! Persepolis Reflective Statement #1 - 395 Words ! I learned many things about the life of Marjane Satrapi, the author of Persepolis and her influences. The major thing that I learned is that her own life was a major influence on the book Persepolis in terms of the; characters, setting, themes and much more. Marjane Satrapi was born in Tehran, Iran and grew up in a post revolution Iran, just like Marjane in the book Persepolis. Satrapi is able to portray the themes in the book for the reader because of this by depicting the strong feelings of the charcters which she grew up around herself and strong feelings she had as well. For example in the book, Marjane's parents are involved in the protests against the government and have strong political opinions and the author Marjane's parents were politically involved and really royal descendents just like in the book and joined the first protests to dispose the Shah also like Marjanes' parents in the book. Marjane was brought up to think freely and she portrays this in the book by the depiction of herself as a child that can speak very freely in the house and voice her opinions even when she isn't entirely correct in the book they portray this by always telling her to think freely and stressing the importance of education and ideas. Marjane Satrapi studied in Austria, she includes this part of her life as well in the book and she probably includes most of her experiences that she thinks were important and caused change in her character from when she was a child in Iran to when she returns from Austria. Satrapi, really made Persepolis personal. Even the names, such as the parents' and uncle's name are really the names of her family members in real life. Satrapi's personal experiences made the book more realistic, understandable and easier to connect to than it would be to connect to a fictious character that went through non real life experiences. She wanted to portray the “real” Iran to people and not the Iran portrayed by the media and she did this by approaching it from a personal, but historical standpoint. By historical I mean including major historical events and ideas that took place in Iran during her lifetime, such as the political ideas of Marxism or the !fall of the Shah and the Iranian revolution and new laws. ! ! ! Persepolis Reflection Statement #2 - Word Count: 344 ! Persepolis is an autobiographical graphic novel about the childhood and young adulthood of Marjane Satrapi. Evidently, there are many connections between the book and the author as it is her life being narrated. It is easy to see that Marjane Satrapi is rebellious in nature as she is constantly revolting against others defining who she is. She mocks the requirement of students beating their chests to mourn the war dead at her school. She ditches school, she smokes cigarettes, and she purchases illegal cassette tapes. Her decision to create this story, especially since it’s her own, is daring. However, it shows her determination to shatter stereotypes surrounding Iran and Iranians. Internationally, the book and movie adaptation that Marjane helped create have been well-received. Some countries’ governments like Iran’s have criticized the book for its inaccurate portrayal of Iranian history. Marjane Satrapi has stated she has no intention of returning to Iran out of fear of the unknown consequences. Opposed to its mature content, the Chicago Public Schools system has recently banned the book from curriculum. The book is not intended for children, as it addresses serious and frighteningly real topics. Due to its resemblance to a comic book, many misinformed individuals do not realize its non-fictionality. Persepolis is similar to the !unconventionality of Maus by Art Spiegelman. Founded in 518 B.C., Persepolis was the capital of the Persian Empire. Until it was destroyed by Alexander the Great in 330, it was an architectural wonder and center of activity. Now, all that remains are ruins. Marjane makes several references in her novel to the ancient history of Iran, particularly noting how often its people have been conquered. The parallels between the Iranian Revolution, Iran-Iraq War, and the destruction of Persepolis are apparent: the area has always suffered from political conflict. Marjane’s family was very active in politics favoring Communism, which makes several appearances in the novel. Her upbringing definitely impacted her global perspective. This interactive oral presentation on the author of Persepolis has brought !to light many subjects pertinent to the novel, but previously unknown. ! ! ! Persepolis Reflective Statement #3 - Words Count:372 ! During this presentation I’ve learned many things that I’ve never knew or heard about. The presentation was about the author of the book that we’re reading called “Persepolis”, and her name is Marjane Satrapi. She’s born in Rashi, Iran Nov. 22, 1969 and she grew up in Tehran, Iran and she’s living in Paris married to Meltias Ripa.. The book is based of her life and it tells about the Iranian Revolution and how it was like. She was a little girl at the age of 13 when this happen. She wanted to be a prophet and was really religious. She went to study abroad because her family sent her away from Iran because of all the bombing. She got married in 1990 and only had one child but soon got divorced. I found out that she was a royal descent, I think this was very interesting because it would mean she’s a princess. Matjane was Encouraged by her friends to write this book as a comic book and one of them is Christophe Blain. The book was published in French and it was translated into other languages but one that I didn’t get the chance to write down and forgot what it was. The book that she wrote was banned by lots of schools because of the foul languages and graphics that’s in it. Schools says it was inappropriate for students to read it and look at the pictures that’s in it so it was banned. You can only read it if you’re a 11th or 12th grader and you’re enroll in IB english. The name “Persepolis” came from the capital of Achaemenid Empire and it was found by Darius 1 in 518 BCE. There were also a cartoon/anime movie of the book and it was produced by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi herself. She also wrote different kinds of book for adults and childrens, for adults she wrote Embroideries, Chicken with Plums and for children she wrote Monsters are Afraid of the Moon and The sigh Children. This presentation did a really good job talking about the author of this book because I found new interesting things that I’ve never knew about and it was really !helpful. ! !.