“The Complete Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi (pgs. 3-103)
The Veil
Satrapi is a 10 year old girl living during the “The Islamic Revolution.” At this time in her life, her government began to require a veil be worn during school and boys/girls learn separately. All the girls in school hated wearing the veil. Satrapi’s mother was photographed in a protest against the wearing of the veil. But things got out of control and her mother decided to change her appearance. Satrapi tells her teacher and classmates that she want to be prophet. Everyone mocked her for saying this and her parents were call. When her parents arrived, she lied to them and said she wanted to be a doctor. Why? She even has her own holy book. I’m glad she has her grandmother’s support in this negativity. Every night she has a discussion with God. She believes he has chosen her to leaf his people.
The Bicycle
Satrapi forgets about being a prophet and joins the revolution. Her and her family would do demonstration in the garden at their home. She learned everything there was to know about the revolution. She loved the “Dialectic Materialism” comic. Partly because one of it’s characters resembles God. God leaves her, but she doesn’t realize how much she needed him until her parents denied her from participating in a real demonstration.
The Water Cell
Satrapi’s father tells her the story about how the king was chosen. He tells her that her Grandpa was once a prince, but his father was overthrown. In addition, her father’s explains to her this is the reason they participate in demonstrations. That night, her parents told her tales about Grandpa’s life. Out of all the tales, the one tale that stood out the most was Grandpa’s experience in a cell filled with water. Later that night, Satrapi sat in the bath fill with water to help her understand what Grandpa faced. God also visited her that night. Although, there was little about his presents.
Persepolis
A surprise visit from Grandma is waiting for Satrapi when she arrives home from school. Immediately, she tells Grandma she knows about Grandpa going to prison. Her Grandma tries to ignore her statement and continues to tell her about the struggles they faced being poor. Of course, Satrapi didn’t care about any of thing. Unfortunately, their attention turn when her father took longer than usual to return home from the revolution. Once her father arrived her told them of the widowed woman calling the king a killer. Apparently, he is cancer. This was funny, but inappropriate for Satrapi to laugh huh?!
The Letter
Mehri, our maid, fell in love with the neighbor’s son Hossein. For six months. they wrote letters and stared at each other from the window. It wasn’t until Mehri’s sister who worked for Satrapi’s uncle told her secrete. Without hesitation, Satrapi’s father went next door and told the boy that Mehri wasn’t his daughter, but his maid. At that moment, the relationship ended. Mehri and Satrapi were crushed. Because of this, they decided to go to the demonstration. The two of them had a blast. Unfortunately, they didn’t beat Satrapi’s parents home, and they knew where the two had been. Satrapi’s mother slaps them both! In this chapter, I thought it was awesome how Satrapi stood up for Mehri and her relationship.
The Party
The revolution is over and the entire community celebrates like they have never before. NO MORE SHAH! At school, the student rip out the picture of Shah in their textbooks, it was like another celebration. One of her classmates named Ramin, father was apart of the Shah secret police. So Satrapi and her friends decide they would nail him to something as punishment. In the search for Ramin, they run into Saptrapi’s mother who then teaches her a lesson about forgiveness. The next day, she forgave Ramin.
The Heroes
Siamak and Mohsen, two friends of Saptrapi’s parents who had been in prison. They were finally released at the revolution ended. And everyone was coming to Saptrapi’s house to celebrate. During their visit, they told horrid stories about the torture they received in prison. One of father’s friends, Ahmadi died. However, the tension betweeen Saptrapi and Siamak’s daughter was classic. Although, Saptrapi was completely out of line for saying her father was dead, The stories the men told gave Saptrapi new idea to play with her friends. I am still not sure if this is a good thing or not.
Moscow
Satrapi is obsessed with having heroes in her family like Laly’s father. Her uncle who she has never met until now has spend 9 years in prison. Instantly, she becomes in love with her uncle Anoosh. That night her told her stories about his uncle, his children, his wife and girlfriends, his travels, and his experiences in prison. That night before going to bed, Anoosh gave her a dove he made in prison from bread. That’s when she realizes that there were nmore heroes in her family than she thought.
The Sheep
Everyone fears the changes coming to surface. A boy that Satrapi likes, family decides to leave for the U.S. Shortly after, Moshsen had drown in his bath tub. Murder was the verdict. “The Deliverers of Divine Justice” began looking for Siamak. They killed his sister in search for him. But the word was Siamak and his family were hiding in a heard of sheep across the boarder. Suddenly, Anoosh disappears! Of course, she thinks he is dead somewhere, but he was actually in prison. However, this time she wasn’t so happy to her about her uncle currently being in prison oppose to when she urged him for more stories. While in prison, Anoosh was granted one visitor and he wanted to see Satrapi. The day of her visit, she was very nervous. She even wondered if her dress was nice enough!? She had made him a swan out of bread, because he had never been given his own bread bird.. Shortly after their visit, he was assassinated. Her God figure appears again. Although, its been several chapters since he appeared. This visit with him was an angry visit. She hated him. GET OUT!! And WAR BEGINS!
The Trip
NO ONE can go to the U.S. because the fundamentalist have taken some Americans hostage. Things were changing again. Women were wearing veils. Education temporarily stopped. Satrapi’s mother was insulted by fundamentalist for not wearing a veil…complete outrage! The people seemed to be deeply committed to praying more than usual. Satrapi’s mother tells her to tell people that she prays often; although, she doesn’t. This was her mother’s first sign of change herself. Her mother suggest that she is able to experience her first demonstration, but things got out of control and that was the families last demonstration. And the Arabs are back once again. Satrapi is angry and she wants to FIGHT! I can’t say I don’t blame her!
The F-14’s
The Iraqi F-14 bombed Tehran. However, Satrapi’s mother misses the excitement while taking a shower. War takes you by surprise she says. That night on the news, they played the nation anthem. This was a touching moment because the song had been previously band. In the spirit of war, the Iranian bombers attacked Baghdad..Satrapi and her father paraded around the house after hearing this. Unfortunately, the bombers never returned dying in the line of duty. Satrapi friend, Pardisse, father was a bombing pilot. Pardisse writes a note to her father in heaven and shares her story with the class.
The Jewels
Due to the bombing, the stores were empty. People fighting over a bag of rice. Her father searched for gas. The word had traveled that the refinery at Abadan had been hit. Her mother’s friend Mali lived there with her family. The second they got home, her mother began calling searching for Mali, but Mali and her family found them first. Everything they own had been destroyed excepted for some jewels. They with Satrapi and her family for about a week’ just long enough to sell the jewels and start over.
The Key
Boys were given the golden key if they were selected to go to war. More than likely, the boys came from poor areas.
aelamblog 
We’ve talked about the significance of chapter titles in other books we’ve read this summer, so I am glad you introduce them here. Originally, these chapters were published as freestanding stories in a French publication, so they had to make sense on their own as well as continue to tell Marji’s story.
Did you notice how Satrapi draws groups of people? The bad guys all look the same, but when the citizens celebrate in “The Party,” there are many different patterns filling up the whole page. The author tends to take advantage of the flexibility of the comic book format, so keep an eye out for patterns, layout, etc. And you’ll notice that Uncle Anoosh, whom she loves and idolizes, is drawn as very handsome. But when he is killed in prison, Satrapi uses another whole page to illustrate how lost she is without him and her faith in God. And the final page of the key contrasts the poor boys being blown to bits while the rich kids dance.