Graphic Representation of Oppression and Rebellion in Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood through the Eyes of a Child

Year 2014, Volume: 11 Issue: 2, 253 - 266, 01.12.2014

Neeraj Sankhyan Suman Sigroha

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the ways in which oppression and rebellion are represented in

Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. Satrapi, in this graphic novel, gives a poignant

autobiographical account of her growing up in a troubled country through an Islamic revolution, cruelties

of a totalitarian regime and a devastating war with Iraq. What makes this work unique is the telling of a

horrendous tale of trauma, oppression and rebellion through the eyes of a child using the medium of graphic

narrative. Marji’s presence in the novel as a child narrator and witness is characterized by her absence in

the sense of her inability to comprehend the complexity of the environment and circumstances that she is

a part of. Yet she struggles hard to interpret the events using her childhood consciousness and eventually

imbibes the dark realities of a cruel world that play a significant role in shaping her being. The paper

discusses the aptness of graphic medium in representing the trauma that the victims of oppression and

violence experience. Besides, the paper comments on the effectiveness of autobiography in narrating a tale

of historical significance.

Keywords

oppression, Iranian revolution, autobiography, graphic novel, memory

Graphic Representation of Oppression and Rebellion in Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood through the Eyes of a Child

Abstract

References

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