Persepolis

Sartrapi, M. (2004). Persepolis. NY: Pantheon. Marjane Satrapi grew up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. In her memoir, she describes what her life was like during the changing political and social settings of Iran at that time. She describes how she grew up among the political turmoil and how her family grew up in a privileged Iranian family that was once royalty. She also describes her struggles during her adolescence and how she was sent to Austria for boarding school. She describes in detail of the issues she went through during her time in Austria. Satrapi explains the revolution with enough detail to help readers understand the hardship her family and friends went through during this difficult time. The lively illustrations in black and white help visualize her story come to life. Through the illustrations, the reader can feel her confusion, fear, sadness, and anger. She was raised in a well-to-do family that leaned on Western ideology therefore her hardships were not as extreme as those poorer than her family. Yes, they lived through this political turmoil, but yet some of their actions showed they were still living a comfortable life. Satrap’s battle with the political changes they had to endure was difficult for her to accept. This conflict caused her to be separated from her family for duration of time because even as a young child she was raised to have her own views. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--Hd7FsUC9w