My First Encounter With a Graphic Novel

Satrapi's "Persepolis" was the first graphic novel I have ever even picked up. It was a good experience, I really enjoyed it and could see myself getting into her other 3 follow-up stories, or some other graphic novels. I still like regular, written novels better just because it leaves the scene and characters up to the reader's imagination. However, I think it was an interesting experience being able to see the characters' reactions based on the memory of the author. The fact that this was a memoir made the story more intriguing for me because it was about a history and culture I am pretty clueless about, so I felt like it was for my educational benefit to read this "comic book." I guess I felt a little more justified in sitting around at Hillside reading it while everyone gave me strange looks for reading a picture book, because of the historical context. I think it's also an important culture to be introduced to as an American; we have so much background in the Middle East yet not many Americans know anything at all about that culture. Marjane's age was important to the story as well; since it began when she was so young, you could see her opinions and values changed throughout the story like any normal child's development into the person they grow to be. I think she was the main character but the story wasn't just about her, it was a kind of history and since she was a child, Satrapi found ways to bring her parents secretly into the main picture. They were the ones who explained most of what was going on in the country, and they helped shape her political activism. As Americans I think we can find it easy to read about what we think of as such a different, distant place. From Satrapi's eyes, Iran seemed similar to America, minus the religious revolution and dictatorship. In this way, readers are able to sympathize with the "actual" people of Iran, instead of focusing on the religious extremists. I think if many young Americans get their hands on this book, it might help us understand the history of Iran more and get our minds out of the immediate "terrorist" mode. It's interesting that Marji wanted to be a prophet because in way she kind of is. She has written down her version of a period in history, and in such a way that makes it easy and fun to read.