Social Class In Persepolis

Improved Essays
UNFAIRNESS: The Effects of Political Views on Social Class, Vice Versa.
Iran, a perplexing and complex country, has had a heavy involvement with aspects such as changing social classes and political advancements for the past couple decades. During the late 1980’s, Iran experienced a massive transformation into a new regime that altered most everything about the country 's society. Marjane Satrapi, author of the profound graphic novel Persepolis, wrote this autobiography detailing her childhood experiences in Iran from such an adolescent age; telling her thoughts towards Iran’s social injustice and political transformations. At a young age Marjane/Marji noticed a dramatic difference in Iran’s social classes as she read from her favorite author’s
…show more content…
In the article “Social Class Differences Produce Social Group Preferences” by the journal of Developmental Science, it reveals that the topic of social class is far from taboo to even children, and just “like adults around them, young children favor people from social groups over people from other” (Developmental Science 991). Children often favor a social group over another because they have previously been familiarized and have established a setting of comfort, or the social class exceeds their own, however the favoritism extends even further, being that the race of another person can lead to the assumption of higher or lower social class. In the graphic novel Persepolis, Marji’s house maid Marhi falls in love with a boy living next door, but is suddenly denied the love of the neighbor boy because her social class was below his; “because in this country you must stay within your own social class” (Satrapi 37). This situation utterly confused Marji, and without hesitation she questioned her father’s actions. The revolution was supposedly because of the social classes; Marhi fell in love with a boy of higher social status, whilst the neighbor boy’s infatuation towards Marhi dissipated when he learned of her low social standing. Social classes were still prevalent and the political determinations to change this circumstance was still …show more content…
Iran will complete abolish the structure around its social classes and set up a new future where the oppressed and weak were not in fear of poverty (Parsa 382). In the article “Class and Labor in Iran: Did the Revolution Matter?” written by Misagh Parsa, the state of Iran’s labor workforce is a long lingering struggle that only gotten slightly better after three decades. The end of the monarchy was theoretically supposed to lead Iran into a complete redevelopment of classes, but unavoidable to the situation these radical ideas are opposed. For the time being, the Islamic State was in charge of being an arbiter of the quality in the classes, but soon terminated. After 1989, the setting of Marjane’s autobiography. A real change strove for: normalization of the capital affair; the Bourgeoisis, “self-employed entrepreneurs who consisted more than 35 percent of the workforce” took hold of Iran’s economy by developing Monopolistic companies that “remained the largest social class in Iran” (Parsa 383). It took till the end of the war with Iraq for Iran’s labor force to regulate. In the graphic novel Persepolis, we witness people fleeing Iran, but noticing the hardships endured by war and a struggling economy, Iran was a difficult home stay

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In both Destiny Disrupted and Persepolis the history of Islam is told but from two different perspectives; a historical text and also from personal accounts. In Destiny Disrupted Tamim Ansary tell the history of Islam through the perspective of a male who grew up in as Muslim Afghanistan that belonged to the upper class. He states in the introduction of Destiny Disrupted “Growing up as a muslim afghanistan, I was exposed early on to a narrative of the world's history quite different from the one that schoolchildren in Europe and Americans routinely hear. ”(Ansary xiii). In this statement he explains that at a young age he was exposed to history that wasn't told in school.…

    • 530 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Marilyn Monroe once said, “A girl knows her limits, but a wise girl knows she has none.” In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, gender impacts the perception Marji has on gender and independence in society. She comes from a very politically liberal family whom strongly believe in the equal justice and independence of both genders. However, in Iran in the 1980’s, wanting equal independence for both men and women was not a very valued opinion among the government. As a child, Marji has morals in which she believes will guide her through her life.…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Have you ever wondered why Iran is always in the news? In her book Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi accurately represents Iran by expressing the country's nationalistic enthusiasm, the oil manufactures determined how Iran was run for a long time, and Iran isn’t very safe, as it presents a new danger everyday. Marjane Satrapi accurately represents Iran by expressing the country's nationalistic enthusiasm. In the following picture, there is a group of Americans expressing their nationalistic behaviors. Similar events occurred throughout Iran where citizens would express a nationalistic attitude.…

    • 571 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Marjane’s point of view becomes affected for how she saw the gender roles in Iran because she did not understand what…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    As a child and young teenager in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, at an early age Marjane witnesses many injustices in the world around her, and struggles to accept the changes imposed by the new governments including segregation and compulsory veils. Due to a very activist family, Marjane is equally involved in fighting the social injustices introduced by the regime. Unfortunately, due to her age, Marjane’s parents are concerned about their young daughter’s involvement in the demonstrations, and she receives punishment from her mother for going with their maid, Mehri, to the Black Friday demonstration. Her struggles to accept the regime changes leads to further difficulties when she is sent to Austria by her parents, out of fear her strong-minded behaviour will lead to her execution. Additionally, as a female, Marjane faces further adversity in the unfair treatment of women in Iran at the time, seen in the expectations of females being fully covered, being segregated from men in public and having their behaviour monitored by “Guardians of the Revolution’ – a group assigned to “…arrest women who were improperly veiled” and “…put us back on the straight and narrow by explaining the duties of muslim women.…

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    People are heavily influenced by their surroundings from early ages. As a child, the only world to you is the small area in which you live, and the people within it. To you, the only way to live life is the way everyone else does around you. Even when your knowledge of the world expands, your thoughts and ideals are are still rooted in your beginnings, and they can shape who you are for the rest of your life. Marjane Satrapi, author and director of “Persepolis”, was shaped by her environment as a child.…

    • 756 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Persian Girls Summary

    • 2099 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Persian Girls is the biography of a writer who lived in a country where women have been facing discrimination and oppression since the past many decades. The memoir identifies the life of an ordinary Iranian girl who is not willing to conform to the stereotypical norms of the society and her family. The girl wanted to pursue her career in writing and achieve success. The literary work is an effort to highlight the problems faced by women in Muslim World that do not give them the freedom to live a successful life and pursue a career in the field of arts. The story also reveals the importance of determination and fortitude to achieve goals.…

    • 2099 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The representation of religion in the film Persepolis Persepolis: The story of a child hood is movie made from a graphic novel and autobiography by Marjane Satrapi. The story is told from a first person perspective by young author Marji. She had witnesses the entire Islamic Revolution; including the fall of the pro-western Shah republic in 1979, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and the Iran-Iraq War in 1980; throughout her childhood.…

    • 1703 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    What determines adulthood? Childhood is among one of the most important parts of a person's life and many people want their childhood to last a long time, but for others its cut shorter than they anticipated. In Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi shows us how a child can quickly become an adult when they experience major life events with stress and trauma. In the book Persepolis , a young pre-teen by the name of Marji is having her normal childhood as everyone else, but that is until the government of her country, Iran, gets overthrown by a new ruler. Everything around her begins to change, the way people dress, the way people act, the way everything around her country worked , Marji may also be one of the things to change.…

    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    January of 1978 was the beginning of ten years of dark times for Iran. The people of Iran had to suffer through a revolution, a new government, and a war. Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi is a book featuring a young girl Marji who was growing up while these negative events were happening. Marji had to face many issues growing up with her parents, herself, the war, and the new government. Marji was able to get through these events, however it was not without deaths, violence, and negativity.…

    • 1418 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Though there was an immense range in which who were the targeted readers for Satrapi’s book, Persepolis, it seemed to be that the book was more designed for young adults reaching to gain more insight towards the conditions in Iran around the time of the Islamic Revolution and Iran-Iraq War. Satrapi’s decision in writing Persepolis as a graphic novel opened up the range of audience for her book. Because the book was filled with pages of illustrations, it made reading a lot easier. As pictures filled up most of the pages with minimal words, it also allowed for a quicker read, perfect for young adults who may not have the extra spare time.…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Persepolis Movie Analysis

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the movie, Persepolis, Marjane express freedom in three different ways; the way she acts around people, the way Marjane and her family would talk about freedom, and the way Marjane and her family would try to gain freedom. Many people believe that freedom mean the same thing to everyone, but to other it has a whole other meaning. For example, people in the U.S have a different way of showing their freedom then people from North Korea. In this essay that I wrote, my purpose is to inform the audience about what freedom mean to someone.…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Marjane and her friends have ideas and ways to express themselves that are in opposition to the government, which reflects the spirits of many citizens during the revolution, who also rebel in secret. The presence of the lack of freedom one possesses, however, is not solely located in Iran. During Marjane’s stay in Austria, she lives in a boarding house being run by nuns; there, she must abide by rules set by the nuns, who are rather discriminant towards her for being Iranian. After lecturing Marjane…

    • 1600 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Social inequality is often described as the existence of unequal opportunities or rewards for the different statuses within a specific group or society. This novel demonstrates an abundance of prejudicial classifying that results in the corruption of the society the adolescent Satrapi is facing. In the novel, Marjane Satrapi often achieves a sense of compassionate wisdom as a result of observing class inequalities and experiencing social and cultural transformation caused by the revolution and consequential war. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the theme of war in the novel Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi to highlight the social inequalities in Iran.…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Through her graphic novel, Persepolis, she exposed the struggles of her country and the innocent people in it. The reader experiences the start of the Islamic revolution through the eyes of young Marjane. As each character is introduced, the reader sees the relationships between Marjane and the character to develop important ideas and themes. The author give insight on growing up in Iran and give the reader a different perspective of Iran. Persepolis shows the dangers of what could happen if you let others opinions dictate you.…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays

Related Topics