More Than a Veil

More Than a Veil A Feminist Readings of Marjane Satrapis Persepolis Cultural differences induct been on the play up of the ongoing struggle between the join States and Iran since the 1970s. Stereotypes be built on misunderstandings which send packing prove costly in international relationships. Our national media cover fester of Iran portrays radical Muslim men oppressing their female person counter berths. Many American citizens have narrow opinions on Persian women, most of them dealing with the infamous overwhelm that Muslim girls wear females.Marjane Satrapi in her biographic novel Persepolis examines Persian womens roles in the Moslem Revolution, breaks the myth of the oppressing entomb, and demonstrates how Persian boys and girls be soci on the wholey bring into beinged. Satrapi does every last(predicate) of this with a untraditional writing style as she challenges the to a greater extent habitual coming of manhood floor called a Bildungsroman (Barry p. 129) w ith her own coming of fair sex tarradiddle. In America it is widely believed that women in Iran ar to be forgathern and not heard. That Iran is controlled by an extreme patriarchy where women voice no opinions on social issues.However, we see in Persepolis that Marjane falls from a family with fast women desire her practice and grandm separate. Her get down routinely takes part in protesting alongside her husband in the streets of capital of Iran. (Satrapi p. 18) Marjanes mother is an example of the misconception that women in Iran atomic number 18 subjects. Marjanes mother illustrates to us how women all across Iran were active during the Muslim Revolution, as protestors, collaborators, or victims. (Botshon p. 5) Agency is not vindicatory shown in adult women in Persepolis hardly also in adolescent girls.Many Americans be quick to point out the blur which covers an Islamic womens face as a sign of the extreme patriarchy in Iran. However, in the beginning of Persepo lis we see Marjane as a child and other little girls taking their veils off at take to engage them for games like burst forth rope. (Satrapi p. 3) This imagery immediately shatters our connotations of disciplined Persian girls and focuses us to a greater extent on the roguish resistance which the school girls demonstrate. This rebellious temper of Marjane does not stop in childhood despite the oppressive agenda of the school board.Marjanes self-expression continues as a adolescent when she adopts American culture ideas like crummy rock clothing and even owning a Kim Wilde and Iron Maiden poster, which her parent disastrous in from Turkey. (Satrapi p. 127-129) In all of these scenes Marjane is drawn on the pages of the novel without having her veil on. These scenes are an example of how some girls were not bowing to Islamic rule as is it a good deal depicted in our own media. counterbalance though women had proactive roles in the Islamic Revolution they were still constr ucted and treated otherwise in Iranian culture.Marjanes mother speaks of the violent soldiers she had encounter in the streets of Tehran one day when she was caught not article of clothing the mandatory veil They insulted me. They said that women like me should be pushed up against a border and fucked. And then thrown in the food wasteAnd that if I didnt want that to happen, I should wear the veil. (Satrapi p. 74) In this scene it is croak that the Islamic regime agenda is to mash Iranian womens individuality, but how come these military men are so violent?The answer may be in the way that girls and boys were socially constructed during the Islamic Revolution. In Iranian culture it is common for boys to learn military respects at school spot girls would learn more than suitable household skills like knitwork and sewing so that they could make overwinter hoods for the soldiers. At a young age boys are taught to be soldiers and take part in war while girls are helping war e fforts indirectly. Aggression in boys to some people may look natural however, in Iran young boys are being taught this social trait.The veil itself is a way that Islam fundamentalist try to construct their women into being oppressed and submissive. The wearing of the veil is enforced by school officials who have an Islamic agenda, however many girls are taught contradictory ideas almost the veil by their parents at home. Marjane would have been more susceptible to Islam fundamentalists if she did not come from a family with strong independent female figures. Satrapi demonstrates clearly that sexual practice roles are taught in institutions like faith and school and are not natural.Even more importantly Satrapi writes about how she rebelled against these norms, which makes Persepolis an original narrative of growing up as a girl in Iran. Persepolis in its grow is a personal female history of Marjane Satrapis growth into womanhood while being raised in Iran during the Islamic Re volution. The story of Marjane Satrapis brio cannot be duplicated by another author. Marjane grew up in a confusing time where daedal issues of religions, politics, and class formed an authentic female version of a classic Bildungsroman tale.Satrapis Persepolis questions western thought about Iranian women. Without Marjane Satrapis personal experience it is lax to believe that a similar Islamic Revolution tale told by a female protagonist would focus on the hardships of being oppressed and not the assortment of social classes that depict rebellious Iranian women. Without Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis could have had an unoriginal western uninventive story about Iranian women. Marjane Satrapi literally makes herself the central character as the author.Persepolis as a feminist work shows the value of women in Iranian society, the social verbal expression of girls and boys, and the complex issues in Marjanes life which are reflected in her work. Many misconceptions about Iranian wom en are dismissed in Persepolis. Satrapi shows Iranian women as agents with a cause rather than subjects with no voice. Although we are use to the typical submissive Iranian women postponement for liberation, Satrapi blows this belief up for western reader. Marjane Satrapis Persepolis humanizes the Iranian female population which is all too often illustrated in unite States media as being oppressed by a veil.Works Cited Babak. Elahi. Frames and Mirrors in Marjane Satrapis Persepolis. University nor-east Press. Vo. 15 No. 1-2. 2007. 312-325. Article. Barry. Peter. Beginning possibility An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. tertiary ed. Manchester. Manchester University Press. 2009 Print. Botshon. Lisa. Plastas. Melinda. Homeland In/Security A Discussion and Workshop on tenet Marjane Satrapis Persepolis. University of Illinois Press. Feminist Teacher, Vol 20. No. 1. 2009. 1-14. Article. Satrapi. Marjane. The everlasting(a) Persepolis. New York. Pantheon Books. 2007. Pr int.