Reading Response 3#

Dear Marjane Satrapi,
I enjoyed reading your novel “Persepolis” in my English class. I never imagined that I could gain so much knowledge in your book although it is written for children. Obviously, the most difficult for me, a foreign reader, to understand was extremely different culture, religion, as well as history, especially for a mystery nation. Before reading “Persepolis”, the deeply impression with Iran in my mind was, as you mentioned in the introduction of “Persepolis”, terrorism based on reports and photos come from western media. I believe this opinion is widely held by the majority people lived in other country because of lacking basic reliable information. I knew this was the reason why you wrote this book. You really opened my eyes to what actually happened in Iran during the war. I learned about your culture, religion and your childhood history in Iran. I did not know a lot of stuff about Iran until I finished reading your book. Meantime, I recognized that there were both similarities and differences between my life and the lives described in “Persepolis”.
The similarities I noticed between Iranian lives and my life were that social class and gender inequalities. Nevertheless, the situation in Iran was more intensive. In your book I saw that the lower social class people always lived at the bottom of the society. For example: Mehri was part of a lower social class and therefore did not have the same rights as higher or middle social class. She was not treated fairly since Marji’s father prevented her love, explaining to her that “their love would never work.” You clearly indicated that in Iran people had to stay in their own social class. The same thing happened in my brother’s life. My aunt firmly opposed to accepting his lover who comes from poor family lived in the countryside otherwise she would break mother-child relationship. The reason why my aunt disapproved her son’s true lover because she wanted him to marry a girl comes from high social class, which will benefit their family business. Actually, there are many obvious evidences to prove that inequality affects our lives from the type of education or health care an individual receive to the type of job a person will has, whom he /she will marry, and how many children they have.
Moreover, by reading your book, I realized that women had the lower social status and they had no voice in Iran society. After revolution, laws were enacted to restrict the role of women in public life. Women were treated as the private property for men. They were forced to wear veils that covered their entire body when in public. Veil reflects power imbalances in society and it is a symbol of gender inequality. Compared with that in Iran, gender inequality in my country may be indirect and unconspicuous, but it still exists. I once experienced gender discrimination in workplace when applying for a job. I was asked in a job interview whether I plan to marry and have children. Obviously, it is inevitable situation for many young applicants. Gender inequality can be seen in every area of social life from the workplace to school to family. Our society, even though women’s statue has remarkable improved than in the past, is a largely male dominated field with men having power over women.
The differences between your childhood and mine are mostly based on region and regime. There is no doubt that I have not experienced something described in book “Persepolis”. After Islamic revolution, Iran becomes strict Islamic religious fundamentalism. In Iran there are a lot of requirements to live by. In fact there were various scenes from Persepolis that caught my attention. A scene that touched my heart was when your mother was crying in your father’ arms because some guys had threatened her to rape her in the street or thrown to garbage for not wearing the veil. There’s more freedom and equalities here than in Iran, everyone does whatever they want as long as it is legal. I was really impressed with your life story because my life is very different from yours. In your country, there is no way to avoid seeing violence, seeing your country being bombed, knowing how prisoners were tortured and suffering from the pain that your loved people murdered. When I read about these scenes, I felt so sad and upset, but I was also impressed by your sense of humor, courage and optimism.
You’re a very talented writer and I believe that the message you were trying to send to the West has been successfully received. Your book draws widely public attention and many audiences change their mind. “Persepolis” really reveals that you care about your culture and where you are from. I strongly recommend “Persepolis” to anyone who wants to know more about Iran. I deeply desire that people in the increasing number read your book, which is good way to approach to realistic society in Iran.
Sincerely,
Ying Zou