was bad. In The Complete Persepolis it is about a girl whose country is taken over by extremists as well. She herself wasn't a bad person but these extremist made everyone on the outside looking in think everyone living in Iran were bad people, however this wasn't the case. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Night by Elie Wiesel connect because they have the same theme, the events that occurred were similar and both author had the same purpose in writing the story.

Final Reflection

After reading The Complete Persepolis i have been changed forever. THe book was amazing. It was such an amazing memoir about how just a few people can affect so many different peoples lifes. It was a memoir about a young girl named Marjane Satrapi’s coming of age. I really enjoyed the format of the memoir. I liked it being a graphic novel so i was able to clearly see the setting and the characters reactions to things. i liked being able to have visuals to go along with the text. Besides the book being a graphic novel it was also very well written. There were a lot of experience retold in the  and they were organized very well. Just liked i predicted in my initial response the memoir was also very detailed. I also liked how Marjane Satrapi spent time with her drawings in the graphic novel. Page 228 panel one is a good example of how she spent time on each panel. She made sure she spent time drawing every demonstrators face and showed the anger in their eyes. The reason I also liked the book was because I liked  Marjane Satrapi’s purpose behind why she wrote it. She wrote it to make sure people never forgot the Islamic Revolution. She also wanted people to not judge her country just because of what a couple extremists did. She wanted people to know that many people suffered and lost their lives due to those few horrible people. That’s why I loved the book. She had a great purpose behind writing it.

Word Count: 261

Initial Impressions

The book I selected for the independent memoir reading is The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. My expectation of this text I have select is to learn about a young girl's life growing up during Revolutionary Iran in graphic novel format. I am expecting a very detail and entertaining book as well as educational. I am expecting a well detailed memoir because they created a major motion picture based on the book. In order for the book to become a movie it must had a lot of detail that way the director of the movie is able to visual scenes and make the movie great. I feel detail in a book is crucial in order to make a book a movie. The movie won in the 2007 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize.  I do not know much about the author except that she has written other graphic novels as well. I read in her biography that she enjoys writing graphic novels and she always has since she was a child. I selected this book because I enjoy reading books in the format of a graphic novel. I like having images go along with the words I am reading. I feel more connected to the book when there are images because I am able to clearly see what is happening. I choose the topic of the novel because it was about Revolutionary Iran and I have always been interested in learning more about it this topic. I want a book that will teach me about Revoluntionary Iran but at the same time entertain me and I feel like this is the right book.

Word Count 272

Passage Analysis

In this quote, Marjane is reflecting on a book she had read by her favorite author Ashraf Darvishian. After reading the book she started becoming more aware of social classes. This quote is important because this was the start of Marjane's coming of age. She wanted to start havig an opinion on the Revolution however she did not know much. The books educated her about the Revolution and that helped guide her in her opinions on it.

       This quote is a metaphor. Marjane Satrapi compares her shame to the Revolution. The metaphor has an impact on the passage meaning. The metaphor helps you see Marjane's coming of age. She is able to understand the cause of the Revoluntion and is even able to connect it to her own feelings. The tone of this passage is angry. In the panel you can see anger in Marjane's drawing of herself. Marjane is upset about the social classes and starts feeling shameful that she rides in her dad's Cadillac.

       The quote is significant because this is the point in the story in which Marjane decides she wants to start demonstrating. She very upset with the idea of social classes. If it wasn't for her reading the books and wanting to become educated she would not have these feeling towards social classes.  The theme of this quote is Coming of Age. She once was uneducated of the Revolution and didn't really have an opinion. However after she's educated herself through books she wants to start protesting against the government. She doesn't even care if she gets in trouble or not.

Word Count: 285

Emotional Response

        I was very taken aback when I read the chapter The Trip in the memoir. It was the first time in the memoir where Marjane Satrapi used a curse word. I wasn't expecting it at all! In the book she wrote, "They insulted me. They said that woman like me should be pushed up against a wall and fucked and then thrown in the garbage can" (74). I am able to handle mature language well however I just was not expecting it at all. I kept forgetting that it wasn't young Marjane Satrapi telling the story but older Marjane Satrapi telling the story later on in life. That quote is what her mother said after he car broke down and two fundamentalist men said that to her. This was one of the few point in the story when I actually felt offended. Me being a woman I don't think it's fair for them to wear the veil. I was thinking about how I would feel if I was forced to wear one. I would feel so controlled and no longer an individual. I was able to really connect with Marjane Satrapi's moms emotions. In the book Marjane Satrapi wrote, "That incident made my mother sick for several days" (74). I would have been very disturbed for multiple days as well if someone said that to me. I may even have been scarred for life. This was the point in the story where I really became interested in reading more and finding out the outcome of the Revolution.
Word Count: 257

Title Significance

        There is a literal and figurative meaning to the title Persepolis. Persepolis has the word polis in it so you already know that it is some sort of city. Persepolis is the name of an ancient city that was once the Capital of the ancient Persian Empire that is now in ruins. In the memoir Marjane Satrapi titled on of the chapters Persepolis. In the chapter it described the history and the becoming of Persia. The grandma told Marjane Satrapi a story about how the Shah spent all the countries money on ridicules celebrations. This was one of the many reasons of the Revolution in Persia. The literal meaning of the title is just an ancient city in ancient Persia. The title is what told you the setting of the story and helped you predict the topic of the memoir. Marjane Satrapi does not live in Persia but you can predict the situations that occur in the country will be the same.
        Even though the title had a literal meaning, it has a deeper figurative meaning. Marjane Satrapi titled the book Persepolis to symbolize the Revolution. She wanted people to know the truth about the Revolution that many did not. In the introduction of the book the last sentence says "one can be forgiven but one should never forget." She never wants the events that took place to be forgotten. The best way to ensure it will not be is by creating a book that explains her personal experiences. Also in the introduction it says "I believe that an entire nation should not be judge by the wrongdoings of a few extremists". Marjane does not want her entire country to be categorized as a bad place just because of a few bad people. Persepolis is portrayed as a bad place and all Marjane is trying to say is that you can not judge a place by just a few people's actions. By Marjane Satrapi saying this in the introduction she is telling you why she wrote the book. The title symbolizes her purpose of the book. Even though Persepolis is now in ruins her titling the book that makes people never forget. The events that happened in Persepolis were the same that happened in Tehran and many forgot what happened in Persepolis. The figurative meaning is very hard to interpret, but there is definitely a bigger meaning behind the title.
Word Count: 400