Theme of War in "Persepolis" Essay Example

Persepolis is a graphic memoir written by Marjane Satrapi that takes place between 1976 and 1994 and is told in the first person by the author. It follows her from childhood to early adulthood, as she recounts her experiences growing up in a western-influenced home and in a more open culture, and then of Iran's transformation into a religiously regulated country. War is an important theme in Persepolis. Iraq invades as the people are still figuring out how to live in the world following the Islamic revolution. As a result, they have had to endure years of constant bombardment and conflict. In Persepolis, Satrapi employed facial expressions, longshots, and graphic weight to represent the violence that happens as a result of the war.

Satrapi uses graphic weight and face emotions to emotionally draw the reader in, allowing us to identify with the agony. When Marjane goes to demonstrate with her parents, the demonstration starts off well but then a violent mob attacks the protesters, this was her family's last demonstration (80). The scene has most of the page in black, we can deduce from the black colors that it will be primarily negative, allowing us to experience the gravity of what the characters are going through Satrapi also uses facial expressions, in the image we can see the shock on Marji’s face as she witnesses a women get killed especially since this is the first time that Marjane has actually seen violence with her own eyes, we can see the women in pain, it truly shows the horror that is being committed. In addition, while out shopping, Marji hears on the radio that the Tavanir neighborhood where she lives has been attacked, and she rushes home, fearing that her family has been killed. Her family is safe, but when Marji and her mother walk past the Baba-Levys' building, Marji sees Neda's bracelet attached to human remains and screams (146). The graphic weight of the scene where Marji is covering her face is showing us how terrifying the situation is, the black shadow covering her face shows us as the reader feel like something truly bad has happened which has, the shadow across her face adds some sort of creepy aspect such like in horror films to give us an eerie effect, we can feel the emotion of the scene, we can tell by the colors what mood will play out. Satrapi also uses facial expressions, Marji’s face is not entirely shown in the scene but based on what is we can see a terrified expression based on her mouth and with the use of her hands cowering in front of her face. It exemplifies the violence that has happened, she uses her hand in a way to shield her from the horrors. All of these techniques are used to show violence that Marjane witnesses as a result of the war.

Satrapi employs another graphic novel technique to show the violences that occurs because of the war, she uses longshot and graphic weight to show the war through violence. For example,when reports circulate that the Iraqis have ballistic missiles capable of reaching Tehran the claims are confirmed when the rockets begin to strike Tehran (140). Satrapi employs longshot to show the viewer the missiles flying towards the buildings, she focuses on the action of the missles, the damage that is being done. She also employs graphic weight, the colors of the black and white contrast with the background being black and the damage being done in white, she does this to show how powerful the blast is (140). Additionally, when Marji overhears her parents in their bedroom discussing a fire at the rex cinema that killed 400 people, the doors were locked from the outside shortly before the fire and the police stood outside the building, blocking those who wanted to help then they attacked them (18). Satrapi uses the graphic weight of the light and dark to draw attention to the people fighting to convey the impact of the violence. The long shot shows the readers how the violence breaks out and it shows people fighting, crying, and some people fleeing. We as the reader can use these techniques to really see the violence that is being caused because of the war.

So, why does this matter in the end? Well, it's important because these graphic novel techniques, such as facial expressions, graphic weight, and so on, all show the impact of the war's violence; we, the reader, see the sufferings that many of the characters go through, whether it's Marjane witnessing violence for the first time or Marjane witnessing the remains of her friends; these all show the brutal violence. That is why I believe it is critical for us to understand how violence occurs as a result of the war and how it impacts everyone so that we might get a taste of the agony of living through it.