In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, religion manages to play an important role in the lives of its characters. The story takes place during the Islamic Revolution leaving those involved questioning their faith. This can be specifically seen through Marji, the young narrator. Throughout the course of the story, Marj’s relationship with God weakens as the revolution gains strength. Originally, she believed that she was born with religion; she said, “At the age of six I was already sure that I was the last prophet. This was a few years before the revolution” (Satrapi 6). Not only did she speak with God every night, but also she had a Holy Book and plans for what she would do as a prophet.
In her young age, Marji had a strong relationship with God and stable religious identity. However, as the Revolution continued, Marji was exposed to every detail of war. Tragedy and death surrounded her in every aspect of her life. When her Uncle Anoosh was executed, Marji lost all faith in God. The pain of loosing a loved one in an untimely manner overtook her, she screamed at God to “Get out of my life! I never want to see you again!”(Satrapi 69). Suddenly, she no longer aspired to fulfill her supposed destiny as a prophet; she now longed to be a great revolutionist. Satrapi makes it clear in Persepolis that war has devastating effects in various ways. In Marji’s case, the war costs her relationship with God. The pain and tragedy she was exposed to at such a young age most likely caused her to believe that there was no God. Consequentially, this caused her to become interested in politics, for politics could effect the Revolution.
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I really like how you pointed this detail out. Not only does war effect religion and their relationship with God but it also makes them use religion as an excuse to cover reality. For example, on page 75, Marji’s mother says, “If anyone asks you what you do during the day, say you pray, you understand??” In the next picture, Satrapi (from the block above the picture) says, “At first it was a little hard, but I learned to lie quickly,” and in the picture it shows one boy saying that he prayed five times then Marji showed him up by saying, “Me? Ten or eleven times… sometimes twelve.” This example as a whole shows that in this time of the revolution, people used prayed as an excuse to not tell the truth. Their culture had turned into a society that was modest and religious. By saying that you pray during the day it would make one seem devoted to their government, religion and/or their country.
ReplyDeleteI am not saying that Iran or the Islam faith is fake and full of excuses, I am just saying that in this context it seems that people at this time would use it to come off as a person devoted to their expectations at that time. In the days of the revolution, people feared their government and society, therefore they lied and told people what they wanted to hear. Being the reader of Persepolis, allows us to see where they lie or tell truth.
I think that Melissa picked a very interesting topic to explore. The beginning of Persepolis features Marji's relationship with God prevalently but this abruptly changes after page 70, when Marji orders God out of her life. Although I agree that Satrapi means to highlight the war's negative affect on Marji's relationship with God, I think other influences also contribute to her loss of faith.
ReplyDeleteMarji says that she was "born with religion" (Satrapi 6). However, we see no evidence that her religion is shared by anyone else in her family. Although her grandmother offers to be her first disciple; we see no serious religious affiliation from any other member of the family (Satrapi 7). Marji seems to be an anomaly among them. Such an un-religious environment would make it difficult to continue to grow in faith even without a war to complicate things.
Later in the story we see how the Islamic regime uses religion for its own causes. This pollution of something meant for good could further Marji's religious negativity. She hears of the young boys who are promised a heavenly paradise if they die for the Islamic cause and this worries her (Satrapi 100). We see a similar example of where her attitude towards religion may stem from on page 121. Marji witnesses her uncle being denied authorization of a passport that would let him seek medical outside of Iran by a pious hostpial director who tells the family that "if God wills it... [her uncle] will get better"(Satrapi 121). Both the manipulation of the young boys and the careless attitude in which health care is dealt with by the regime ould easily shake faith in religion, especially one that fortifies the the powers that spur such things.
Marji sees the ease with which those around her seem to put on religious fervor. She sees a window washer grow a beard and become a hospital director. She sees her neighbors trade in their skimpy dress and alcoholism for prayer and the veil, not because of personal conviction but for self preservation (Satrapi 75).
Marji sees the way that religion is perverted. The war exaggerates this perversion but it exists, nevertheless. Marji realizes that it is very difficult to be truly spiritual and it seems she would rather do without.
I agree with Cora about Marji’s many reasons for not feeling completely comfortable with the perverted form of religion that she is presented with throughout the novel. But, I would like to make a distinction. I think that Satrapi’s purpose was not for the reader to understand the first 70 pages as Marji’s “loss of faith” (Cora). I think that, based on the depiction of both God and Marx, Satrapi’s purpose was to show a transfer of confidence from God to Marx and back again to show the complex relationship between religion and government present in a theocracy.
ReplyDeleteThe first depiction we see of God in Persepolis is on page 8. God is shown to be much larger than Marji. He has long hair and a long beard, and throughout Persepolis he never has a mouth. “By stripping down an image to its essential meaning, an artist can amplify that meaning” (McCloud 30). God’s lack of a mouth, despite his occasional dialog with Marji trying to help her understand what is going on around her, shows that he never seems to have any real effect on events, except for when he says “tomorrow the weather is going to be nice” (Satrapi 43).
Marji is a philosophical pragmatist as shown by the frames on pages 12 and 13 of Persepolis. The frames show a disagreement between Marx and Descartes. Marx asks Descartes “you mean that even though you see this stone in my hand it doesn’t exist since it’s only in your imagination?” Descartes agrees with this statement, and Marx proceeds to throw the stone at Descartes head. This is important because it reflects Marji’s desire to believe in something that can have an effect. The next frame is God and Marx facing one another looking very similar because Marji is comparing them.
After this scene, God doesn’t appear for ten pages as Marji explores her political theories. But, she becomes fearful of the nature of the revolution. In the same way that Marx also doesn’t have a mouth, communism seems to have an equal inability to bring the stability that Marji desires. Marji comes back to God on page 53 and Satrapi says “The only place I felt safe was in the arms of my friend.”
Then Uncle Anoosh comes in to Marji’s life. She quickly comes to idolize him and his communist beliefs. When he is executed, Marji says to God “Shut up, you! Get out of my life!!! I never want to see you again!” (Satrapi 70).
So, I agree that after the first 70 pages of Persepolis, Marji no longer wants God in her life, but this decision is not based off of a gradual loss of faith. Instead, she has been changing between a religious and a political view. These seem like opposing forms of ideology, but in the greater context of the novel, this inner battle is representative of the fluidity between religion and government in a theocratic society.