Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis

978 Words4 Pages
In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, Marji’s perception of self transitions from a holy ‘celestial light’ to a lone star, floating around in the bleak emptiness of space as her shattered worldview marks the beginning of a new era for her mental development. On page 6, Marji is depicted wearing the clothes of a traditional prophet with a radiating sun replacing her head. Her holy book is clasped underneath one arm while the other is pointing upward unto the cosmos. Though the sky behind her is dark, the celestial rays emanating from her head brighten the surrounding environment. She preaches to a group of kneeling people with outstretched arms. They call to her in unison: “O’ celestial light!” (Satrapi, 6). Marji is referred to as a “celestial light” (Satrapi, 7) once again in conversation with God and soon after as “the star of my life…” (Satrapi, 69) by her uncle Anoosh. The portrayal of Marji as a holy force manifested within her imagination and remained as an inverted dialogue between…show more content…
Get out of my life!!! I never want to see you again!” (Satrapi 70). This is a key stage of her development because in reality, God was nothing tangible outside of her imagination. God had always posed as an internal structure for moral and emotional guidance. Her speaking with God on a nightly basis was a conversation between her public and internal personas. This is shown in the way that she “felt guilty towards God” (Satrapi 9) when she would tell others that she wanted to be a doctor in fear that they would judge her dreams of becoming a prophet. He was her sense of strength to continue doing what she truly wanted to whether it be through demolishing the status quo of social classes in requiring that her maid sit with the family at the dinner table or through abolishing natural processes in “simply” forbidding the suffering of old people (Satrapi 7). God was a tool for Marji to justify abolishing these perceived injustices of
Open Document