Introduction
Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is a memoir that reflects the life of the author during the Islamic Revolution in her childhood period. Marjane gives experiences of her life in Tehran during the revolution that toppled the Shah’s regime, the success of the revolution, and the terrible consequences of the Iran war with Iraq. We will be looking at childhood experiences of Marjane with the history of her country and the challenges she faced in her childhood.
Class Conflict
Class conflict is an issue that Marjane experiences throughout her childhood. Marjane experiences difficulties in thoughts and she cannot comprehend her father’s message about virtues of class-consciousness. This is because the family is wealthy. They can have a maid and Marjane’s father can drive a Cadillac. Marjane portrays Iran as a country of massive poverty and wealth. She faced the challenges of revolution during her childhood in Iran. She thought that it was as a result of Marxist urban elites’ action on behalf of the poor majorities.
The conflict Marjane must contend with is even clear in the section of “The Letter”. The maid must leave her love for a neighbor because of social class differences. Marjane learns it from her father that the two cannot marry due to class differences. As a child, Marjane faces challenges of class differences and beliefs of society. This leads to further confusion due to her parents’ involvement in the street march for a revolution.
Leaving the Faith
A significant section of the novel relates to Marjane’s faith and naivety. Marjane believes that she is a prophet just like Mohammed, Jesus, Zarathustra, and Moses. The significant of this section is that it is God who urges the girl to become a prophet and ensures that justice and love prevail.
However, this childhood fantasy of faith gradually comes to an end as Marjane faces social and political realities of her country. The existing torture and political imprisonments make Marjane turn away from God as there is no longer any peace for him. Marjane decides that she can no longer stand up faith full of fundamentalism because of the Islamic regime. The climax reaches when the regime executes Uncle Anoosh, where Marjane feels alone and empty in the world.
Fundamentalism
Marxist and Socialists failed to capture political power after the revolution. This results in strains for the urban elites who have modern Western ideologies and beliefs in the social values, education, human rights, and rights of women.
Marjane portrays fundamentalism in Iran as a source of an impediment for the country’s growth. Fundamentalism oppresses people politically and religiously. It takes people’s identity, dignity as well as their material wealth. Marjane shows that majorities in Iran suffer due to some extremist groups which punish and execute the rest.
Conclusion
Challenges and subsequent skills we see in Marjane as a child are positive. The prevailing situations make Marjane abandon fantasy about faith. Consequently, Marjane takes a positive and bold approach to challenges. She also learns about the negative consequences of class conflicts and social differences. Marjane views these differences as injustice. Marjane also comes to terms with realities of extreme consequences of fundamentalist ideologies. These are the three challenges Marjane has to deal with as a teenager in her home country while teenagers in the United States do not experience such challenges.