Marjane Satrapi, in her graphic novel Persepolis, paints a picture of her life growing up in Iran amongst the Islamic Revolution. Given relatively recent events involving terrorism and Muslim extremist groups, we could suggest that in her novel, Satrapi may be trying to represent herself as well as her culture amongst a time where racism can be directed towards Muslim people. Additionally, we can see how this can relate to G.T Couser’s rhetorics of disability memoir in his book Signifying Bodies. Satrapi’s novel, not being a disability memoir, can play on the idea of using a certain rhetoric to represent Muslim people and the people of Iran. In particular, I argue that Satrapi uses G. T Couser’s idea of the rhetoric of emancipation –using one’s own “ongoing personal and collective struggle” in order to recognize the values and rights of a group of people — to liberate Iran and Muslim people from racist Western views (Couser,47). With this purpose, this novel could be helpful in educating the Western world about the history and culture of Muslim people, perhaps specifically in Iran, or Syria who face not only external pressures of racism but also internal issues of civil war and revolution.
G.T Couser’s theory of an emancipation rhetoric can be used in explaining why Satrapi may have decided to produce a graphic novel highlighting her culture. For example, in Signifying Bodies, Couser uses Sienkiewicz-Mercer in conversation about the emancipation of people from a stigma surrounding disabled people. In explanation of this type of rhetoric, Couser states, “The comic resolution is not a function of removing her impairments, but of getting the world to accommodate them” (44). This may relate to Satrapi’s work of expressing her culture to possibly educate Western communities about the history of Iran. Thus, instead of the West being cautious of Muslim culture, they can learn to accommodate their differences and beliefs and live peacefully alongside them. The spreading of this history may be important for the world to understand why Iran is constantly in and out of both internal and external conflict including the Iran-Iraq war and the Islamic Revolution (BBC, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14541327). In fact, in the introduction to Persepolis, Satrapi addresses a call to action for the emancipation of Muslim people from racism. In this section of her graphic novel, Satrapi gives a basis of knowledge of the Islamic Revolution, as well as addresses the need for the Iranian people that sacrificed their lives in the revolution to never be forgotten. Most importantly to the act of emancipation from racism, Satrapi explicitly voices her opinion in the introduction explaining, “I believe that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists” (Satrapi). This voice of Satrapi’s opinion is extremely helpful in making Persepolis a rhetoric of emancipation. In particular, this claim allows Satrapi to speak for a community that she identifies with which also sets her apart from the extremist groups that many people in the Western world associate Islam or Middle Eastern countries with.
Marjane Satrapi’s, Persepolis is an exceptional graphic novel that tells the horrific and beautiful details of the Islamic Revolution. In her explanation of her own experience with the history and trauma of the country of Iran, Satrapi has created a novel that may be used to educate the international sphere about the historical and political struggles of Middle Eastern countries. Using G. T Couser in conversation with Persepolis we can see how the novel may use the rhetoric of emancipation to liberate the Islam terrorist stereotype given by a history of terrorism between Middle East extremist Groups and the Western World. This understanding of the use of this novel to eradicate this stigma is extremely important not only for bringing a stop to racism among Muslim peoples but also to encourage peace between the West and Muslim extremist groups. Thus, it is my hope that Marjane Satrapi’s, Persepolis succeeds in acting as a form of emancipation for Iran and Muslim peoples all over the globe.
Works Cited
Couser, G. Thomas. “Signifying Bodies: Disability in Contemporary Life Writing.” Project MUSE, University of Michigan Press, 2009, muse.jhu.edu/chapter/162047.
“Iran Country Profile.” BBC News, BBC, 2 Jan. 2018, 10 April. 2018 www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-14541327
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. Pantheon Books, 2003.