I thought Matthew’s blog of his first thoughts on Persepolis was really interesting. He writes about how the illustrations shown in the book are only coloured with black and white and how those colours are associated with “good and evil” in Marji’s (the main character/narrator) eyes. The “good” side (characters in white) are on Marji’s side as they are pro-revolutionists while the characters on the “evil” side (military) are shown in black. However this dichotomy between this theme fades out over the rest of the book as Marji grows up and realizes that politics aren’t always good or evil.

Adding onto the theme of “good vs. evil” or “white vs. black” in the political groups that Matthew brought up, it can also be seen in the symbols as well. My favourite depiction of this is the illustration found on page 43 in the lower left frame. It shows Marji’s father saying that they should now rejoice in their new found freedom now that the Shah has been overthrown and Marji’s mother agreeing, saying that the devil is now gone. But unbeknownst to them, bordering the frame is a black demon with its eyes trained on Marji’s family. The symbol of the black demon shows that there is more trouble to come that they (Marji and her family) does not know about and cannot control.