One 'episode'
that really stuck out to me from Persepolis was the story of the old man's
funeral at the protest. It started with a funeral for a younger man who was
actually killed in the violence – and then the crowd begins parading another
old man from the hospital, who turns out to just be a cancer victim. The man’s
widow first protests, then joins the demonstration.
Everyone hearing
the story laughs, except for Marjane. We’ve discussed in class how she tends to
see things in black and white, and is still working to learn the nuances of
situations. The old man’s funeral celebration is a key example of this. All
Marjane seems to see is that someone has died, and she doesn’t understand why
people are laughing about it. The real irony here is that the old man didn't
die fighting the shah like the young man, but they are both praised equally.
The old man’s inclusion shows how adults too can put on ‘black and white lenses’
when they’re wound up enough, binding everything that happens in life as
somehow related to the revolution.
Marjane’s family
laughs because of the contrast here between the reactions of people under
pressure and reactions of normal people. Perhaps also because it shows how
strong the revolutionary will is. But Marjane is still left missing all the
nuances. She’s too young to understand what’s going on, and so far her
personality searches for clear cut, easy to understand distinctions. I really
noticed another parallel here with Marjane and the demonstrators (besides, you
know, dressing up like Fidel Castro and marching around her yard). In her
search for easy, clear answers, I could potentially see Marjane in the mob,
celebrating the old man as well. She and the revolutionaries both have a simple
view of the world, and the more symbols for the revolution, the better.
Oh yeah I also thought that scene was interesting. The two guys died of different things yet were praised as the same thing which just shows that it doesn't really matter, they just want people to be representative martyrs.
ReplyDeleteAlso, even though Marjane doesn't understand and is seeing this in a simple way, she realizes that and she is putting in effort to learn as in the next box she goes "...I read all the books I could". So she is trying to figure out what's going on and why people are understanding things differently than she is.
This is a really interesting idea. While Marjane is a curious child who yearns to learn and understand more about her world, there are some things that she is simply too young to understand as shown through this "episode".
ReplyDeleteI really like the contrast of how much she doesn't actually know, but to the reader she acts so smart. She knows all of this stuff about political activism at around age 10, which is crazy in itself. I like the old man funeral example, and the black and white nuances. I like your conclusion that it's about the revolution not how they died.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read this scene, I was really confused. Why are they hailing this guy who died of cancer? They should let the widow mourn. Then, the widow started chanting with them and then my brain was full of question marks. After reading your blog post, it makes a lot more sense. With revolutions, it's better to have a good vs evil set up rather than an all gray arena. If you want to defeat the enemy, you can't see them as human. Since this is being a viewed from a child's perspective, it would be twice as hard to understand that not all things are black and white. So, good post and good explanation for that scene.
ReplyDeleteI liked all of the instances where you described the events as black-and-white and clear-cut. Quite literally, Marji's story is in black-and-white, not just physically, but also literally. And even the adults have times where the revolution influences them into making situations black-and-white. I liked how you didn't leave Marji an outsider where she's "too young to understand" or seems naive. As you've pointed out, there are also instances where the adults are acting the same way.
ReplyDeleteThe "black and white lenses" are really driven home by the at style of the novel: clean cut black and white. It also helps to accentuate the "dark humor" like in this scene. This poor fellow might just want to be laid to rest in peace. Or maybe he'd be happy that he's a martyr for the cause now, who knows? Doesn't look like he's in much of a spot to make that decision anyway....
ReplyDeleteI was reminding of Mallika's post (link: http://herosjourneyunienglish.blogspot.com/2016/11/discovering-grey.html) when you mentioned the old man and the younger man and how they were both praised for dying even though one was not really involved in the revolution. Mallika said something along the lines of Marji wanting someone she knows to be a hero just because without knowing any background to maybe brag to her friends. Although Anoosh is certainly a brave and heroic individual who dies too soon, Marji also somewhat prioritizes the hero itself over the "heroic deed".
ReplyDeleteMeant to say reminded. Sorry!
DeleteIt's kind of cute how in that scene Marji is not exactly sure why her parents and grandmother are laughing at the story, so she just also starts laughing, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!," while the adults look on at her in a kind of slightly annoyed parent manner (32). She doesn't really get the story as shown by the single question mark in her speech bubble in the middle of page 32 or why "cadaver, cancer, death, and murder" equivocate to laughter. Marji's inability to fully comprehend the situation and why it's funny shows that she's still too young to understand certain things.
ReplyDelete