Marjane's Journey: Growing Up in Revolutionary Iran - Essay Sample

Introduction

Marjane is a girl who grows in Iran experiencing the Islamic revolution era when people fought to retain freedom over Islam unification with the state. Iran had not seen peace for a long time even before the birth of Marjane, but the protagonist in her tender age did not understand the state of her country because her parent shielded her from the revolutionary wars. Marjane's parents were educated, wealthy, and westernized, and they taught Marjane to be open-minded and question everything that she did not understand. They hoped with the end of Shah’s regime, Iran will be a free state, and Marjane would grow to a world full of opportunities. However, the end of Shah's regime brought the Islamic revolution amidst other life-changing tragedies like the Iraq- Iran war. Freedom hopped for by many never come until Marjane left for Austria. In this essay, the protagonist Marjane will be analyzed exploring changes she experienced in her life in Iran, when, and why, as illustrated in the memoir.

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At the beginning of the story, Marjane is young and naïve to understand how the world operates. In her tender age, she portrayed in the memoir as imaginative, curious, and opinionated about the world and asking questions. She is also religious at a young age to an extent she has an open relationship with God at one point; she dreamt of becoming a prophet. Although her parent's religion has not discoursed, it is evident, she was brought in a religious home. At one point, she dreamt of being the last prophet, a woman prophet, although all other prophets were male. This is a good indicator of existing freedom in religion, thoughts, and utterances at her young age. Through reading Marjane, gain knowledge of a wide range of characters who she features in her holy book, she even desired to be everything “I wanted to be justice, love and the wrath of God all in one.”(Satrapi 9). There was too much freedom to dream, and the only existing problem was the communist and capitalist disputes that did not infringe much of human rights as the coming Islamic revolution.

The end of Shah’s regime brought the Islamic revolution. Power was in the hands of conservative Islamic leaders who were against anything western. The Islamic revolution passed laws that allowed the Islamic religion to regulate people's behavior and interactions. The freedom to become anything Marjane, as taught by her parent, was shuttered. Before she was free to question, access western education and culture and join the religion of her choosing, but with the Islamic revolution, things begin to change, including dressing. Marjane is expected to tone down her believes in avoiding the wrath of the Islamic radicles. Religion, which was initially a form of freedom, was used to oppress people, lure young boys into war, and there was too much hypocrisy. Marjane is forced to denounce her religion and wear avail that covers most of the women's faces. At the same time, the men were not allowed to wear ties, anything western including schools were closed and Marjane was forced to join an Islamic school "' Then came 1980: The year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school.'' The schools were split up so boys and girls could no longer go together, and the secular schools were closed down. Marjane says, ''We found ourselves veiled and separated from our friends.'' (Satrapi 3-5). The inclusion of Islam religion in state affairs changed everything Marjane was taught to believe. So she began being rebellious, and she seals her rebellion by smoking his uncle cigarette "I sealed my rebellion… by smoking the cigarette, I'd stolen from my Uncle 2 weeks earlier with this first cigarette, I kissed childhood goodbye" (Satrapi 117). The Islamic State declared all people who fought against Shah's regime as state enemies, and his uncle Anoosh is arrested and murdered; Marjane's parents were in fear. The spirit of evolution still on she defy the Islamic rules of the veil, and to show opposition, she joins her parent by letting a few hair strands show. The Islamic government was quite oppressive to an extent she feared that “at the age that Marie Curie first went to France to study, I’ll probably have ten children” (Satrapi 73). Through media, all universities were reported closed, and Marjane feared her dream was shuttered, first, she would never set foot in the United States, and she would never join the university. When the Iran- Iraq war comes, all girls in school were forced to line up twice a day and mourn dead soldiers. Marjane began to organize a defiance group against the principle orders to mourn. When their parents are alerted, Marjane argues that the reason behind the rebellion was because before, "our generation had known secular schools." (Satrapi 98). The Islam regime had moved beyond oppressing women to manipulate children by giving poor boys a key. "First they convince them that the afterlife is even better than Disneyland, then put them in a trance with all their songs...They hypnotize them and toss them into battle. Absolute carnage."(Satrapi 101)

The Islam revolution changes Marjane to a rebel. She intended to fight for people’s rights just as her parent had done since she was young. She wanted freedom in religion, school, dressing, and equality in gender. To defy Islam, she defied school rules, joined her parent in the demonstration, and sneaked out of his house and hometown to access western culture and flirt with boys. As time went by, Marjane, the rebellion could not be tamed, and her life was at risk. In fear, the state would come for her; her parents sent her away to Austria, where she would practice her freedom and join the best schools.

Works Cited

Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis / Marjane Satrapi. First edition. New York: Pantheon Books, 2007.