Monday, January 10, 2011
Persepolis
After starting the graphic novel, Persepolis, I thought it would be interesting to read a little into the background of the setting. The title comes from a middle eastern ceremonial capital. The Achaemenid Empire lasted from 550- 330 B.C and Persepolis was the capitol of this Empire during its height. It is located in present day Iran; about 70km northeast of Shiraz. This graphic novel clearly has ties to the middle east just by its title. The connections continue on the first page. The main character is constantly dealing with the outcomes and consequences of the Islamic revolution. This revolution, which the book points out, started in 1978 and lasted through 1979. Also mentioned in the book, the goal of this revolution was to overthrow the Shah and the Iranian monarchy. Revolutionaries, led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, wanted to replace the monarchy with a republic. Strikes and demonstration during 1978 paralyzed the nation and after the Shah left the country in January of 1979, millions of Iranians rejoiced as a republic was implemented. This was a very complex issue that effected the middle east for many years. It is clear that it would be difficult for a young kid to understand the complex issues of this event. It will be interesting to see how the main character will respond to the results of the revolution throughout the rest of the book.
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I agree that it is really interesting to hear the point of view of this revolution through a child's mind that doesn't really understand what is going on. She just kind of goes along with what she hears without knowing any background information or key details.
ReplyDeleteThe history is very interesting. Her memoir/graphic novel caused a lot of attention; the Persepolis movie was banned for a while. I wonder if she is the only person who has written about growing up during the revolution. She seems to be super honest. We can clearly see already that she has grown up to have a memorable childhood. In the book she is starting to think for herself. I think that's a sign of growing up.
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