Depicted in uniform panels of black and white caricatures, Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi is an autobiographical graphic memoir that retells Satrapi’s childhood in Iran in the midst of the Iranian Revolution. Against a backdrop of socio-political upheaval, Satrapi’s protagonist reflects the dynamic nature of a country in the midst of redefining itself as she struggles with her identity as a Muslim, an educated woman and an Iranian largely represented with the symbol of the Veil. Satrapi employs elements of contemporary postcolonial commentary by deviating from the conventions of the autobiographical genre to subvert the Western orientalist perspective of Iranian women.

 

Justin D. Edwards, a professor at the University of Stirling, claims postcolonialism ‘arises out of political independence’ (10) and Deepika Bahtri from Emory University asserts that it popularized a form of expression critiqued to be in ‘charge of historical, economic, political representation’ (11) against cultural appropriation.  In Persepolis, Satrapi defies the Western portrayal of Muslim women as religiously oppressed by inverting the stereotype of the veiled woman. As a protagonist, Marji represents the discourse between Eastern and Western influences through her negotiation of her identity within the binaries of her culture. Marji as a child is deeply religious yet she adores Western literature and culture and at several points of the novel she notes the dichotomy between the dialogues she is taught at home and at school. For example, at school she is forced to wear the veil but she notes ‘I didn’t know how to feel about the veil but I knew as a family we were very avant garde,’ thereby exhibiting her existence as a postcolonial subject of acculturation. Even the title ‘Persepolis’, being the Grecian name for ancient Iran denotes Marji’s enquiry into the history of her background and the assimilation of new cultures around her. Further, the use of black and white graphics and flashback narrative to depict vivid memories reveals a certain disconnect between Marji and her culture, almost as if she is an observer to her own experience. Therefore, she becomes an allegory for Iran in its struggle between progress and stagnation in its chaos and defining its identity as a nation.

 

Structurally, Satrapi’s use of the graphic memoir genre diverges from the conventions of autobiography in order to deliver a complex political message in an accessible and unique way. The use of black and white panels creates a universality to an ethnic group that the dominant American narrative presents as marginalized or oppressed. Thus, the combination of visuals and text in Satrapi’s autobiography combine the binary genres of comics and autobiographies to subvert the Western representations of Iranians, specifically Iranian women, by presenting veiled women in contexts of protest rather than oppression.

 

Additionally, the graphic visual style enables a representation of an exaggerated truth which captures the subjectivity and magnitude of memory. In this way, the individual emotional ramifications of public events are underlined. Illustratively, each chapter begins with the title or introduction of a symbol that defines a moment or idea Marji deals with in her life. One of the most important symbols of the dual identity Marji possesses is represented through the Veil or chador which is the very first chapter. Contextually, the imposition of the Veil as part of woman’s attire and the closure of secular schools is a consequence of the prevalence of the Islamic Republic but for Marji these events break her accepted realities. For example, she observes that ‘God did not choose the King.’ The games she plays with the Veil and the subsequent games she creates out of the trauma of war around her displays the instability of her narrative as a child as well as well as the normalization of terror in her life. Consequently, she becomes even more a metaphor for Iran’s acceptance of its chaotic political landscape and its lack of collective identity. Furthermore, Satrapi’s use of symbolism within the graphic memoir genre enable her to represent the mystery of the Iranian woman by highlighting both the Western assumption of the Veil as a religiously oppressive tool as well as the dynamics of the independent women’s identity underneath. For example, Marji’s games display her rejection of the Veil as a law but later she also adheres to wearing it as she acknowledges its importance in her safety. The public portrayal of Marji as a veiled woman juxtaposes her private life of pop music and liberal thought therefore highlighting the dialectical parallel between the East and West in Iran or the hybridity of postcolonial cultures. Resultantly, this moment of veiling becomes prevalent in Marji’s life as the catalyst of her rebellion which ultimately leads to her being sent to Europe due to her assertion as an independent Iranian women. In this way, Satrapi illustrates the complexity of the Iranian women’s identity by delving into the significance of wearing the Veil as a direct challenge to Marji’s self-identification and undermining the Western assumption that the Veil is simply a misogynistic tool of oppression.

 

Conclusively, the genre and structure of Persepolis become tools in Satrapi’s exploration of personal and public identity by enabling her to challenge the dominant representations of Iranian women in Western Media. The presentation of her narrator as a child is a metaphor for the Iran’s infancy as a nation as well as it’s impressionability and the inconsistency of perspectives. Since the Veil is one of the most politically and socially controversial symbols in literature, beginning the book by exploring Marji’s experience with the Veil is an assertion of independence and reclamation of the stereotype of the veiled woman. In this way, Satrapi uses symbols in the graphic memoir genre to critique modern postcolonialism through the redefinition of the stereotypical identity of an Iranian woman. Marji serves as a lens through which Satrapi explores the Eastern-Western dynamic, cultural hybridity and complexity of identity resulting from a country undergoing immense socio-cultural turmoil.

 

Works Cited

Bahtri, Deepika. “Native Intelligence.” Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 October 2018.

Edwards, Justin D. “Postcolonial Literature.” Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web.15 October 2018.