IMPORTANT: DIGITAL COMMONPLACE DIRECTIONS FOR UNIT 3
Rather than posting quotations and asking a question (as we did in the first unit), or gathering quotations and making a claim (as we did in the last unit) for the Digital Commonplaces in "Writing the Self: Biographical Approaches," you'll be asked to reflect on how each author’s writing choices interact with your own interpretive processes as audience members.
Please do the following:
1) Post at least two quotations (or in the case of Satrapi, you may want to describe the visual rhetoric on specific panels). If applicable, one quotation should be from the book itself and one should be from the secondary literature assigned with it. Please note the page numbers in your edition/from the article.
2) Then, using the following questions to help guide you, step back and reflect: o How has this autobiographical text--and these particular passages-- enhanced your own understanding of women's roles in society? o Does this author's choice to write about these personal experiences challenge any preconceived notions you had as a reader? o How does the author’s writing choices—or, in the case of Satrapi, her visual rhetoric—help forward the feminist notion that the personal is political?
People especially women should not be ashamed to be who they are. While Marjane is in Austria she faces a lot of hardship just based off her nationality. Even though it is not Iran she still faces discrimination. One for being a women, "An ugly cow" and two for being Iranian. No one should have to feel ashamed of who they are, especially if they can not control what is happening in their own country. No one should have to go through bullying. These girls didn't know her yet they were going to judge her and talk about her behind her back which is not fair. Every one has a story no matter where they have come from, some stories are just more detailed then others. "She told my brother that she was French. And your brother believed her? What do you think? Have you heard the way she talks? Have you seen her face? But your brother was hitting on her or what? Of course not. Ah, That's a relief. Considering how ugly she is, it would be really unfair if she got a like Marc. Hahah I would commit suicide if my brother was going out with a cow like that. I don't know if you've noticed, but she never talks about either her country or her parents. Well. of course! She lies when she says that she's known war. Its all to make herself seem interesting"196.
“And the party was not what I imagined. In Iran, at parties, everyone would dance and eat. In Vienna, people preferred to lie around and smoke. And then, I was turned off by all these public displays of affection. What do you expect, I came from a traditional family” (185). In this panel, Satrapi is at a party in Vienna and everyone is kissing and smoking and laughing and she is in a corner alone just looking at all of them.
I think this is an interesting part because we are told veiled woman don’t have a lot of fun because of their society’s adherence to tradition. We are told that there isn’t much room for drinking and smoking and being affectionate with other people in their culture because it would get in the way of their prayers and studies and their traditions. But here, Satrapi challenges that notion and shows us that they were parties and that they were ways for these women to express themselves. And i know that they are other sections and panels where she does this, but i like this one because she shows us the difference between Iran and other regions of the word. It also shows us that even though women in this society come from a place of tradition and religion, there is still a lot of agency that they gain. Also, a lot is revealed about Satrapi’s character at the time and how she is looking to find a balance between tradition and western culture, which I think depicts the idea that the personal is political because we get to see how she conceptualizes the multiple worlds that she lives in. I also think it’s also interesting that she addresses us as an audience in this section too.
“I packed my bag… I again put on my veil… And so much for my individual and social liberties… I needed so badly to go home.” (The Complete Persepolis, 245).
On this page of the book, there are three frames along the top, all of which depict Marjane in her room, standing by her bed as she puts on her coat and grabs her suitcase. Below these is one large frame, showing Marjane’s back facing the reader, as she faces a mirror looking at her own reflection. We see her face in the mirror, lines drawn beneath her eyes, a frown on her face. She looks anxious and tired.
“Satrapi’s story of becoming was first ‘behaved’ – that is, simply lived – over the course of fourteen years in Iran and Austria, but has been consciously behaved a second time, restored through the process of writing and drawing, and thus transformed into a unique performance” (Worth, 146).
In this section of the story, we see the narrator Satrapi reflecting back on her experiences in Austria. When she says “I needed so badly to go home,” the narrator’s voice shines through, to an extent. This statement reflects both the thoughts of Marjane at the time, and those of Marjane as she narrates this segment of her story. I think this demonstrates Worth’s idea about how Satrapi’s story is a performance, that she is re-living these events as she tells us about them.
This passage seems, to me, to be a turning point for Marjane. She had spent the last few years making attempts to move away from her Iranian identity and more towards a Westernized identity, to fit in with her peers. She begins developing frustrations at the stereotypes and associations so many people in Austria make about Iranian women. Finally, she decides that she needs to go home to reconcile her difficulties reconciling her various identities (which proves easier said than done). This demonstrates that she is embracing her Iranian identity. At the same time she says, after making the decision to go home: “So much for my individual and social liberties.” She recognizes, especially now after having another culture to compare it to, how oppressive Iran’s government is and how the culture confines women in many ways. The image of Marjane facing her veiled reflection in the mirror is powerful, reflecting the idea of the body as a political vessel, the personal as political.
Excellent analysis of this important panel, Diana. There are so many layers to this scene: not only is she reflecting on her decision to go home as a writer; she's literally showing her audience the embodiment of this reflection in the text itself. Thus, the mirror performs a doubling function. And I wonder if she ever really felt at "liberty" to be herself in Austria?
Worth- Embodied Performance “Back in Iran, her new opinions and her sexual experiences bring her some trouble with her more ‘traditional’ friends, but, moreover, Marjane’s experiences in Austria highlight the social restrictions she faces in her homeland, where the presence of women covered by chadors and veils ironically makes her pay even closer attention to the body and the messages it conveys. As an art student who is asked to draw a male model without looking at him (looking at the opposite sex being restricted by the moral code), and later stopped from running because her physical movement draws men’s attention, she comes to realize how bodies, and particularly female bodies, operate as a site of power struggles, and how a government can utilize that power to achieve its own ends (Fig. 6):19 The body is not simply to be celebrated for its beauty or capacity for pleasure (a common position of many American performance artists), but recognized as an important locale for personal and political articulation.” (pg 8)
There are certain aspects of Satrapi’s narrative that do fit with certain aspects of what’s conveyed to us about veiled women in media. For example: chastity, and a lack of sexual knowledge. Marjane’s is initially shocked at the knowledge of Julie being so open about her sexual experiences, let alone about the fact that she’s having sex before marriage, not to mention the fact that Julie’s mother thinks that Marjane is a good influence on her, as Marjane is more innocent than Julie, and has something of a sweeter disposition. However, this lack of knowledge is true, not only of veiled women, but of anyone who grows up in a conservative household. There are some women in this country that are given no other sexual education other than ‘abstinence only’ (though I believe that that has now been made illegal in California—hopefully it’ll spread). Chastity is a mark of most religious ideologies, whether it’s carried through or not. Marjane’s own initial introduction to the male form, in the viewing of Julie’s half-naked bed partner, is unorthodox, perhaps less than ideal, and unique to her own experience.
Satropi "That night, I really understood the meaning of 'the sexual revolution.' It was my first big step toward assimilating into Western culture" (188).
Worth "Back in Iran, her new opinions and her sexual experiences bring her some trouble with her more ‘traditional’ friends, but, moreover, Marjane’s experiences in Austria highlight the social restrictions she faces in her homeland, where the presence of women covered by chadors and veils ironically makes her pay even closer attention to the body and the messages it conveys."
A year and a half ago I took a course called "Peoples of the Middle East," and it is one of the most insightful classes I've ever taken. I learned a lot about the veil, its symbol of oppression to women who wear it, and the alternate symbol of oppression to the Western world - they are vastly different. The veil is not oppression to many women who wear it. It is a symbol of culture. Being told that they MUST wear it, on the other hand, is not the goal.
The major differences between Western culture and Middle Eastern culture in terms of women continues to be an interesting topic, and something I'm constantly learning about. It is certainly different to see cultural differences in different parts of Europe: the veil, language, education, etc. in Satropi's graphic novel.
In the scene when Marjane is with the nuns watching tv with them and eating stight out of a pan oe of the nuns yells at her for doing this. She tells her that she has no manners and that “It’s true what they say about Iranians. They have no manners.” Marjane respond to the nun by saying in return, “It’s true what they say about you too. You were all prostitutes before becoming nuns.” (177)
I think that this argument that Marjane has with the nun says a lot about her as an individual. She is no longer a part of the stereotype that Muslim women are quiet and reserved and don’t stand up for themselves. Marjane shows that she will stand up against the stereotypes that people may have against her such as not having any manners. She is a very confident and bold character and all throughout she stands up for herself and her background. This character definitely breaks through many barriers of what people may assume about this culture of women. I think that seeing her be such a strong woman and standing up against many authority figures gives her a lot of power and control over her own life.
I love this scene. It's very reminiscent of her standing up to the headmistress in Iran, isn't it? It also reminded me of the veil as identity metaphor Worth brings up.
13. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi & “Unveiling Persepolis as Embodied Performance” by Jennifer Worth - Quote from Satrapi: Marjane’s Mom: “. . . NOW YOU MUST MAKE AN EFFORT, YOU MUST BECOME SOMEBODY. I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU DO LATER, ONLY TRY TO BE THE BEST. IF YOU BECOME A CABARET DANCER, BETTER THAT YOU DANCE AT THE LIDO THAN IN A HOLE IN THE WALL” (203). - Quote from Worth: “ . . . even while pursuing her education in presumably free Austria, (Marjane) hides herself under a succession of various symbolic ‘veils’, cloaking herself beneath different, physically distinct manifestations, none of which bring her the aatisfaction of subjecthood” (155). - Right before the Worth quote that I have, Worth actually quotes the part of Satrapi’s text: “‘The harder I tried to assimilate, the more I had the feeling that I was distancing myself from my culture, betraying my parents and my origins, that I was playing a game by somebody else’s rules” (Worth 155; Satrapi 193). In Satrapi’s text, this quote of narration is accompanied by a picture of Marjane in her punk get-up running from the silhouettes of her parents. This image really stood out for me while I was reading. It is only now that I think I know why it did; it did because not only is she running from her parents because she is a teenager, but she is literally thousands of miles from any familiarity. That kind of loneliness – for me – is unimaginable; at that point in your life, you are so unsure of yourself that you need your parents to be there for you: to be your cheerleaders, your support team, your confidants, your verification that you’re not crazy or stupid or whatever else you may feel. The support Marjane receives from her mother is strong, good advice that not only stuck with her but stuck with me throughout the book. (It sounds like advice my mom has given me before, too.)
"She never asked me any questions about my situation. Certainly out of a sense of restraint and also because she was scared of the answers. If she had sacrificed herself so that I could live freely, the least I could do was behave well" (Satrapi 203).
"[Satrapi] demonstrates the complex interplay of political and personal history that serves to construct – or obstruct – the formation of identity itself, ultimately breaking away from a marginalized, ‘caught-between’ identity, ironically, through an embrace of her liminal status" (Worth 144).
In being separated from her parents because of the war, Marjane is forced to face her pubescent years lacking parental guidance. And although she is rather successfully navigating not only her biological factors but the social circumstances of the period as well, her mother serves as a clear but distant reminder of what is going on in her home country. While her story is still one of division between cultures, this passage illuminates the impact war and religious hostility have had on Marjane's development.
“Simone explained that if women peed standing up, their perception of life would change. So I tried. It ran lightly down my left leg. It was a little disgusting. / Seated, it was much simpler. And, as an Iranian woman, before learning to urinate like a man, I needed to learn to become a liberated and emancipated woman” (Persepolis 175).
Through this section of the book, Satrapi shows Marji quite literally questioning gender roles and testing the limits of her own gender identity, as well as the power that comes with it. This was an experiment for her own identity. Though it was only a small – pretty gross yet hilarious – section of Marji’s journey, it showed significance in that she understood who traditionally held more power (men) and wanted power herself, so she tried to imitate their actions. She found no pleasure or pride in peeing standing up, but she did find out a little bit more of who she was and what she wanted.
As Worth put it, “Despite the naivety of this early endeavour, it is through her funny, sad and sometimes messy embodied experience that Marjane/Satrapi learns her most important lessons” (149). Satrapi “demonstrates the complex interplay of political and personal history that serves to construct – or obstruct – the formation of identity itself, ultimately breaking away from a marginalized, ‘caught-between’ identity, ironically, through an embrace of her liminal status” (144)
Because Marji was curious enough to experiment with and explore her identity and power dynamics, se was able to find out who she was. “It is not just through her repeated self-portraiture that Satrapi indicates an interest in the body, but also in her manner of relating her physical experiences to mental and emotional transformations. Satrapi’s focus on embodied experience as the primary means of understanding begins early in the books” (146)
I love your focus on performance here, which ties nicely to the notion that just reading Simone de Beavoir wasn't enough for Satrapi (after all, books are just words!); she had to embody the reading herself, didn't she?
Back in Iran, her new opinions and her sexual experiences bring her some trouble with her more traditional friends, but, moreover, Marjane’s experiences in Austria highlight the social restrictions she faces in her homeland, where the presence of women covered by chadors and veils ironically makes her pay even closer attention to the body and the messages it conveys.
A lot of people tend to usually get the idea confused when it comes to Middle Eastern women wearing a veil over her head. A lot of people think by wearing the veil it highlights the struggle that the ladies go through when in fact the veil is all about culture and religion for them.
"But really, I had nothing to cry about. I had just redeemed myself. For the first time in a year, I felt proud. I finally understood what my grandmother meant. If I wasn't comfortable with myself, I would never be comfortable" (The Complete Persepolis, 197).
"It is her failure to find herself beneath any of these Western ‘veils’ that drives Marjane once again to don the hijab and return to Iran, where she struggles with depression. She realizes her predicament: ‘I was nothing. I was a Westerner in Iran, an Iranian in the West. I had no identity. I didn’t even know anymore why I was living’ ...she undergoes another physical transformation – this time, intentional – to remake herself into a sophisticated woman... ‘I had conformed to society, while I had always wanted to remain in the margins’" (Worth, 155)
Marjane is (almost) constantly going through some sort of change throughout this section of the book. Whether it be her changing friend groups at school, experiencing Lucia's family over Christmas break, going through puberty and cutting her hair/adopting a whole new look, to the moment at the cafe when she finally stands up for herself after a good long while, Marjane is constantly having to deal with how other people see her throughout Persepolis. Marjane is not only growing up physically, but mentally as well. Throughout this section, she goes through quite the transformation, she eventually, after almost dying from a case of untreated bronchitis, moves back to Iran with her family and seeks to begin life anew. Marjane is going through a lot in her life, as she is quickly becoming an adult while simultaneously trying to find herself in a society that isn't hers.
Satrapi- (Narration) Besides, my mistakes in French made me someone of interest. It has been three years since I'd practiced My french, after the closing of the Bilingual schools by the Islamic government. (Marji) What do you call that thing, you know, like a ruler* [I meant a triangle]. (Guy 1) What thing? (Guy 2) Oh, that thing! You know, a dick! (Guy 1) Oh, right! We call it a dick. (Marji) A dick? (Marji) Can you lend me your dick? (Guy 1 and 2 laugh, Guy 3 is embarrassed). The strip ends with the narration of "Well, at least I existed." (p 165)
Worth "Marjane has difficulty fitting in with her peers, and seeks to educate herself..."
I chose a short quote from Worth, omitting the ending of the sentence which is an example from later in the the Graphic Novel. The reason is that this strip, along with this quote, are a widely recognized feeling.
I, myself, never really fit in and I used to believe everything I heard. As my life progressed, instead of asking people and believing what I heard, I, too, began to educate myself on a lot of different things.
I connect with Margi in this process of her self-discovery very intimately.
"This is how, for love, I began my career as a drug dealer. Hadn't I followed my mother's advice? To give the best of myself? I was no longer a simple junkie, but my school's official dealer" (222).
"I packed my bag...and again I put on my veil...so much for my individual and social liberties...I needed so badly to go home" (245).
I find it ironic that as Marj moves away from the more repressive society in Iran, she loses herself rather than liberates herself. I think she becomes overwhelmed with her new gained liberties, as well as with the prospect of fitting in with another culture. In her efforts to "fit in," she becomes a different person; she is no longer the headstrong, independent young woman we have seen before. Instead, Marj gives herself up to boys and drugs, changing the course of her future. It is also worthy to note that in Europe, Marj is isolated from the political happens in Iran, whereas before they consumed her daily life. This ties into the personal/political dynamic: the further away Marj is from her country's politics, the further she drifts away from herself.
“For the first time in a year, I felt proud. I finally understood what my grandmother meant. If I wasn’t comfortable with myself, I would never be comfortable.” (Satrapi 197) “I had abandoned my punk look, I no longer wanted to be marginal.”(Satrapi 199)
“Back in Iran, her new opinions and her sexual experiences bring her some trouble with her more ‘traditional’ friends, but, moreover, Marjane’s experiences in Austria highlight the social restrictions she faces in her homeland, where the presence of women covered by chadors and veils ironically makes her pay even closer attention to the body and the messages it conveys.” (Worth 150)
In this portion of the book, Marjane goes through a significant physical and mental change as she cuts off all of her hair, adopts the punk look, and hangs out with an eclectic group of friends who introduce her to things such as pot, premarital sex, and homosexuality. Moving to Austria was somewhat of a culture shock for Marjane, but she allowed herself to immerse into the culture as apart of her journey of self-discovery. This part of the book is a great example of “the personal is political” because Marjane expresses herself through her appearance and declares that despite her non-comfortmist look, she is still a proud Iranian.
Good close reading, Nicollette. I think her desire to no longer be "marginal" is kind of ironic in that regardless of what identity she puts on in Austria, she is still defined as an Iranian by outsiders to the culture.
"I had been in Austria for over a year and a half. I had abadonned my punk look. I no longer wanted to be marginal" (Satrapi, 199)
"The frames that surround each of the hundreds of panels that make up Persepolis are a convention of Western comic art. Practically, these frames serve the double purpose of isolating important moments in the story, and of creating the spaces necessary forthe story to move forward, as ‘Space does for comics what Time does for film’...But these frames are not only meant to guide the reader’s eye through the text; they function as a metaphorical alternative to the veiling Marjane experiences within the narrative." (Worth,155-157)
Satrapi uses the metaphor of being marginalized, being outside the system, several times throughout the story in attempts to find her identity. First she marginalizes herself as a punk to appear outside the mainstream, which she abadonnes after a while since it isn't her real self. Later (sorry for a little spoiler), she talks about how she always wished to remain within the margins. I think this metaphor is interesting especially within the context of a graphic novel. I wished Worth went more into potential irony of beng marginalized within a graphic novel, which has frames to keep a person within a set of margins. By writing a graphic novel, Satrapi has created a framework in which the characters are bound within drawn frames. No character of scene of action is actually pushed outside of these boundaries to my knowledge. Does this represent how Marjane centeralizes and conforms to the norm, never actually being about to break out of the frames of her own narrative? Am I reading too much into this?
I wanted her to go into more detail on this as well, Jill. I was reminded of Satrapi's second panel (in the book) where she draws herself out of the scene when I read this section of Worth. I think it also might have to do with the notion that the audience also plays a part in constructing what happens between the frames?
I love the contrast between the first section of Persepolis in which Satrapi must blend in with the other girls (wearing a veil) and the second when she takes a hold of her look.
"As if my natural deformity wasn't enough, I tried a few haircuts. A little snip of the scissors on the left. And a week later, a little snip of the scissors on the right. I looked like Cosette in 'Les Miserables' so I coated my hair with gel, I added a thick line of eyeliner, a few safety pins, which were replaced by a scarf. It softened the look. It was beginning to look like something" (190).
The visual rhetoric portrays Satrapi's new and expanding look. As mentioned on the previous page, she is growing and her new appearance, as many teenagers are, is awkward. She has the ability to cut her hair and try out new looks which is portrayed visually in a step by step process of what she looks like. Satrapi has the ability to stand out from the crowd in more obvious, visual ways.
p. 175 If I'd had anything fun to do, I don't think I would ever have read as much as I did./ To educate myself, I had to understand everything. Starting with myself, me, Marji, the woman. So I threw myself into reading my mother's favorite book./ I read "The Second Sex." Simone explained that if women peed standing up, their perception of life would change./Seated, it was much simpler. And, as an Iranian woman, before learning to urinate as a man, I needed to learn to become a liberated and emancipated woman.
p. 244 I think that I preferred to put myself in serious danger rather than confront my shame. My shame at not having become someone, the shame of not having made my parents proud after all the sacrifices they had made for me. The shame of having become a mediocre nihilist."
In the first quote here, Marji is beginning to discover that being liberated will not come from being like a man, rather it will come from being a woman who feels liberated and free. Her creation of self is going to change at this point because she recognizes that she does not have to take on the roles and qualities of a man in order to feel liberated.
However, in the second quote, Marji realizes how difficult this creation of self as a liberated woman is, and she feels as though she has failed herself and her parents, when she is only facing obstacles she has to overcome, which in turn will contribute to her creation of self.
"That night, I really understood the meaning of 'The Sexual Revolution.' It was my first big step toward assimilating into Western culture." (188)
"But really, I had nothing to cry about. / I had just redeemed myself. / For the first time in a year, I felt proud. I finally understood what my grandmother meant. If I wasn't comfortable with myself, I would never be comfortable." (197)
In these two passages, Satrapi is clearly a young woman trying to construct an identity out of conflicting experiences. No matter what she does, she feels excluded, but she is growing in her personal journey. When she attends a party, she sees a man "half-naked" for the first time and open sexuality is so far removed from her Iranian identity that it is a transformation-like experience for her. She feels alienated from her Iranian identity. Soon after, she depicts an encounter in which several girls gossip about how Satrapi lied about her age and she tells them off, feeling proud that she's finally had the courage to stand by who she is. This push and pull is an early development of the growth of her personal identity as an intersectional feminist.
IMPORTANT: DIGITAL COMMONPLACE DIRECTIONS FOR UNIT 3
ReplyDeleteRather than posting quotations and asking a question (as we did in the first unit), or gathering quotations and making a claim (as we did in the last unit) for the Digital Commonplaces in "Writing the Self: Biographical Approaches," you'll be asked to reflect on how each author’s writing choices interact with your own interpretive processes as audience members.
Please do the following:
1) Post at least two quotations (or in the case of Satrapi, you may want to describe the visual rhetoric on specific panels). If applicable, one quotation should be from the book itself and one should be from the secondary literature assigned with it. Please note the page numbers in your edition/from the article.
2) Then, using the following questions to help guide you, step back and reflect:
o How has this autobiographical text--and these particular passages-- enhanced
your own understanding of women's roles in society?
o Does this author's choice to write about these personal experiences challenge any
preconceived notions you had as a reader?
o How does the author’s writing choices—or, in the case of Satrapi, her visual
rhetoric—help forward the feminist notion that the personal is political?
People especially women should not be ashamed to be who they are. While Marjane is in Austria she faces a lot of hardship just based off her nationality. Even though it is not Iran she still faces discrimination. One for being a women, "An ugly cow" and two for being Iranian. No one should have to feel ashamed of who they are, especially if they can not control what is happening in their own country. No one should have to go through bullying. These girls didn't know her yet they were going to judge her and talk about her behind her back which is not fair. Every one has a story no matter where they have come from, some stories are just more detailed then others.
ReplyDelete"She told my brother that she was French.
And your brother believed her?
What do you think? Have you heard the way she talks?
Have you seen her face?
But your brother was hitting on her or what?
Of course not.
Ah, That's a relief. Considering how ugly she is, it would be really unfair if she got a like Marc.
Hahah I would commit suicide if my brother was going out with a cow like that.
I don't know if you've noticed, but she never talks about either her country or her parents.
Well. of course! She lies when she says that she's known war. Its all to make herself seem interesting"196.
I like your intersectional take on the way that Satrapi's identity is interpreted by outsiders.
Delete“And the party was not what I imagined. In Iran, at parties, everyone would dance and eat. In Vienna, people preferred to lie around and smoke. And then, I was turned off by all these public displays of affection. What do you expect, I came from a traditional family” (185). In this panel, Satrapi is at a party in Vienna and everyone is kissing and smoking and laughing and she is in a corner alone just looking at all of them.
ReplyDeleteI think this is an interesting part because we are told veiled woman don’t have a lot of fun because of their society’s adherence to tradition. We are told that there isn’t much room for drinking and smoking and being affectionate with other people in their culture because it would get in the way of their prayers and studies and their traditions. But here, Satrapi challenges that notion and shows us that they were parties and that they were ways for these women to express themselves. And i know that they are other sections and panels where she does this, but i like this one because she shows us the difference between Iran and other regions of the word. It also shows us that even though women in this society come from a place of tradition and religion, there is still a lot of agency that they gain. Also, a lot is revealed about Satrapi’s character at the time and how she is looking to find a balance between tradition and western culture, which I think depicts the idea that the personal is political because we get to see how she conceptualizes the multiple worlds that she lives in. I also think it’s also interesting that she addresses us as an audience in this section too.
I love your focus on bicultural identity here, and how Satrapi shows the many choices women should be able to make in relation to their sexuality.
Delete“I packed my bag… I again put on my veil… And so much for my individual and social liberties… I needed so badly to go home.” (The Complete Persepolis, 245).
ReplyDeleteOn this page of the book, there are three frames along the top, all of which depict Marjane in her room, standing by her bed as she puts on her coat and grabs her suitcase. Below these is one large frame, showing Marjane’s back facing the reader, as she faces a mirror looking at her own reflection. We see her face in the mirror, lines drawn beneath her eyes, a frown on her face. She looks anxious and tired.
“Satrapi’s story of becoming was first ‘behaved’ – that is, simply lived – over the course of fourteen years in Iran and Austria, but has been consciously behaved a second time, restored through the process of writing and drawing, and thus transformed into a unique performance” (Worth, 146).
In this section of the story, we see the narrator Satrapi reflecting back on her experiences in Austria. When she says “I needed so badly to go home,” the narrator’s voice shines through, to an extent. This statement reflects both the thoughts of Marjane at the time, and those of Marjane as she narrates this segment of her story. I think this demonstrates Worth’s idea about how Satrapi’s story is a performance, that she is re-living these events as she tells us about them.
This passage seems, to me, to be a turning point for Marjane. She had spent the last few years making attempts to move away from her Iranian identity and more towards a Westernized identity, to fit in with her peers. She begins developing frustrations at the stereotypes and associations so many people in Austria make about Iranian women. Finally, she decides that she needs to go home to reconcile her difficulties reconciling her various identities (which proves easier said than done). This demonstrates that she is embracing her Iranian identity. At the same time she says, after making the decision to go home: “So much for my individual and social liberties.” She recognizes, especially now after having another culture to compare it to, how oppressive Iran’s government is and how the culture confines women in many ways. The image of Marjane facing her veiled reflection in the mirror is powerful, reflecting the idea of the body as a political vessel, the personal as political.
Excellent analysis of this important panel, Diana. There are so many layers to this scene: not only is she reflecting on her decision to go home as a writer; she's literally showing her audience the embodiment of this reflection in the text itself. Thus, the mirror performs a doubling function. And I wonder if she ever really felt at "liberty" to be herself in Austria?
DeleteWorth- Embodied Performance
ReplyDelete“Back in Iran, her new opinions and her sexual experiences bring her some trouble with her more ‘traditional’ friends, but, moreover, Marjane’s experiences in Austria highlight the social restrictions she faces in her homeland, where the presence of women covered by chadors and veils ironically makes her pay even closer attention to the body and the messages it conveys. As an art student who is asked to draw a male model without looking at him (looking at the opposite sex being restricted by the moral code), and later stopped from running because her physical movement draws men’s attention, she comes to realize how bodies, and particularly female bodies, operate as a site of power struggles, and how a government can utilize that power to achieve its own ends (Fig. 6):19 The body is not simply to be celebrated for its beauty or capacity for pleasure (a common position of many American performance artists), but recognized as an important locale for personal and political articulation.” (pg 8)
There are certain aspects of Satrapi’s narrative that do fit with certain aspects of what’s conveyed to us about veiled women in media. For example: chastity, and a lack of sexual knowledge. Marjane’s is initially shocked at the knowledge of Julie being so open about her sexual experiences, let alone about the fact that she’s having sex before marriage, not to mention the fact that Julie’s mother thinks that Marjane is a good influence on her, as Marjane is more innocent than Julie, and has something of a sweeter disposition. However, this lack of knowledge is true, not only of veiled women, but of anyone who grows up in a conservative household. There are some women in this country that are given no other sexual education other than ‘abstinence only’ (though I believe that that has now been made illegal in California—hopefully it’ll spread). Chastity is a mark of most religious ideologies, whether it’s carried through or not. Marjane’s own initial introduction to the male form, in the viewing of Julie’s half-naked bed partner, is unorthodox, perhaps less than ideal, and unique to her own experience.
Good cross-cultural reflection on growing up conservative, regardless of religion. I like that you avoid stereotyping Satrapi with your analysis.
DeleteSatropi
ReplyDelete"That night, I really understood the meaning of 'the sexual revolution.' It was my first big step toward assimilating into Western culture" (188).
Worth
"Back in Iran, her new opinions and her sexual experiences bring her some trouble with her more ‘traditional’ friends, but, moreover, Marjane’s experiences in Austria highlight the social restrictions she faces in her homeland, where the presence of women covered by chadors and veils ironically makes her pay even closer attention to the body and the messages it conveys."
A year and a half ago I took a course called "Peoples of the Middle East," and it is one of the most insightful classes I've ever taken. I learned a lot about the veil, its symbol of oppression to women who wear it, and the alternate symbol of oppression to the Western world - they are vastly different. The veil is not oppression to many women who wear it. It is a symbol of culture. Being told that they MUST wear it, on the other hand, is not the goal.
The major differences between Western culture and Middle Eastern culture in terms of women continues to be an interesting topic, and something I'm constantly learning about. It is certainly different to see cultural differences in different parts of Europe: the veil, language, education, etc. in Satropi's graphic novel.
I'm so interested in hearing more about how this course influenced your interpretation of this text.
DeleteIn the scene when Marjane is with the nuns watching tv with them and eating stight out of a pan oe of the nuns yells at her for doing this. She tells her that she has no manners and that “It’s true what they say about Iranians. They have no manners.” Marjane respond to the nun by saying in return, “It’s true what they say about you too. You were all prostitutes before becoming nuns.” (177)
ReplyDeleteI think that this argument that Marjane has with the nun says a lot about her as an individual. She is no longer a part of the stereotype that Muslim women are quiet and reserved and don’t stand up for themselves. Marjane shows that she will stand up against the stereotypes that people may have against her such as not having any manners. She is a very confident and bold character and all throughout she stands up for herself and her background. This character definitely breaks through many barriers of what people may assume about this culture of women. I think that seeing her be such a strong woman and standing up against many authority figures gives her a lot of power and control over her own life.
I love this scene. It's very reminiscent of her standing up to the headmistress in Iran, isn't it? It also reminded me of the veil as identity metaphor Worth brings up.
Delete13. The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi & “Unveiling Persepolis as Embodied Performance” by Jennifer Worth
ReplyDelete- Quote from Satrapi: Marjane’s Mom: “. . . NOW YOU MUST MAKE AN EFFORT, YOU MUST BECOME SOMEBODY. I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU DO LATER, ONLY TRY TO BE THE BEST. IF YOU BECOME A CABARET DANCER, BETTER THAT YOU DANCE AT THE LIDO THAN IN A HOLE IN THE WALL” (203).
- Quote from Worth: “ . . . even while pursuing her education in presumably free Austria, (Marjane) hides herself under a succession of various symbolic ‘veils’, cloaking herself beneath different, physically distinct manifestations, none of which bring her the aatisfaction of subjecthood” (155).
- Right before the Worth quote that I have, Worth actually quotes the part of Satrapi’s text: “‘The harder I tried to assimilate, the more I had the feeling that I was distancing myself from my culture, betraying my parents and my origins, that I was playing a game by somebody else’s rules” (Worth 155; Satrapi 193). In Satrapi’s text, this quote of narration is accompanied by a picture of Marjane in her punk get-up running from the silhouettes of her parents. This image really stood out for me while I was reading. It is only now that I think I know why it did; it did because not only is she running from her parents because she is a teenager, but she is literally thousands of miles from any familiarity.
That kind of loneliness – for me – is unimaginable; at that point in your life, you are so unsure of yourself that you need your parents to be there for you: to be your cheerleaders, your support team, your confidants, your verification that you’re not crazy or stupid or whatever else you may feel. The support Marjane receives from her mother is strong, good advice that not only stuck with her but stuck with me throughout the book. (It sounds like advice my mom has given me before, too.)
I love your personal connection to Satrapi, Alex. And I think this notion of assimilation as a type of "veiling" is really important. Good connection.
Delete"She never asked me any questions about my situation. Certainly out of a sense of restraint and also because she was scared of the answers. If she had sacrificed herself so that I could live freely, the least I could do was behave well" (Satrapi 203).
ReplyDelete"[Satrapi] demonstrates the complex interplay of political and personal history that serves to construct – or obstruct – the formation of identity itself, ultimately breaking away from a marginalized, ‘caught-between’ identity, ironically, through an embrace of her liminal status" (Worth 144).
In being separated from her parents because of the war, Marjane is forced to face her pubescent years lacking parental guidance. And although she is rather successfully navigating not only her biological factors but the social circumstances of the period as well, her mother serves as a clear but distant reminder of what is going on in her home country. While her story is still one of division between cultures, this passage illuminates the impact war and religious hostility have had on Marjane's development.
Good intersectional reading, Kassie.
Delete“Simone explained that if women peed standing up, their perception of life would change. So I tried. It ran lightly down my left leg. It was a little disgusting. / Seated, it was much simpler. And, as an Iranian woman, before learning to urinate like a man, I needed to learn to become a liberated and emancipated woman” (Persepolis 175).
ReplyDeleteThrough this section of the book, Satrapi shows Marji quite literally questioning gender roles and testing the limits of her own gender identity, as well as the power that comes with it. This was an experiment for her own identity. Though it was only a small – pretty gross yet hilarious – section of Marji’s journey, it showed significance in that she understood who traditionally held more power (men) and wanted power herself, so she tried to imitate their actions. She found no pleasure or pride in peeing standing up, but she did find out a little bit more of who she was and what she wanted.
As Worth put it, “Despite the naivety of this early endeavour, it is through her funny, sad and sometimes messy embodied experience that Marjane/Satrapi learns her most important lessons” (149). Satrapi “demonstrates the complex interplay of political and personal history that serves to construct – or obstruct – the formation of identity itself, ultimately breaking away from a marginalized, ‘caught-between’ identity, ironically, through an embrace of her liminal status” (144)
Because Marji was curious enough to experiment with and explore her identity and power dynamics, se was able to find out who she was.
“It is not just through her repeated self-portraiture that Satrapi indicates an interest in the body, but also in her manner of relating her physical experiences to mental and emotional transformations. Satrapi’s focus on embodied experience as the primary means of understanding begins early in the books” (146)
I love your focus on performance here, which ties nicely to the notion that just reading Simone de Beavoir wasn't enough for Satrapi (after all, books are just words!); she had to embody the reading herself, didn't she?
DeleteBack in Iran, her new opinions and her sexual experiences bring her some trouble with her more traditional friends, but, moreover, Marjane’s experiences in Austria highlight the social restrictions she faces in her homeland, where the presence of women covered by chadors and veils ironically makes her pay even closer attention to the body and the messages it conveys.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people tend to usually get the idea confused when it comes to Middle Eastern women wearing a veil over her head. A lot of people think by wearing the veil it highlights the struggle that the ladies go through when in fact the veil is all about culture and religion for them.
Be sure to point to specific passages from the book, Dermar. I get a general sense of your analysis, but not specifically where it came from.
Delete"But really, I had nothing to cry about. I had just redeemed myself. For the first time in a year, I felt proud. I finally understood what my grandmother meant. If I wasn't comfortable with myself, I would never be comfortable" (The Complete Persepolis, 197).
ReplyDelete"It is her failure to find herself beneath any of these Western ‘veils’ that drives Marjane once again to don the hijab and return to Iran, where she struggles with depression. She realizes her predicament: ‘I was nothing. I was a Westerner in Iran, an Iranian in the West. I had no identity. I didn’t even know anymore why I was living’ ...she undergoes another physical transformation – this time, intentional – to remake herself into a sophisticated woman... ‘I had conformed to society, while I had always wanted to remain in the margins’" (Worth, 155)
Marjane is (almost) constantly going through some sort of change throughout this section of the book. Whether it be her changing friend groups at school, experiencing Lucia's family over Christmas break, going through puberty and cutting her hair/adopting a whole new look, to the moment at the cafe when she finally stands up for herself after a good long while, Marjane is constantly having to deal with how other people see her throughout Persepolis. Marjane is not only growing up physically, but mentally as well. Throughout this section, she goes through quite the transformation, she eventually, after almost dying from a case of untreated bronchitis, moves back to Iran with her family and seeks to begin life anew. Marjane is going through a lot in her life, as she is quickly becoming an adult while simultaneously trying to find herself in a society that isn't hers.
Good connection between Worth's notion of externally-imposed identity as a veil and Satrapi's text, Chelsea!
DeleteSatrapi-
ReplyDelete(Narration) Besides, my mistakes in French made me someone of interest. It has been three years since I'd practiced My french, after the closing of the Bilingual schools by the Islamic government.
(Marji) What do you call that thing, you know, like a ruler* [I meant a triangle].
(Guy 1) What thing?
(Guy 2) Oh, that thing! You know, a dick!
(Guy 1) Oh, right! We call it a dick.
(Marji) A dick?
(Marji) Can you lend me your dick?
(Guy 1 and 2 laugh, Guy 3 is embarrassed).
The strip ends with the narration of "Well, at least I existed."
(p 165)
Worth
"Marjane has difficulty fitting in with her peers, and seeks to educate herself..."
I chose a short quote from Worth, omitting the ending of the sentence which is an example from later in the the Graphic Novel. The reason is that this strip, along with this quote, are a widely recognized feeling.
I, myself, never really fit in and I used to believe everything I heard. As my life progressed, instead of asking people and believing what I heard, I, too, began to educate myself on a lot of different things.
I connect with Margi in this process of her self-discovery very intimately.
Good connection. I think this highlights what Worth calls Satrapi's marginal identity...
Delete"This is how, for love, I began my career as a drug dealer. Hadn't I followed my mother's advice? To give the best of myself? I was no longer a simple junkie, but my school's official dealer" (222).
ReplyDelete"I packed my bag...and again I put on my veil...so much for my individual and social liberties...I needed so badly to go home" (245).
I find it ironic that as Marj moves away from the more repressive society in Iran, she loses herself rather than liberates herself. I think she becomes overwhelmed with her new gained liberties, as well as with the prospect of fitting in with another culture. In her efforts to "fit in," she becomes a different person; she is no longer the headstrong, independent young woman we have seen before. Instead, Marj gives herself up to boys and drugs, changing the course of her future. It is also worthy to note that in Europe, Marj is isolated from the political happens in Iran, whereas before they consumed her daily life. This ties into the personal/political dynamic: the further away Marj is from her country's politics, the further she drifts away from herself.
Good close reading. I think this passage also points to what Worth considers metaphorical veiling.
Delete“For the first time in a year, I felt proud. I finally understood what my grandmother meant. If I wasn’t comfortable with myself, I would never be comfortable.” (Satrapi 197)
ReplyDelete“I had abandoned my punk look, I no longer wanted to be marginal.”(Satrapi 199)
“Back in Iran, her new opinions and her sexual experiences bring her some trouble
with her more ‘traditional’ friends, but, moreover, Marjane’s experiences in Austria
highlight the social restrictions she faces in her homeland, where the presence of women
covered by chadors and veils ironically makes her pay even closer attention to the body
and the messages it conveys.” (Worth 150)
In this portion of the book, Marjane goes through a significant physical and mental change as she cuts off all of her hair, adopts the punk look, and hangs out with an eclectic group of friends who introduce her to things such as pot, premarital sex, and homosexuality. Moving to Austria was somewhat of a culture shock for Marjane, but she allowed herself to immerse into the culture as apart of her journey of self-discovery. This part of the book is a great example of “the personal is political” because Marjane expresses herself through her appearance and declares that despite her non-comfortmist look, she is still a proud Iranian.
Good close reading, Nicollette. I think her desire to no longer be "marginal" is kind of ironic in that regardless of what identity she puts on in Austria, she is still defined as an Iranian by outsiders to the culture.
Delete"I had been in Austria for over a year and a half. I had abadonned my punk look. I no longer wanted to be marginal" (Satrapi, 199)
ReplyDelete"The frames that surround each of the hundreds of panels that make up Persepolis are a convention of Western comic art. Practically, these frames serve the double purpose
of isolating important moments in the story, and of creating the spaces necessary forthe story to move forward, as ‘Space does for comics what Time does for film’...But these frames are not only meant to guide the reader’s eye through the text; they function as a metaphorical alternative to the veiling Marjane experiences within the narrative." (Worth,155-157)
Satrapi uses the metaphor of being marginalized, being outside the system, several times throughout the story in attempts to find her identity. First she marginalizes herself as a punk to appear outside the mainstream, which she abadonnes after a while since it isn't her real self. Later (sorry for a little spoiler), she talks about how she always wished to remain within the margins. I think this metaphor is interesting especially within the context of a graphic novel. I wished Worth went more into potential irony of beng marginalized within a graphic novel, which has frames to keep a person within a set of margins. By writing a graphic novel, Satrapi has created a framework in which the characters are bound within drawn frames. No character of scene of action is actually pushed outside of these boundaries to my knowledge. Does this represent how Marjane centeralizes and conforms to the norm, never actually being about to break out of the frames of her own narrative? Am I reading too much into this?
I wanted her to go into more detail on this as well, Jill. I was reminded of Satrapi's second panel (in the book) where she draws herself out of the scene when I read this section of Worth. I think it also might have to do with the notion that the audience also plays a part in constructing what happens between the frames?
DeleteI love the contrast between the first section of Persepolis in which Satrapi must blend in with the other girls (wearing a veil) and the second when she takes a hold of her look.
ReplyDelete"As if my natural deformity wasn't enough, I tried a few haircuts. A little snip of the scissors on the left. And a week later, a little snip of the scissors on the right. I looked like Cosette in 'Les Miserables' so I coated my hair with gel, I added a thick line of eyeliner, a few safety pins, which were replaced by a scarf. It softened the look. It was beginning to look like something" (190).
The visual rhetoric portrays Satrapi's new and expanding look. As mentioned on the previous page, she is growing and her new appearance, as many teenagers are, is awkward. She has the ability to cut her hair and try out new looks which is portrayed visually in a step by step process of what she looks like. Satrapi has the ability to stand out from the crowd in more obvious, visual ways.
Once again, hair plays a significant role in the way an author symbolizes (and performs) agency. Remember Janie?
ReplyDeletep. 175
ReplyDeleteIf I'd had anything fun to do, I don't think I would ever have read as much as I did./ To educate myself, I had to understand everything. Starting with myself, me, Marji, the woman. So I threw myself into reading my mother's favorite book./ I read "The Second Sex." Simone explained that if women peed standing up, their perception of life would change./Seated, it was much simpler. And, as an Iranian woman, before learning to urinate as a man, I needed to learn to become a liberated and emancipated woman.
p. 244
I think that I preferred to put myself in serious danger rather than confront my shame. My shame at not having become someone, the shame of not having made my parents proud after all the sacrifices they had made for me. The shame of having become a mediocre nihilist."
In the first quote here, Marji is beginning to discover that being liberated will not come from being like a man, rather it will come from being a woman who feels liberated and free. Her creation of self is going to change at this point because she recognizes that she does not have to take on the roles and qualities of a man in order to feel liberated.
However, in the second quote, Marji realizes how difficult this creation of self as a liberated woman is, and she feels as though she has failed herself and her parents, when she is only facing obstacles she has to overcome, which in turn will contribute to her creation of self.
"That night, I really understood the meaning of 'The Sexual Revolution.' It was my first big step toward assimilating into Western culture." (188)
ReplyDelete"But really, I had nothing to cry about. / I had just redeemed myself. / For the first time in a year, I felt proud. I finally understood what my grandmother meant. If I wasn't comfortable with myself, I would never be comfortable." (197)
In these two passages, Satrapi is clearly a young woman trying to construct an identity out of conflicting experiences. No matter what she does, she feels excluded, but she is growing in her personal journey. When she attends a party, she sees a man "half-naked" for the first time and open sexuality is so far removed from her Iranian identity that it is a transformation-like experience for her. She feels alienated from her Iranian identity. Soon after, she depicts an encounter in which several girls gossip about how Satrapi lied about her age and she tells them off, feeling proud that she's finally had the courage to stand by who she is. This push and pull is an early development of the growth of her personal identity as an intersectional feminist.