Questions: Persepolis

The story of a girl, her country,and the people of her country, all tied up together with the complexity of family and home.  How do war, tradition, religion, family, and freedom shape us all?  Marjane Satrapi shares their effects on her, as an intellectual young lady growing up in the midst of revolution and war.


1) How would you describe the child Marji to whom we’re introduced at the beginning of Persepolis?  To what extent is she like children anywhere?  How are our children in America different, specifically when it comes to education and being raised? 


2) Satrapi’s drawings are in stark black and white, but how black and white is the world that her drawings depict?  To what extent does Satrapi manage to convey complex experience in such simple, even childlike, drawings?  What particular incidents in the story do you think are conveyed more effectively in pictures than they could have been in words alone?

3) How are the personal stories of individual citizens related to the history of their nation?  In Persepolis Satrapi tells many people’s stories besides her own--her mother’s memories of visiting her own father in prison, Anoosh’s story of his Uncle Fereydoon, and others.  How are these stories related to her own?  What value does Satrapi attribute to storytelling?

4)  What are the roles for women in Iranian society as depicted in the book?  How do Marjane and her mother and grandmother both play into and resist those roles?  What about her friends, neighbors, and classmates, or the Guardians of the Revolution?

5) How are the Islamic fundamentalists represented in the book?  What suggestions does Satrapi make about the relationship between faith and fanaticism?

6)  In the introduction to her book, Satrapi says that she wrote Persepolis in part so “that an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few extremists”.  How does Satrapi herself seem to judge Iran as a nation by the end of her narrative?

7) Towards the end of the book, Marjane says about people’s fear of the Islamic Commission, “It’s only natural!  When we’re afraid, we lose all sense of analysis and reflection.  Our fear paralyzes us.  Besides, fear has always been the driving force behind all dictators’ repression”.  How do Marjane and her compatriots deal with fear in their daily lives?  To what extent do you see fear as a controlling factor in our own country’s public life?

8) Do you think that Marjane's time in Europe was good for her?  Was sending her away the right decision on her family's part?  While there,she was torn between Western and Iranian culture, but again, still felt torn when she returned home.  How did she ultimately conquer this feeling of ostracization?  Do you think her departure at the end of the book will be more successful?

9) In the last pages of Persepolis, Marjane’s father tells her, “We Iranians, we’re crushed not only by the government but by the weight of our traditions!”. Why do Marjane’s parents and grandmother choose to stay in this repressive society when leaving does not seem that difficult?

10) How has Persepolis affected your perception of Iran,Iraq, and conflict in the Middle East?  How does it differ from the news accounts of these events usually presented in the U.S.?