Having To Grow Up Fast

In the time that Persepolis was taking place, everyone, young and old, had to change their thinking due to the government and the surrounding culture. There are multiple accounts where Marji shows that she has grown up and acts more mature than her actual age. My assumption to why she becomes more of an adult at times is because she is engrossed in the revolution and wants to understand everything that it has to offer.
For example, on page 32, Marji is confused as to why they would laugh about death. Satrapi says, in the block above the picture, “Something escaped me,” this means that Marji did not in fact understand why her family was laughing about death. At that point, Marji wanted to understand what she did not understand at that time. Satrapi then stated, “I realized then that I didn’t understand anything. I read all the books I could,” signifying that she was going to try to understand regardless if she was suppose to at that age.
Another example is on page 46, the bottom right picture, Satrapi states, “I had the feeling of being really, really, really good.” This was said when she apologized to Ramin for accusing his father of murder. This is a turning pointing point in Marji’s behavior because she was making right what she did wrong. For her to realize that she did wrong and actually fixed it, is a great example of her growing up and not wanting conflict in things that she could control. Another
The last example is when Marji does something that an adult usually does. First example is from page 76, when there is a meeting against fundamentalism and Marji wants to go but her father says no, but her mother lashes back with a response saying, “she’s coming too.” In this example, it is shown that her mother sees that she is growing up and very interested in what was going on in her country. Another example is on page 87, when Marji and her mother go to the grocery store. While at the grocery store, Marji’s mother witnesses’ two women fighting over food and she intervenes. In doing so, her mother gets yelled at and that is when Marji steps in and convinces her mother to forget about the two women. For Marji to intervene this fight, involving three older women, it takes a lot of courage and maturity.
In conclusion, in Persepolis, Marji tends to treat every situation as if she was a mature adult. Although she is still a child, not yet a teenager, Marji strives to make mature decisions and reactions to what is going on around her. The events around Marji and her family cause her to grown up because those times were tough and I am assuming that she wanted to be mature for her parents. Marji wasn’t not always mature though, at times, she would cry and fall back into her child-like reaction to the events going on around her. This is natural of Marji and at her age, she cannot be so grown up all the time.