Persepolis(The Story Of A Childhood)

                              
         When reading Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi, many questions and ideas popped into my head. I feel like the main idea of this story was to show how important childhood is and how it can affect the rest of your life. In the beginning of the story it really captures how a young girl feels. I think one of the most capturing pictures the story was the one where it shows basically a "cookie cutter" baby and the text on it was "I was born with religion".  
                           The question that is going to be answered is "Why is childhood an important time of life?" & " When does it end?".  Childhood is the most important part of a child's life. During this time of childhood, a child is learning whats right and wrong, how to use their imagination, how to develop friendships and relationships & most important of all, they get to enjoy their surrounding's and not have to worry about much of anything. If you grow up too fast you miss out on all the important things that you are supposed to do as a child. But then again, if you don't ever grow up that could affect you later in life.This book shows that everyones childhood is different depending on what their situation is. In Persepolis, Marji has to grow up faster than most kids her age. I feel like childhood ends when you have to start taking on more responsibilities in life. But then again, Marji had to start taking on adult responsibilities VERY early in her childhood and she shouldn't of had her childhood end that early in life. She was focused on how she acted and how it would reflect on her religion, she would go to very violent protests to stand up for what she believed in. Margi didn't have any time to be and act like a child because in that time she had more important things to worry about. That being said, i think that childhood ends depending on the child's environment, family & different situations they may be in. 

http://cbldf.org/2013/06/using-graphic-novels-in-education-persepolis/

       I feel bad for Marji, her whole life changed because the government felt it had to make a difference in the way it governed itself. She had to grow up way to fast because she had to deal with this islamic revolution. Marji didn't really understand why things happened the way they did. In her mind, they shouldn't be looked upon as different for what  her and her family believed in. Its very sad that the demonstrations that they held to show that women were equal and how they are going to defend their rights, led to violence. Everyone should be able to express how he or she feels without being beat and/or killed. These were very brave women! They stood up for what they thought was right knowing that they might get hurt or shunned. These women didn't care what it took, they wanted to be heard and they did just that. There might have been terrible consequences but that’s what made them stronger. I respect the women that actually did something about their situation. I understand why the other women didn't want to disrespect how they were raised, but how could they stand to live that way? Being disrespected by men? Not having a say in what happens to them? I really respect these women for having to go through what they did. This is a great book; it shows what it was really like for young children/women and their families during this time of misery. Marji talks about her struggles and the pros and cons of being in Iran during this time. I like how it shows her thoughts and what she felt was right.                                      

    I honestly don't like the set up of the book and the comic-ness of it. I think it would get the point across much stronger if the author had written it as an actual book.

HERE ARE SOME LINKS IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN READING MORE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTION IN 1979:
http://satrapism.wordpress.com/history-of-persepolis/
http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/events/iran79.htm