Persepolis Is Marjane Satrapi\'s Graphic Novel Depicting

Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel depicting the impact of the Islamic Revolution on daily life in Iran. In particular, Satrapi comments on the effects of the Revolution on education and specifically the education of women. The opening scenes of the book depict the school mandating the veil for all females and banning bilingual education because it represents "capitalism" and European imperialism. Although Satrapi satirizes the occasion with good humor, the scene is filled with foreboding. Marjane's mother protested against the veil, her picture displayed in local newspapers. As a result, she dyed her hair and wore glasses so that she would not be recognized. Satrapi depicts the veil serves as an apt symbol of the government's putting blinders on its citizens. Cut off from valid sources of information, the Persian people receive a veiled version of reality. One of the themes in Persepolis is how the government spins the truth, misquotes statistics, and uses the media for misinformation.

Education also becomes a tool of the politicians in charge of the Revolution. In one scene, Marjane and her family watch television. The voice on the television claims that the Ministry of Education "has decreed that universities will close at the end of the month," to which Marjane's mom cries out, 'Oh no!" The official on the television claims that education has been deemed "decadent" and contrary to the roots of Islam. Rather than argue with him, the interviewer on television acquiesces. The government representative declares it is "better to have no students at all than to educate future imperialists."

The news of Iran's closing its universities has a devastating effect on the author, who claims she wanted to be like Marie Curie and work as a chemist. Satrapi does not fail to point out the irony of her ambitions, by saying that she might get cancer in her search for new radioactive elements. Similarly, the author shows how ironic it is for the veil policy to be in place because of the fundamental belief that all men are perverts and therefore women need the veil for personal protection. Satrapi's father says, "Incredible! They think all men are perverts!" when in fact Marjane's mom was recently harassed on the streets and threatened with rape. She responds, "Of course, because they really are perverts!"

Education is equated with liberation. Information is power, and the ability to make rational choices based on facts rather than propaganda. When the government controls education and information, the public is wholly misinformed. Even history can be re-written.

Marjane Satrapi describes two types of education; formal education from schooling and social education taught via norms. Both types of education are integral to identity formation, personal development, and the formation of community identity as well. Formal education is ideally free and liberal, as were the European-based schools that Marjane was used to before the Revolution. The United States does have a strong system of formal education. During the Cultural Revolution, the government decides that because formal schooling was influenced by former European colonial powers that the whole system should be abolished. Abolishing universities and schools meant that the Iranian people were cut off not just from academic knowledge received via books and teachers but also social knowledge received via exposure to alternative viewpoints and worldviews. Essentially, formal education can be instrumental in the development of critical thinking.

The second type of education that Marjana Satrapi discusses is disseminated via the process of socialization. This is the type of education that enabled the fomentation of the cultural revolution. Social education is what created the norm to subjugate women and impose the veil. This is also the type of education that may be disseminated via religious institutions. The tenets of Islam itself are re-written via fundamentalist religious institutions. At the beginning of Persepolis, Satrapi notes that her family was certainly religious but that this did not necessitate the types of behaviors practiced by the fundamentalists.

In her own life, Satrapi was aware of the role of social class as well as gender on the access to education. Gender would become a major impediment in Iran after the Revolution. Education in Iran was shown to be Western-style and co-educational before the Revolution. Moreover, Satrapi's parents were well-educated and opposed the Shah, fully aware that he was installed by the United States government. At the same time, Satrapi's parents also opposed the fundamentalist Islamic revolution because it actually created more problems than it solved. Only with their higher education, enough wealth to travel, and access to European sources of information were the Satrapis able to think critically about the political issues impacting Iranians.