Hello readers,
In my ASTU course the class has been discussing a book called Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi. In this personal narrative, Marjane is describing the Iraq war through her own experiences. One discussion in particular stood out to me when the topic of religion came up. Religion plays an important part in Margi’s life yet throughout the book she continuously struggles to follow it. I believe the reason for this conflict is due to Marj’s strong independent nature verses the values of her religion. As we continue through the narrative we see on numerous occasions where these two main traits conflict with each other, forcing Marji to pick between them.
From the moment Marji was born, she was religious. Not due to her own thoughts and beliefs but of her parents. Since a young age Marji took her religion very seriously and at the age of six she believed she would be a prophet. I found her obsession with wanting to be a prophet very intriguing. As shown in the book Marji has many conversations with God, one in particular where she wants to be God in three ways; Justice, love and wrath. I believe most people have a genuine desire to believe that the world can be good, and would like to make it better. Marji definitely is passionate about her community and living standards and wanting to live somewhere where she doesn’t have to lie about how many times she prays or is forced to look a certain way. The problem in Marji’s case is that since she is so young, she doesn’t quite understand everything that is happening in her community. Which brings up the question of what Marji’s beliefs are between good and evil since she is growing up during a time of war, what is she basing her beliefs off of?
As Marji grows up she begins to realize that her religion isn’t all that it had appeared to be. After the Shah’s reign ended Marji and her family believed life would get better however the religious leaders of the time created a new war and new rules creating even more hardships for Marji. It was not exactly clear at first what effects the religious leaders would have on the community. Marji, like any other person growing up, was begging to find herself and her purpose in life. When in class and her teacher was talking about the religious leaders Marji calls out the
indiscrepancies between what she had been taught before and after the revolt. The teacher acted shocked that Marji could bring up such a horrible topic however it was what she had been taught. With the switch between leaders and all the rules being imposed it was almost impossible for someone like Marji who remembered what happened and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind to ‘forget’ what events actually took place.
I can see why Marji struggles with this inner conflict between her own beliefs and her religion. It is hard to decide wether if to follow one means to disregard the other, or if you can live in harmony with both. Marji hates war, yet her religious leaders depend on war to keep their status. As well they depend on the poor to supply the front lines with disposable bodies who can be easily manipulated to fight in a war of which they created. Marji on the other hand is from a higher social class yet strongly believes everyone should be treated the same. This is similar to the time when Luther wrote his 99 thesis to confront the church when it was selling indulgences. The church tricked the poor people into believing that indulgences would help them get into heaven, however it was all a scam to get money from the people. In actuality they were just worthless pieces of paper and the priests of the church were keeping the money for themselves. In reality I think Marji is going to chose to stick with her beliefs and not follow her religion because she has a strong character and since her religious leaders were corrupt she will no longer be able to trust in them again. This forces Marji to trust in her own beliefs in what she deems is right and in the end I would agree with her.
For Marji to go against the norms of her country in not following the religion because she can chose for herself what is right and wrong takes a lot more courage than to go with the majority. Marji should always follow what she believes to be good and it appears to have resulted in her having to chose between her own beliefs or her religion. I would hope she follow her own morals verses her religion.