Persepolis

Nonfiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Adult | Published in 2003

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction-Chapter 4

Chapters 5-9

Chapters 10-14

Chapters 15-19

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Quiz

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

Persepolis

Persepolis gets its name from the capital city of the Achaemenid Empire, which was a vast and powerful kingdom in pre-Islamic Iran. The remains of the city itself feature briefly in Satrapi’s memoir when she describes the shah visiting the grave of Cyrus the Great. The image depicts a buried Cyrus scowling upward at the shah, evoking the contempt many Iranians felt for a ruler imposed on the country by Western powers. In this, it reflects the broader symbolism of Persepolis itself, which represents Iran’s rich history and culture, which are threatened not only by the fundamentalist regime but also by the reduction of Iran to that regime in the Western imagination.

As the memoir progresses, Persepolis also takes on more personal significance. Persepolis ends with Satrapi leaving Tehran, and while she will eventually return in Persepolis 2, she can never return to the Iran of her childhood: That has changed permanently as a result of regime change, war, and her own loss of innocence. Persepolis the city thus comes to symbolize Satrapi’s own lost past as well as Iran’s, in keeping with the theme of Coming of Age During Revolution, Civil Unrest, and War.

The Veil

When the Iranian fundamentalist regime came to power following the revolution, it instituted several religious reforms, among which was the requirement that women cover their hair in public. While some Muslim women choose to wear a veil, in Persepolis, mandatory veiling quickly becomes a symbol of oppression. The law goes into effect when Satrapi is a girl, and neither she nor her classmates understand its significance; one of the first panels in the book shows them playing with their veils—knotting them together to form jump ropes, using them as make-believe reins for a horse, etc. Satrapi also notes her confusion over the change, remarking, “I really didn’t know what to think about the veil. Deep down I was very religious but as a family we were very modern and avant-garde” (6). These early details establish a fundamental disconnect between the veil’s political meaning and its personal meaning to Satrapi, who can’t even make sense of it in terms of her own religious convictions.

As time passes, that divide only widens. Satrapi depicts women protesting against the veil and facing violent retaliation; she also describes how some women would allow a bit of their hair to show in protest. As a 13-year-old, Satrapi herself runs afoul of the Guardians of the Revolution for not fully covering her hair, as well as for wearing Western clothing. These incidents underscore the connection between the veil and the suppression of individual identity.

Jasmine

The jasmine blossoms that Satrapi’s grandmother wears are a multilayered symbol of family, home, and feminine identity. At their most basic level, they symbolize Satrapi’s connection to her family, as they are what Satrapi remembers most strongly of her final night before leaving for Vienna: “I smelled my grandma’s bosom. It smelled good. I’ll never forget that smell” (150). However, the grandmother’s use of the flowers to scent her bra and breasts specifically also connects them to motherhood, their white color even evoking milk. In their association with a nurturing, maternal form of femininity, the jasmine flowers are the opposite of the severe black chadors that Satrapi depicts the Guardians of the Revolution as wearing, just as her grandmother’s care for Satrapi contrasts starkly with the punishment the Guardians mete out. The flowers therefore represent a more positive vision of womanhood than the one offered by the state. In this respect, it is also important to note the jasmine flower’s long history in Iranian/Persian culture. By positioning the flower as the key memory Satrapi’s younger self takes with her from Iran, Satrapi suggests her continued connection to her “motherland.”