The Complete Persepolis Literary Analysis

The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi tells the story of Marjane’s life as she grows up in Iran during the Iranian revolution. In the beginning, Marjane is young and naive, not fully understanding the impact of the war. Throughout the graphic novel, she experiences a series of major life events, including moving to Austria and losing her beloved Uncle Anoosh. By the end of the graphic novel, however, these events have strengthened her, creating a strong, independent woman who knows the hardships of life and the cost of freedom but is still ready to take risks for her freedom. Satrapi shows Marjane’s coming-of-age and the development of her identity as someone who is willing to take risks and make sacrifices to find freedom through parallelism …show more content…
When Marjane left for Austria the second time, “her grandma was there, happily” (panel 4, 341) to say goodbye to her. This is one of the last times that Marjane gets to see her grandmother, “because since the night of September 9, 1994, [she] only saw her again once, during the Iranian New Year in March 1995. She died January 4, 1996” (panel 4, 341). Satrapi uses the caption describing this to show that Marjane leaving for Austria meant that she didn’t have the opportunity to see her grandmother in her final days. Throughout the graphic novel, Marjane’s grandmother serves as a role model, sharing wisdom and advice. She is one of the people that Marjane loved the most in the world, but when she made the decision to go after her own freedom and new opportunities, she was making a huge sacrifice. However, she is glad she made the decision, which is evident in the way she states that she was happy to see her at the airport, rather than expressing regret for leaving. Marjane is willing to pay the price for freedom because of her new strength and independence; she now knows what she needs to do to