Persepolis: "The Veil"

  I am very attached to the Muslim culture. I have many Muslim friends and I know a little arabic (I’m planning to learn arabic). So I know pretty well what was happening in this chapter.As I read the first chapter of the book many thoughts crossed my mind. “The Veil” is a tricky chapter to understand because it gives the introduction to the story, but it foreshadows the major events of the book. The main character, Marji, is introduced in a very special way. She narrates the chapter and the entire book in a very fluent and understandable way; which makes the book nice to read. For example, in the first page (first four frames) she shows the class photo were only small part of her body is shown. In this part of the book I felt that she wasn’t showing herself with her friends because she is a very independent and smart little girl. The very first frame is the one that shows Marji’s image (but her alone) when she was 10 years old. 

 I have some background knowledge about the Iranian Islamic Revolution. When the girls in Marji’s school are forced to wear the veil on their heads to cover their hair was a moment of enforced change. Islam was enforced in the society violently. At first the girls thought wearing the veil was a joke. An example of this is frame #5 in page 3 where the girls are playing and fooling around with their veils. Later on in the chapter you can see that women wearing the veil was really important. So important, that women that were caught without it had to pay a fine, in extreme cases; jail. 

Anyways, I think that the veil is the visual representation of the lack of freedom and choice that Iranians and especially the women are facing during the time of the Islamic Revolution. In page 3 you can notice that Marji’s mother needed to hide her identity because she fought against the people of the Revolution. Marji is a very special little girl and also very intelligent for her age because she is completely aware of what’s happening in the political world; she kind if reminds me of my sister. It really surprises me that she wants to be a prophet because despite the fact that the society is being ruled violently she wants to change it in a peaceful way.