RR #2 Persepolis

What I found most surprising about this graphic novel is how easy it was for me to relate to Marjane Satrapi. Clearly I have not had a childhood similar to hers in terms of my surroundings but her reactions to negative situations reminded me very much of my own reactions. For example, just before the war had officially began she describes competing with her peers over who has had more horrific things happen to their loved ones such as imprisonment or execution. She actually feels bad that she doesn't have parents or relatives who have become prisoners or worse. I feel that in the past my friends and I would have "contests" about who had it worse in terms of poverty, abusive childhoods or more experiences with death. But what I've learned from life and from this novel is that this is perhaps a common reaction that people have when the bad situations in life are just beginning. When aspects of life become truly deplorable, one no longer seeks to have a contest about who has "had it worse". This seems to be a common trait of someone who may have legitimately negative things happening to them or around them, yet lacks the maturity or perspective to deal with them in an appropriate and mature manner. It makes more sense to hope that life will become better, rather than convincing yourself to rejoice over how bad your situation is.

What I really appreciated about this novel as a whole is that it makes Muslims seem very similar to Western people. The Muslim religion is not widespread in America as far as I know and the characters in the novel certainly have a different upbringing due to their very different and tumultuous circumstances. Yet their experience of being a rebellious adolescent is strikingly similar to that of being a headstrong teenager in the Western world. The way in which the author describes her childhood and teenage years living in Iran is so relatable that I believe it brings the story of Iran to an audience that would otherwise ignore the subject and continue to view the Middle East as one homogenous area that has no trace of what we as Americans or Europeans would call "civilized behavior". Many people still believe that everyone "over there" rides camels and that no woman would ever attempt not to wear the veil. I find that the image that many people have is of women being beaten constantly and thieves getting their hands chopped off for stealing food. While horrific conditions do indeed persist in certain areas, this black and white way of thinking is detrimental, in my opinion. It makes people in Western countries think in such a way that suggests that there is no hope for the people that reside in these areas to ever have peace or freedoms that every human has the right to have. It causes people to be dismissive and insensitive to the plight of others. I believe that the general theme of the novel is that dissenters will exist regardless of the circumstances or the consequences of their oftentimes revolutionary behavior.