Persepolis

Sartrapi, M. (2004). Persepolis. NY: Pantheon. Marji is 10 and living in Iran and the year is 1980. This young girl is about to embark on 4 years of Islamic Revolution, regime struggle and war with Iraq. Through the graphic novel, we see how Marji sees her family and neighbors around her as they all deal with the bombs and oppressive rules imposed on them. Marji experiments with her identity by clinging to nationalism, religion and rebellion. The rebellion causes concern with her parents who decide that school abroad would be best. This is a two part book for the English translation. I was not completely surprised by America’s involvement but I was surprised by Germany. Even though this a personal narrative about history, it is not exclusive to Iranians and would benefit exploration in a high school class. This migh even be more timely with the current events between the United States and Iran as of the Spring of 2015. This is an example of Havighurst's theory of developmental tasks for adolescents must develop morals and values. So much happens to Marji that she is constantly reevaluating and strengthening her convictions.