379 Blog post #4 Post-Colonialism

Persepolis shows the struggle that Iranian people deal with because of their culture. There is a war happening during the time of the book. Many things in their society are happening and we start to understand what is going on in the beginning of the book when Marji is talking to her uncle about the history of Iran. Muslim women are the main focus in this book as it shows their lack of voice. Women are the marginalized group in this book who try to fight for their freedom. The women in Iran are being forced to do things and follow rules against their will. The book shows how the Iranian educational system tries to create an ideal woman with qualities such as being a mother, a wife, uneducated, someone who is modest, quiet, and obedient. Women are looked at as objects who need to be obedient to men at all times. According to the Iranian prime minister in 1981, he stated that men are “on an average endowed with stronger nerves, physical structure, greater weight, height, and brain quantity” therefore men are “made for hard and difficult jobs.” This statement coming from a leader automatically throws women under the bus and puts them into a box. They will be less likely to complete things or have ambition to do things because of this statement. They will be looked at as the weaker sex by everybody. This can be compared to the First Nations people of Canada when settlers arrived and forced them off of their land. We have put First Nations people in a box and labelled them, giving them an unfair chance at a fulfilled life. In Marji’s world, women are supposed to stay quiet, modest, and obedient. The way that she thinks is potentially dangerous for her. If one person does not believe in the regim and propaganda, then that could lead to other people not believing. In colonial societies, one person thinking outside of the norm is dangerous for the leader because it could mean a potential loss of total domination. Even though Marji is a strong woman and had a strong belief system, we see that her world of strong influences slowly diminishes. We see this start to happen with her mother. Her mother is always seen at protests and out in public without her veil. While she is in town one day she is called out by men who tell her that woman like her are garbage and should be raped. After this we almost always see Marjis mother in public with her veil covering her head. This is a great example to show the damaging effects of post-colonialism. Marji’s mother thought that she could go against the government because she deserves her own freedom, but she realized quickly that as a women she does not have freedom in her clutch. Women are shown as “other” they are not shown as functioning, capable humans in society. Marji also talks about assimilation and her struggle to assimilate herself into the Vienna culture as much as she tried. She stated that the more she tried to assimilate into their culture, the more she was distancing herself from her culture. When she returns to Iran she talks about how hard it is for her to assimilate back into her culture, even though she is going against everything her culture is telling her to do.