At the end of my last reading reflection I had finished just over a half of the book Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. This time having almost finished the book I connected more with the story, meaning I’m starting to understand what the author was trying to deliver to the reader. I’ve noticed things from the style of storytelling to the more difficult things like theme.   At the start of the book I was wondering why such a serious book was written in the style of a graphic novel, they are for easy reading children after all, I thought. But as I read I then realized it is a key factor in delivering important meanings to the reader. When writing a graphic novel, storytelling becomes as important as the story itself. Using frames of artwork with minimal text, the graphic novel style of Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi drives the reader into a different type of interpretation of the text. Artistic style becomes as important as text for relaying narrative to the reader. Satrapi, both the artist and protagonist draws in a minimalist style, and with only 4-5 panels a page. I interpreted this style to represent the childlike understanding of the world that Marjane Satrapi would’ve experienced during that time.

 Much of the novel is a recounting of Marjanes loss of naivety and faith. As a child, Marjane sees herself as a prophet in the line of Zarathustra, Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed. Her imaginary friend is her vision of God as an old man with a long flowing beard. In these scenes from childhood, God encourages Marjane to become a prophet and to stand up for and justice.

 As Marjane begins to confront the political and social realities of her world, you start to see her slowly detaching from her faith. As she hears stories of political imprisonment and torture, she has no more faith in God. The imprisonment and execution of her Uncle Anoosh causes a break in her faith and she describes herself as lost and alone in the universe. Despite the childish joy in very rare moments at the start, for example when Marjane is imagining a perfect world, Persepolis has a very depressing theme. It is interesting because the theme is presented in the opposite way of the last two novels I read The Escape to Gold Mountain by David Wong and “Jook-Liang: Only Sister” from The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy. In those two, the theme started out sad then more or less transitioned into a joyful one. In Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, the tone at the beginning has so far been as happy as it gotten.  

 Besides the analytical side I am really enjoying this book for purely the story. I am almost done, and when I finish It I am planning on reading the second one: Persepolis: Part II by Marjane Satrapi.