Response to Persepolis

Like American Born Chinese, I liked this book more than I thought I would. And I feel like there was so much going on, I don’t even know where to start. I guess I’ll start at the beginning. I was laughing on the first page, second panel, when we’re shown a “class picture” but the narrator isn’t in it so we can’t see her. I thought that was really funny.

The first very poignant moment of the book for me was when the narrator says, “Something escaped me…cadaver, cancer, death, murderer…laughter?” (32). She didn’t understand how her parents and grandmother could laugh about such things. It shows a couple of things about older people who have gone through times of such terrible trial for so long. The two most common reasons for such a response are that the adults have been around the terror for so long that they have just become used to it and so it doesn’t even really affect them much anymore, or that when such terrible things are happening people have to find something to laugh at or they would be crushed under the weight of the sadness of their country. It was really interesting how we were shown that the narrator showed us this childish confusion early on in the book, I really liked that.

Of course one of the most interesting parts of the book is the oppression of people and how it is dealt with. Everything from wearing the veil all the time to smuggling modern items to banning all sorts of items that are a part of our everyday life.

I also found it really interesting that there was almost a “my dad is bigger than your dad” attitude going on among the kids. They talk about their family members and parents regarding how long they were in prison or if they killed anyone or where they demonstrated or any number of things that a kid in the United States probably wouldn’t even think of. But as the kids get a little older, they seem to understand more what is going on in their country, which helps them identify with each other a bit more than they used to, creating new types of relationships. The relationships definitely change between the students who just fall into the rank and file and don’t know much of what’s going on and those who take an active role in politics and really do understand what is going on in their country.

One thing I was really surprised about was the mistrust of the media. In the United States, we have certain stations that perhaps slant things a certain way or they may say things that are inaccurate but not on purpose. It’s surprising to me that the media would intentionally say things that are untrue because of a certain agenda. Though I suppose it shouldn’t surprise me that much because it has happened, and perhaps is happening, in our own government.

The ending was heart-wrenching, I thought. Sending off your child to live in another country because the situation in your homeland has gotten so bad that it would be better to divide your family than risk staying put is something that I can’t even fathom. And as a child, knowing that you may not ever see your parents again is something that no child should have to endure.

I would be very interested to get Persepolis 2 to see where the story goes from here, and I think that is one of the marks of a good book.