Persepolis review # 1
Persepolis is a regular girl with big ambition. She just so happened to be dropped onto the earth in a very complicated entanglement of alliances and disputes the. The book begins with Persepolis, ten years old, in 1980, the middle of one of the most violent wars planet earth has ever seen. One of the many changes that occurred because of the emending revolution at the time, was that woman must wear veils when in public at all times. As a young particularly feisty little girl, Persepolis was not thrilled by this new law. She did not understand why covering our face was so important, she did not understand why the country she lived in, was trying so hard to extinguish whatever freedoms they may have left. From a little girls perspective, no one should be able to limit freedoms, creativity, beauty, or fun.
In my opinion it is not the governments job to tell people what to wear, or to relate religious aspects of life to daily political problems. The governments rights should never stretch as far as they have in the middle east. the "Cultural Revolution" that was being forced upon the Iranian people said that bilingual schools are a sign of capitalism, and that they should be banished.
the people of the country were not going to take to these new rules easily as you can imagine. there was many demonstrations held in the streets. people where shot, and beaten. many civilian casualty's during the breaking up of the rally's.
When a photographer takes Persepolis mothers picture as she marches in a demonstration for their rights, she becomes a target to the government and all those who supported to revolution. She had to dye her hair and lay low so that she wouldn't be discovered and killed.
Persepolis wants to be a profit. She sees everything wrong with the world and wants to be the one to make it right. She wants to fix the faulty government so that it may be of service to its people. She wants no old people to suffer. She wants to be able to wear whatever she wants when in public.
This is not the wrong assignment, don't worry! Both were right. Next Sunday you can complete the research narrative. I enjoyed reading your reflection because you do a good job of weaving in specific details from the text along with your analysis. It is a very complex situation that, as Americans, we have a hard time wrapping our head around. One important detail regarding the context, is that Iranian women, under the Shah, were not allowed to wear the veil. It is interesting to me how, under both regimes, women were subjected to strict authoritarian laws while men were largely untouched by these laws. I am sure there are/were other invisible constraints that also impacted men, but women seem to be the central symbols of authoritarian policy in this society. I wonder why????
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