Persepolis

Persepolis refers to various people in history starting with Cyrus the great. Cyrus the great conquers most of Persia in Seven hundred B.C. In 1906 the Iranian constitution is set into place. 1925 Reza Shah Pahlavi becomes emperor of Persia, and changes the name to Iran. Reza Shah takes over his father’s reign during WWII. Shortly after the WWII, oil is discovered, so the United States of America and the British along with a few other countries occupied Iran. In a short time the Cold War began. In 1951the oil companies are nationalized. Mosedeq is overthrown in 1953, and the Shah returns. After a period of time, the Shah began to westernize. In 1965Ayetola Khomeini was exiled by the Shah for writing books and organizing an Islamic revolution. 1970, there is a border dispute between the Iran and Iraq; Iran supplies weapons to the Kurds to fight the Iraqis. Iran stops supplying the Kurds with weapons to oppose the Iraqis. 1979, the Islamic revolution begins with protests and the dreaded Black Friday, a lot of deathes of protesters. Soon after there is the Iran hostage crises happens. 1980 Kumani has entered the picture and establishes an Islamic state clergy. Along with a war that starts with Iraq invading Iran that lasts until 1988, Iran had a reservoir of soldiers.. During this revolution Iran sets a veritable embargo towards all western influences.

In the book Persepolis a little girl named Marji goes thru a bunch of things. In 1980 all bilingual schools are shut down the Veil becomes mandatory in schools and it was because of the Islamic revolution which was called a cultural revolution. Her parents are the kind of parents that are protesting and are always expressing themselves in their own way. I believe that when Marji was growing up in this period of time in Iran she liked her home but when she went to school in 1980 and saw the veil she knew something was going to happen. I think that as the whole Islamic revolution and she saw that her home was changing and when she heard her family’s involvement she was proud but as this progressed she was disappointed. I also believe that when she realized how different she was from her culture she understood she didn’t belong. Marji must’ve wanted a less decadent and more secular Iran. This young punk rock loving, owning a bunch of clandestine posters.

I think that when Marji heads to Vienna she is scared for her parent’s sake. When she saw her mother faint and all the boys that were going to be forced to martyr them selves, then she was sad the whole ride to Vienna. She goes to school but she is always trying to find out things about her country and always missing her parents and is sad. She then goes to college where she finds that she wants to write her story but later she wants something different and chooses to make a graphic novel. She finds that she is always depressed because her parents never came. She grows to marry a person who is investigations and finds that her parents are still alive. While living Proletariat life and eventually reunites with her family. This is what I believe happens after Marji goes to Vienna.