However, according to some views, "Mahmoody's story of being held hostage in Iran was considered to have great commercial potential and the movie rights were sold before the book was even begun." (McAlister, 162-163) Therefore both the content and the way it was written enabled a rather easy access of the reader to the message the book tried to convey. On the other hand, Satrapi, a regular graphic artist for The New Yorker, chose to tell her story using the technique of the graphic novel, a type of novel which combines both writing and pictures. This technique is used in general in order to express ideas about issues that would otherwise lack attention from the wider public. Therefore, multicultural graphic novels "can create a bridge to ideas and stories that some young readers might never be interested in or otherwise encounter." (Wilson, 32) From the writer's point-of-view, "Graphic novels are a young person's art, demanding and rewarding mental flexibility and nervous stamina," adding to the originality and personal implication in the writing. (Schjeldahl, 2006) The author considers that using this means of expression enabled her to use both her writing and her drawing skills "Images are a way of writing. When you have the talent to be able to write and to draw it seems a shame to choose one. I think it's better to do both." (Satrapi, 2006) At the same time, critics argue that such a technique is useful for pointing out the personal perspective on a situation and thus the piece of writing becomes more representative for the personality of the writer "the impression she tries to give is that she's documenting the way her experiences seemed to her at the time" (Wolk, 2004)

All in all, it can be concluded that indeed, the perspective of each writer offers a different view on a certain issue. While Betty Mahmoody shows a totally negative picture of the Iranian society, especially from the perspective of...

Nonetheless, both writers tackle this issue from their own personal perspective and in comparing to their own set of values and cultural criteria.
Works Cited

American Entertainment International Speakers Bureau. Betty Mahmoody. AE Speakers Bureau website. 2006. 12 December 2006 http://www.aeispeakers.com/Mahmoody-Betty.htm

Goldberg, Michelle. "Sexual revolutionaries." Salon Media Group website. 2005. 12 December 2006 http://dir.salon.com/story/books/int/2005/04/24/satrapi/index.html

Mahmoody Betty, and William Hoffer. Not Without My Daughter. New York: St.

Martin's Press, 1991

McAlister, Melani. "Iran, Islam, and the terrorist threat, 1979-1989." Terrorism, media, liberation. ed. David Schulm, Rutgers Univ. Press, 2005.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. New York: Pantheon Books,

Satrapi, Marjane. On writing Persepolis. Random House web site. 2006. 12 December 2006. http://www.randomhouse.com/pantheon/graphicnovels/satrapi2.html

Schjeldahl, Peter. "Words and pictures: graphic novels come of age." The New Yorker. The New Yorker website. 17 October 2005. 12 December 2006 http://www.newyorker.com/critics/books/articles/051017crbo_books1

Tully, Annie. "An Interview with Marjane Satrapi." Bookslut. October 2004. Bookslut website. 13 December 2006 http://www.bookslut.com/features/2004_10_003261.php

Wilson, Rachel. "Multicultural graphic novels." Library Media Connection. March 2006. 12 December 2006. http://www.linworth.com/PDF/Wilson.pdf

Wolk, Douglas. "Reading between the lines: How does Persepolis 2 stack up as a graphic novel." Washington Post. Newsweek Interactive. Sept. 7, 2004. 12 December 2006 http://www.slate.com/id/2106206