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 emphasize the oppressiveness of society both before and after the Iranian Revolution. These characters include Marji’s teachers, her family’s maid, and her neighbors. While many of the major female characters in the book manage to maintain their strong personalities and senses of individuality, societal norms brought forth in the book clearly view women as inferiors.
Particularly after the Revolution, the …show more content…
Although it shows the negative light that men view women in, Marji’s dream to be a prophet also serves to characterize her as having a strong sense of individuality, as well as being extremely morally sound. Marji's mother, however, is the person who has passed on these fantastic characteristics. She is even willing to stand up to a fundamentalist man threatening to shoot her husband, which turns out to be a successful exchange. The offender states shortly after that, “You’re lucky to have this woman for your wife, otherwise you’d already be in Hell!” (109, panel 2). Furthermore, Marji’s grandmother is shown to have given many of her positive characteristics to her daughter, as she implies that she was “always hiding [Marji’s grandfather’s] tracks” until his death (109, panel 4). Satrapi characterizes all three of the main female members in Marji’s family as brave, moral, and unique for multiple reasons. Primarily, she uses them to show that women can be just as complex as men, and occasionally even more-so, pushing the idea that the oppression seen in society towards women is unfounded. Additionally, by showing the similarities between multiple generations of Marji’s family, Satrapi provides a legitimate reason that Marji acts the way she does: the actions of her elders influence her, and end up giving her many of their
Particularly after the Revolution, the …show more content…
Although it shows the negative light that men view women in, Marji’s dream to be a prophet also serves to characterize her as having a strong sense of individuality, as well as being extremely morally sound. Marji's mother, however, is the person who has passed on these fantastic characteristics. She is even willing to stand up to a fundamentalist man threatening to shoot her husband, which turns out to be a successful exchange. The offender states shortly after that, “You’re lucky to have this woman for your wife, otherwise you’d already be in Hell!” (109, panel 2). Furthermore, Marji’s grandmother is shown to have given many of her positive characteristics to her daughter, as she implies that she was “always hiding [Marji’s grandfather’s] tracks” until his death (109, panel 4). Satrapi characterizes all three of the main female members in Marji’s family as brave, moral, and unique for multiple reasons. Primarily, she uses them to show that women can be just as complex as men, and occasionally even more-so, pushing the idea that the oppression seen in society towards women is unfounded. Additionally, by showing the similarities between multiple generations of Marji’s family, Satrapi provides a legitimate reason that Marji acts the way she does: the actions of her elders influence her, and end up giving her many of their