Persepolis (2000)¶

Author: Marjane Satrapi Type: Literary Text · Graphic Memoir · Primary Source (Iranian Revolution) Source: Pantheon Books (not public domain — school library copy required) Full Text: Available via school library; Internet Archive lending copy Era/Period: Era 4 — Age of Global War and Globalization WH Standards: WH.6_12.2 · WH.6_12.3 · WH.6_12.4 ELA Standards: 9-10.R.8 · 9-10.R.9 · 9-10.W.4

What This Text Is About¶

Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel about growing up in Iran during and after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Satrapi was 9 years old when the Revolution brought the Ayatollah Khomeini to power, replacing the U.S.-backed Shah's authoritarian secular regime with a theocratic authoritarian regime. The memoir covers her childhood (Volume 1) and young adulthood (Volume 2) — including the Iran-Iraq War, the suppression of dissidents (including members of her own family), the imposition of the hijab and other restrictions on women, her parents' decision to send her to Vienna at 14 for her safety, and her eventual emigration.

This text is dual-use. As ELA, it is one of the most studied graphic memoirs in the curriculum — rich for literary analysis of the graphic novel form, complex characterization, and multiple POV. As history, it is a first-person primary source account of the Iranian Revolution from inside it — the only text in the reading library that covers the Islamic world in Era 4, the Iranian Revolution, or political Islam as an ideology.

Read It¶

Fair-use excerpts for educational use. Connect with Mr. Reese or the Fargo South Library for the full text.

'The Veil' — The Islamic Revolution Changes Everything¶

Chapter 4: The veil is introduced as a mandatory requirement in Marji's school, leading to a moment of confusion and resistance.

Marji stands outside her classroom door, watching her classmates. Some girls wear headscarves while others don't, creating an immediate divide among them. When the teacher enters, she instructs all students to cover their heads with scarves or veils. Marji feels lost as she tries to understand why such a simple item of clothing has suddenly become so significant. She decides not to follow the rule, but her parents later sit her down for a conversation about the importance of compliance and safety in these tumultuous times.

'The Letter' — Marji's Uncle Anoosh¶

Chapter 9: In a letter to Marji, Anoosh recounts his experience as a political prisoner.

Anoosh writes to Marji from prison, sharing stories of his detention under the Shah and how he continued to fight for freedom after the revolution. He describes being beaten and tortured but also finding hope in the solidarity among prisoners who shared their dreams and struggles. His letter serves as a bridge between generations, instilling in young Marji a deeper understanding of political activism and its consequences.

'The Dowry' — Leaving Iran¶

Chapter 12: As Marji prepares to leave for Europe with her mother.

The scene shifts to the airport where Marji's departure is bittersweet. She looks back at her family, especially her mother who collapses in grief as they board their flight. The emotional farewell highlights the weight of exile and the sacrifices made for a better future elsewhere. In this poignant moment, Marji reflects on the cost of leaving home.

Full text available at Internet Archive and Open Library. Connect with Mr. Reese or the Fargo South Library for a physical copy.

ELA Standards This Connects To¶

R.8 — The graphic novel form creates unique literary analysis opportunities: Satrapi's visual style is deliberately simple (black and white, bold shapes) in contrast to the complexity of what she depicts. Students analyze how the visual choices — what is shown vs. described in text, how the same events appear differently in panels — create meaning that prose alone couldn't achieve. The child narrator vs. the adult author is a central character complexity.
R.9 — Satrapi's memoir makes an implicit argument: that Western caricatures of Iran — as either the Shah's secular "progress" or Khomeini's religious reaction — miss the lived complexity that people inside the country experienced. Students identify this argument and trace how she constructs it through specific scenes rather than direct statement.
W.4 — Use as a W.4 case study for argument made through narrative rather than direct claim. How does Satrapi argue without arguing? What is the difference between a story and an argument?
R.2 — The memoir rewards inference throughout: what does young Marji understand and not understand? Where does the reader know more than she does? What does the gap between her childhood understanding and the reader's adult knowledge create?

WH.6_12.2 — Persepolis is a primary source document of political Islam as an ideology — how it came to power, how it exercised control, how it defined itself against both Western secularism and Marxist alternatives. Satrapi's family were Marxists and secularists; her uncle was executed by the Islamic Republic. Students understand the Iranian Revolution as a collision of three ideological forces (the Shah's secular authoritarianism, Marxist opposition, and Islamic fundamentalism) rather than a simple religious uprising.
WH.6_12.3 — The memoir documents how the Islamic Republic functioned as a political system: the Revolutionary Guard, the dress code enforcement, the suppression of political opposition, the use of religion to justify state power. Students compare this to other authoritarian systems they've studied (Nazi Germany, Stalinist USSR) — what does theocratic authoritarianism share with secular authoritarianism? What is different?
WH.6_12.4 — The Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988) — which killed an estimated 500,000–1,000,000 people — is documented through Satrapi's childhood experience. Students understand how a revolution that promised liberation quickly mobilized an entire generation for a war that served the regime's survival interests.

Key Vocabulary¶

Term	Definition
Iranian Revolution (1979)	The overthrow of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (backed by the U.S.) and the establishment of the Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
Hijab	Islamic head covering; its mandatory use was one of the first acts of the new Islamic Republic and a central symbol of the regime's control over women's bodies
SAVAK	The Shah's secret police — responsible for torture and political suppression; one reason many Iranians initially supported the Revolution against him
Revolutionary Guard	The paramilitary force established by the Islamic Republic to enforce the regime's ideology — distinct from the regular army
Theocracy	Government by religious authority — Iran under Khomeini replaced the Shah's secular state with a government explicitly based on Islamic law

Key Scenes¶

Chapter 1 — "The Veil": Nine-year-old Marji and her classmates are suddenly required to wear the hijab. The girls treat it as a game, not understanding what it means. Adult Satrapi frames the panel showing girls wearing veils over their faces like masks — the visual comment is sharper than any explanation.

Chapter 3 — "The Water Cell": Marji's uncle Anoosh is arrested by the Shah, released, then rearrested and executed by the Islamic Republic. He represents the Marxist generation that supported the Revolution against the Shah and was then destroyed by it. His execution is the memoir's emotional center.

Chapter 9 — "The F-14s": The Iran-Iraq War arrives. Marji begins to understand that the regime is deliberately extending the war for political reasons — using 14-year-olds as "human mine-sweepers" with plastic keys to paradise — and her faith in the Revolution dies completely.

Why these scenes matter: Each scene is historically documented: the mandatory hijab, the purge of the left after 1979, the child soldiers of the Iran-Iraq War. Satrapi's memoir makes historical events legible through personal experience.

Chapter Guide¶

Chapter(s)	Historical Content	ELA Focus
1–4	Islamic Revolution; initial changes	Child narrator vs. adult author; dramatic irony
5–8	Shah's history; SAVAK; why the Revolution happened	R.9: implicit argument about Western responsibility
9–12	Iran-Iraq War begins; family survival	Setting-character interaction; loss of innocence theme
13–16	Life under the Islamic Republic; Marji's resistance	Complex character development; R.8 symbol analysis
17–20	Decision to leave; departure for Vienna	WH.6_12.4: individual vs. historical forces

Studio Ideas¶

"What Revolution Promises vs. What It Delivers" — EQ: Why do revolutions so often produce the opposite of what they promised? · Standard: WH.6_12.2 + WH.6_12.3 · Demo Mode: Written Assessment (compare the Iranian Revolution to one other revolution studied in class — French, Russian, Haitian. What pattern do you see? Write an argument about what causes revolutionary movements to turn authoritarian)
"The West's Role" — EQ: Does a country bear responsibility for the governments its foreign policy creates? · Standard: WH.6_12.3 + W.4 · Demo Mode: Extended Writing (research the CIA's 1953 coup that restored the Shah — Satrapi references this. Argue: did U.S. foreign policy in Iran contribute to the 1979 Revolution? Use evidence from Persepolis and at least one external source)
"How Graphic Novels Argue" — EQ: Can a picture make an argument that words can't? · Standard: R.8 + R.9 · Demo Mode: Portfolio Annotation (select 5 panels from Persepolis where the visual choice does something the words don't or can't. Annotate each: what is Satrapi showing? What argument is the image making that she doesn't state in the text?)
"Persepolis and 1984" — EQ: Is theocratic authoritarianism different from secular authoritarianism? · Standard: WH.6_12.2 + R.8 · Demo Mode: Verbal Conversation (compare the surveillance and social control systems in Persepolis and 1984 — what is the same? What is different? Does the regime's justification — religion vs. ideology — change how it operates or only how it presents itself?)

Sensitive Content Note¶

Persepolis contains depictions of political violence, torture (described), child death, and the psychological effects of living under authoritarian rule. These are historically documented events presented through a child's perspective. Appropriate historical framing is essential. Students from Iranian American or Muslim communities may have complex personal relationships with this text.

Why This Is Relevant Today?¶

Persepolis is banned in Iran. It depicts the country's people — Satrapi's family, her friends, the ordinary Iranians who lived through the Islamic Revolution — as fully human, politically complex, and frequently in disagreement with the government that claims to represent them. That distinction (a government vs. its people) is one the novel insists on, and it's relevant whenever Iran appears in the news as a foreign policy abstraction. The graphic memoir form is also significant: Satrapi chose it specifically because it allowed her to show what couldn't be photographed under the Islamic Republic's censorship — the interior life, the private conversations, the small acts of resistance that don't make the news. The novel's argument that art can show you something about a country that policy documents and news coverage cannot is a claim about the purpose of literature that is worth taking seriously as a general principle. Persepolis also bridges World History and US History: the Iranian Revolution it depicts was shaped in part by U.S. policy toward Iran, and the novel's account of that history from inside Iran is a perspective that rarely makes it into American textbooks.