Persepolis Reading Notes And Mini-Essay (15%)
The Mission
To carefully read Marjane Satrapi's Complete Persepolis and complete both a set of Reading Notes and a Mini-Essay (600+ words) that represents your response to and analysis of the book.
Your Copy Of Persepolis
Paper copies of the Complete Persepolis are available in the NIC Bookstore. ($36)
An on-line PDF version of the text is available at the
Complete Persepolis.The Procedure For The Reading Notes And Mini-Essay
Your assignment should be divided into two sections:
A) The Reading Notes
B) The Mini-Essay (600+ words)A) The Reading Notes:
The Reading Notes should consist of at least 2 or 3 pages of your own Notes based on your own reading of Persepolis. These need not be all in your own words and indeed can consist largely of direct quotations from the book if you prefer that as a format. You are also welcome to include notes from any of the Additional Optional Resources listed below, though that is not a required part of the assignment.
The purpose of Reading Notes is two-fold:
1) To help you collect "raw material" that can you sort through and draw upon when you write your Mini-Essay.
2) To demonstrate to me that you have indeed read Persepolis.
I myself cannot imagine writing a book review without the intermediate step
of taking some Notes. But while I have included this step in part as an
accountability measure, I don't want it to be a make-work exercise and you
should ask yourself how you can best design the Notes to help you to write your
Mini-Essay. I'll give extra credit for particularly careful Notes but will
not be grading the Notes per se as long as it seems that you have read the book.
B) The Mini-Essay:
Write a Mini-Essay of 600+ words in which you describe your main takeaways and comments upon the Complete Persepolis. At least 3 direct quotations from the book should be integrated into your Mini-Essay. The Questions below may be helpful in organizing your thoughts though there is no expectation that you answer all of these questions. How would you begin to offer your own analysis of the book?
You are welcome to incorporate materials from the 2023 Frontline documentary "
Inside The Iranian Uprising" or from any of the Additional Optional Resources below into your Mini-Essay, though again there is no requirement that you do so.Some Questions To Consider
Why do you think Marjane Satrapi entitled her book Persepolis and how does this tie into her themes?
What do you learn about Iran and the Iranian Revolution from Persepolis that probably would be missed in a more broad-based history? What most surprised you in the book and why?
How would you begin to frame Marjane's family and family history against the backdrop of Iranian history? What was most distinctive about their family history and how does this seem to have influenced both the ways in which the Revolution affected them and Marjane's interpretation of the Revolution?
How do Marjane's mother and father make sense of and respond to the Revolution? How are they changed by the Revolution?
What seems most distinctive about viewing the Revolution from a child's perspective? What are the ways in which the Revolution and the war with Iraq most impacted upon the lives of children?
Marjane describes herself as an "Iranian in the West" and as a "Westerner in Iran." How does her perspective as an outsider help to provide her insights as to the basic natures of the respective societies? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each society? In what ways are the "West" and Iran as portrayed in Persepolis most different and how are they similar? What are the most important ways in which Marjane is changed by her four years in the West?
How would you analyze the history of gender relations as portrayed in Persepolis?
What are some of the ways in which the Iranians as portrayed in Persepolis resisted both the pre-Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary governments? How did the governments attempt to assert their control? In what ways were the pre-Revolutionary and post-Revolutionary Iranian governments most similar and most different?
How would you compare and contrast the events of the Arab Spring with those of the Iranian Revolution?
What connections would you draw
between the post-2022 protests in Iran and Persepolis? S
***There is no expectation that you access any of these sources and they are not intended as substitutes for you reading the book. However, you are welcome to complement your reading of the book with any of these additional sources (or ones that you find on your own) and it is fine to integrate anything extra that you learn from these into your reading response to Persepolis.
"
Marc Bassets, "Marjane
Satrapi, Illustrator And Filmmaker: 'Iran Is Experiencing The World's First
Feminist Revolution,'"
El Pais, December 2, 2023.
Tahneer Oksman, "A
Look At The Tumultuous Life Of 'Persepolis' As It Turns 20,"
NPR, August 17, 2023.
"
"'Persepolis'
By Marjane Satrapi,"
Veshi Banned Book Club, MSNBC, August 5, 2023. (9 mins)
"Persepolis -- Exclusive: Marjane Satrapi," YouTube, September 19, 2010 (4 mins): Satrapi is briefly interviewed about the movie version of her graphic novel. (4 mins)
"'Persepolis'
Strikes A Chord With Young Iranians,"
Morning Edition, NPR, March 28, 2008. (5 mins)
"
"Story Of Growing Up In Revolutionary Iran," Morning Edition, NPR, December 25, 2007. (7 mins)
Harriet Sherwood, "Protesters In Iran Are 'Beautiful And Inspiring,' Says Persepolis Creator," Guardian, October 9, 2022.
Somak Ghoshal, "The
Relevance Of Marjane Satrapi's 'Persepolis' Today,"
Mint Lounge, November 5, 2022.
"Protesters
Attack TV Station Over Film Persepolis,"
BBC News, October 9, 2011.
Ben Child, "Islamist
Protesters Attack Tunisian TV Station Over Animated Film Persepolis,"
Guardian, October 10, 2011.
"Tunisian
Court Fines TV Station Boss For Airing Animated Film Persepolis,"
Guardian, May 3, 2012.
Mike Nizza, "Iranian
Official Singles Out 'Persepolis,'"
New York Times, February 13, 2008.
Fernanda Eberstadt, "God
Looked Like Marx,"
New York Times, May 11, 2003.