The various female characters in Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis exemplify multiple different roles of women in society. Marji’s family line, being her grandmother, her mother, and herself has a strong sense of individuality that personifies them as being equivalent to the men who live in their society. In contrast, minor female characters, such as Marji’s teachers, emphasize the developing oppressiveness of society after the Iranian Revolution. Whereas many of the major female characters in the book manage to maintain their strong personalities and senses of individuality, the societal norms seen in the book unquestionably view women as inferiors.
Particularly after the Revolution, the society that Marji grows in has oppression towards women embedded in it. An example of this occurs when two fundamentalist men harassed Marji’s mother, telling her that, …show more content…
Marji’s school teachers after the Revolution are primary examples of this, as they are exceptionally rigid, requiring that children follow their order or receive a punishment. Additionally, the teachers' actions do not seem to be their own; they do exactly what the State tells them to without hesitation. As the teachers make their students beat their breasts to the beat of Iran’s national anthem, leading to the youth’s confusion, their willingness to take orders from the government is clearly identified. By characterizing these teachers as cold and strict, Satrapi enforces the idea that the changes in society after the Revolution have turned many women, even those with authority, into personality-less "drones" that have no power in the system. The women who conform to society after the Revolution act quite differently than men doing the same thing; the latter gender becomes significantly more powerful than the former as seen when Marji's mother is mocked on page
Particularly after the Revolution, the society that Marji grows in has oppression towards women embedded in it. An example of this occurs when two fundamentalist men harassed Marji’s mother, telling her that, …show more content…
Marji’s school teachers after the Revolution are primary examples of this, as they are exceptionally rigid, requiring that children follow their order or receive a punishment. Additionally, the teachers' actions do not seem to be their own; they do exactly what the State tells them to without hesitation. As the teachers make their students beat their breasts to the beat of Iran’s national anthem, leading to the youth’s confusion, their willingness to take orders from the government is clearly identified. By characterizing these teachers as cold and strict, Satrapi enforces the idea that the changes in society after the Revolution have turned many women, even those with authority, into personality-less "drones" that have no power in the system. The women who conform to society after the Revolution act quite differently than men doing the same thing; the latter gender becomes significantly more powerful than the former as seen when Marji's mother is mocked on page