Through growing of age, we sometimes face inner or external conflict.
These conflicts can be a result of a society we are not comfortable in, or just fate. The comical movie “Persepolis”, written by Marjane Satrapi, is a memoir displaying different conflicts between a girl and the society she lives in. Marjene Satrapi is shown as a young girl born in Iran.
She grows up with the start of the Islamic revolution in Iran. Her parents then decide to send her to Austria to study in a safer and more suitable environment. While she grow up in Austria, she slowly adjusted to their customs and became more comfortable.But after graduating she decided that she should move back to Iran, even if she has to face the religious constrictions that are enforced in Iran. Because she had lived in two very different societies, Austria and Iran, while growing up, she realized that the laws enforced in Iran are unjust to women compared to western societies. As Marjene Satrapi lived in two contradicting societies, her living in Austria has caused her to feel that women in Iran are facing harsh discrimination. When Marjene’s parents sent her away to Austria, It took her a while to adjust.
As she adjusted, she slowly began to accept the culture there. As she meet more people, she was introduced to things she never experienced back home. This made her feel like she is given complete freedom to do whatever she wants. She starts to go out with guys, drink, smoke and have sex.
These acts, which are strictly prohibited to girls in Iran, became normal to her. But even growing up in Austria was difficult for her. She faced lots of difficulties as she tried to adjust. As Marjene begins to face more difficulties while in Vienna, she starts to feel homesick.She even gets to the point of trying to commit suicide, but her attempt fails. After she recovers, she decides to contact her parents and move back to Iran.
When she moves back to Iran, she realizes that things have changed there and are not what they used to be. For most of the first year, she lived in isolation and refused to speak to anyone. After her grandmother speaks to her, she slowly begins to accept the society she now lives in. She goes to art school and gets married. But even though she has accepted to live in Iran, she is still strongly against the unfair treatment f women in Iran. She continued to speak out against this unfair treatment she faced.Although Marjene did “adjust” to the changed customs of Iran, she still could not stand how different women were treated. After the death of Khomeini, life becomes even more difficult for her as she feels more restricted on what she can or cannot do.
After a long process of thinking, she decides to move away from Iran for good. The decision was mainly imposed upon her by her mother and she tries to protect her from the new government.
