Fear, Repression, and Gender in Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis

Introduction: Fear as a Tool of Despotism

Marjane understands how fear fuels despotism. Fear prompts people to act in spite of great personal risk, or else to repress their true will and even sacrifice their integrity. Wise from a young age, Marjane pinpoints the deeper motivations in human nature — the impulse to either conform or to rebel — demonstrating a precocious grasp of political power and the forces behind social movements. Even prior to the Revolution, Persian people experienced systematic oppression through pressures to conform to tradition. As her father says, "We Iranians, we're crushed not only by the government but by the weight of our traditions!" (Satrapi, 342).

Political Repression and the Legacy of Uncle Anoosh

The Revolution brought with it a far more intense mechanism of social and political control than previous generations had known, leading to the internalization of intense fear and to behavioral externalizations of repression and anger. Marjane's views are often dichotomous, perhaps owing to her youth, yet she also exhibits a striking mixture of cynicism and idealism that belies her age. Ultimately, Marjane comes to understand most poignantly the role gender plays in systematic oppression in Iran and elsewhere. She finally decides to leave Iran out of tremendous frustration at her inability to transform her intelligence and passion into meaningful change.

The Revolution was in many ways a culmination of oppression, as even during the days of the Shah political dissidents were treated harshly. Marjane devotes a considerable portion of the first part of Persepolis to her uncle Anoosh for this reason: to convey the various ways political regimes use mechanisms of fear and physical oppression to maintain control and power. It is not the nature of a political philosophy — communist or theocratic as it may be — but rather the mechanisms of social control and the means by which fear is weaponized against a population. Through her uncle's story, Marjane learns how one either preserves personal integrity, as Anoosh did, or sacrifices one's beliefs out of fear of persecution, imprisonment, or death.

Youth, Education, and the Suppression of Free Expression

Marjane contends with the realization that, even within the intellectual social milieu in which she finds herself, not everyone possesses the courage or integrity to work for political ideals and social justice. "The regime had absolute power...and most people, in search of a cloud of happiness, had forgotten their political conscience" (Satrapi, 326). Even when Marjane's father points out that half the country is illiterate and therefore vulnerable to manipulation by the government, it becomes apparent that the religious authorities coming to power capitalize on the mechanisms of fear that drive not only the illiterate but the intellectuals as well (Satrapi, 66). Through Anoosh's tale, Marjane also learns how and why some of her country's greatest minds end up fleeing. By the time Marjane is in college, the regime has thoroughly succeeded: the majority of dissidents are either dead or have fled the country.

Conclusion: Exile as the Final Act of Defiance

Supported by her family, Marjane uses whatever means are at her disposal to rebel against the repressive elements of her society. The most important arena for her rebellion is against repressive gender norms. She realizes early on that the religious authorities are systematically preventing women from participating in society by restricting them to domestic duties. Marjane occasionally performs small acts that are viewed as profoundly rebellious, such as wearing her head scarf the wrong way or wearing makeup (Satrapi, 334). According to the religious authorities, marriage and childrearing were the only legitimate goals of a woman's life.