Revised Rough Draft

Erika Rodriguez

Professor Knapp

English 1B

October 18, 2011

A Child of Rebellion

            My name is Erika I was born and raised in San Jose, CA. I have always lived with my parents Juan and Estela. I come from a numerous family, so I have always been surrounded with cousins my age. In addition, I grew up with my one year older sister Edith. Even though my sister and I are so different there was a time when we enjoyed playing games with our cousins like hide-and-seek, tag, karaoke, or something as simple as riding bikes. I remember my childhood; as exactly that, childlike. I enjoyed playing with my Barbie’s. Dressing them up in elegant puffy dresses, combing their soft gold like hair; and accessorizing every bodily inch with jewelry, purses, shoes, make-up, and everything you could think of. I don’t recall not once having to think about possible problems that were occurring in my family. Being a child and not realizing my surroundings was what made my childhood memorable. In Persepolis, by Marjane Satrapi we witnessed the awareness and knowledge this child has during the Islamic Revolution. The character, Marjane changed from a child to a very strong opinionated young lady who fights for what she believes. In this book we noticed how class distinctions were made which caused Marjane to rebel against her religion and family beliefs.

            Money played a very important role in this book because this helped Marjanes family get away with many dangerous situations. We realize that Marjane is in the middle class range because they have a maid whose name is Mehri. According to Marjane, she got along with Mehri quite well. She says, “This is Mehri. She was eight years old when she had to leave her parents’ home to come to work for us. Just like Reza, Leila, and Hassan. We have too many children, 14 or 15 including her…She was just ten years old when I was born…She took care of me. She played with me. And she always finished my food. She also told me stories about jackals that scared me(34).” First of all, my mother was not lucky enough to have a maid to take care of us. She was a fulltime housewife. We lived in a small house that was apartment like with one room, one bathroom, a small walk in closet, a small kitchen with a dining table all together and a small living room. I am now married and I’m also a full time house wife. I live with my husband and an almost two year old boy. Sometimes I do wish I had a maid because my son alone is a handful not to mention having to cook, clean, and run errands every day. I have to watch my son every second because he is very active and never seems to get tired; however, I can’t imagine having a ten year old watch him like Mehri did to Marjane. The only two persons I trust to watch my son when I can’t is either my husband or my mother. I don’t see myself asking my eleven year old sister to watch him for me by herself. I remember being a ten year old and only wanting to play. I didn’t know about responsibilities other than going to school. Another example of money being a significant source of survival was when Marjane’s maid, Mrs. Nasrine was impacted by the priceless life of her son. Mrs. Nasrine tells Marjanes mother the very hard situation she is dealing with. “You see this? It’s a plastic key painted gold. They gave this to my son at school. They told the boys that if they went to war and were lucky enough to die, this key would get them into heaven(99).” I thought this was inhumane, comparing someone’s life with a plastic colored key. No life as poor as it can be is unworthy. Now, even though the fundamentalist were recruiting children within the age of fourteen they were making exceptions. For example, Marjane calls her cousin Peyman; who was also fourteen, to see if he had been given the golden colored key. Surprisingly, he wasn’t given the key but was planning a party instead while many children were being thrown into battle without proper training(101). As a mother, I only want to keep my child

safe and I would do anything to keep it that way. I can’t imagine my reaction to someone giving me a key in exchange for my child’s life. Money helped Marjane’s family get away from the recruiting and other dangerous situations. For example, after attending a party disregarding the war that was going on, Marjane’s family were pulled over by religious police for inspection. They were followed all the way home to inspect their home as well. To avoid the police from searching their homes Marjanes father had to pay them because he was afraid they would find things that had been banned like board games, alcohol, and music. After Marjane and her grandmother had flushed all the alcohol down the toilet, Marjane’s father walks in very disappointed and is asked where the police had gone. “Where indeed! Their faith has nothing to do with ideology! A few bills were all he needed to forget the whole thing(110).” Now, this only left me thinking of what if it was Mehri who had been stopped by the police? Would they have let her go so easily? Probably not and in addition, she would have had to pay the consequences of her actions and receive her punishment. Another example on inequality was when Mehri falls in love with the neighbors son and writes love letters to him.  Marjane explained how she wrote the love letters for Mehri since she didn’t know how to read or write(35). “I wrote the letters for her, one each week for six months. I was very devoted(35).” Mehri had a sister of her own who was Marjane’s uncles’ maid. She found out about Mehri’s crush and decided to expose her sisters’ love life. “Her jealousy was more than she could bear and she told Mehri’s story to my uncle, who told it to my grandma, who told it to my mom. That is how the story reached my father(36).” When Marjane’s father realized that Mehri had been faking to be his daughter he immediately went out his way to clarify the situation. He went to the neighbor’s house. When Hossein (the lover) knew about Mehri he returned the letters to Marjane’s dad demonstrating how he didn’t want to continue with his romance. This is when Marjane’s father explains to Marjane of why their romance could not continue. “You must understand that their love was impossible. Why is that? Because in this country you must stay within your own social class(37).” Marjane seemed to disagree with her father’s argument. To prove her disagreement she decided to go to a demonstration against the Shah whom her parents supported. I have only felt small and humiliated once in my entire life. When I first started dating my now husband I didn’t know much about his background but he was well aware about my surroundings. He had seen our two bedrooms home and he knew that I shared my room with my siblings. As our relationship got stronger he decided to take me to meet his family. His oldest sister lived in Stockton, so we went up there. When we arrived I couldn’t believe it was his sister’s home. I hadn’t realized that they were financially well. Not to mention his personal house, almost mansion like. I felt so small and embarrassed. Even though his family treated me with respect and admiration I felt like I was being lied on because he hadn’t mentioned his economic status. Yet, when I told him how I felt he said that he didn’t mention it because he didn’t think it was important and that he was afraid I would feel uncomfortable. This situation reminded me of Mehri. Although were in a different era and my husband didn’t care about my wealth I can’t imagine to think of what Mehri felt when she had been turned down because of the social groups.

            Marjane’s experience with inequality was one of the reasons she began to rebel but also her strong opinions of freedom as well. In addition, when the F-14s attacked Iran Marjane acted patriotic by saying, “Those assholes! Dad! Do you remember what you learned during your military service? Are you going to war? Are you going to fight? We have to teach those Iraqis a lesson! What are you talking about? Of course I’m not going to fight. Why should I fight? How can you say that? The Iraqis have always been our enemies. The want to invade us(80-81).” This patriotism soon changed to rebellion. When the Islamic Revolution took place many laws were being changed among them the veil. Marjane didn’t agree with wearing the veil mainly because she didn’t understand why they had to wear it(3). Marjane didn’t approve the new laws that were taking place because she was raised with a more westernized culture. Where they didn’t have to wear veils or be separated from classmates because of gender. Marjanes family had a Cadillac, played board games like monopoly, listened to American music, and wore American clothes. Despite being aware of the new rules, Marjane’s family disregarded the dangers that breaking them could cause. One example is when Marjane’s parents take a trip to Turkey where Marjane asks them to bring back a couple of banned souvenirs. “During the war there were no imports from the west. A denim jacket, chocolate, a poster, no, two posters. One of Kim Wilde and one of Iron Maiden(126).” Since they couldn’t get caught with the posters when they arrived to Iran they were thinking of possible ways to smuggle them. “And then my mother had a great idea. Take of your coat(127).” Why would anyone risk so much for a couple of souvenirs? I know I wouldn’t risk my parents like that. Thinking about what could be done to them because of fulfilling my childish desires. I wouldn’t risk them and my parents would not give in to what I want especially knowing that it could be dangerous. Another scene in the book was when Marjane goes out to the black market to obtain more illegal items. Now she doesn’t go to the market dressed properly instead she decides to wear the denim jacket her parents brought back from Turkey along with the Michael Jackson button and her 1983 Nike tennis shoes. Unsurprisingly, she is caught by the Guardians of the Revolution. “They were Guardians of the Revolution, the women’s branch. This group had been added in 1982, to arrest women who were improperly veiled. (like me for example)(132).” Although Marjane tried to distract their attention, she didn’t succeed and was almost taken to prison. She managed to get off the hook by lying to the guardians and saying, “Ma’am my mother’s dead. My stepmother is really cruel and if I don’t go home right away, she’ll kill me, she’ll burn me with the clothes iron! She’ll make my father put me in an orphanage(134).” I was really surprised of her fast thinking and her ability to mislead the guardians. I have never been a fast thinker. I’m one of those that have to plan ahead. Not to mention my acting skills are not so good. First of all, I would not go to the black market captivating attention. I would at least try to be discreet. I don’t remember ever being caught doing something wrong, at least not while I was doing it; I would always get caught after. I have broken a couple rules but not so severe where I could be put in jail. The worst I have ever done is ditch school when I was in high school. Of course I had fun when I was out instead of in school however I had to pay the consequences when my parents found out.

Our actions have consequences and this is what Marjane didn’t seem to understand. Marjane was defiant to all sources of authority from teachers to her parents. The scene of the cigarette was a symbol of rebellion against her mother. “As for me, I sealed my act of rebellion against my mother’s dictatorship by smoking the cigarette I’d stolen from my uncle two weeks earlier(147).” I identified with Marjane because it reminded me of several differences I had with my mother. My relationship with my mother has always been like a roller coaster; it has ups and downs and wild loops, yet you still love the ride. Our thoughts and opinions are very different. I did have a time of rebellion in which I didn’t want to go to school. Ditching school was my way of rebelling against my mother. I rebelled because I wanted to go out more, like my friends did. I wasn’t allowed to go out by myself I always had to take my younger siblings along. This frustrated me because instead of me being the babysitter I was the one who was being watched. The mistrust that my mother had towards me was what tore us apart. Also, Marjane rebels against the teacher at school. Once again Marjane acts defiant with her teacher. She knows that wearing jewelry is not appropriate according to the new laws or wearing jeans. “I had learned that you should always shout louder than your aggressor. If you’re still wearing jewelry tomorrow….Yeah I know! And the next day…Let me see your wrist. What for? Let me see it, I’m telling you. With all the jewelry you steal from us, you must be making a pile of money. What happened? Marji hit the principal(143).”  I thought Marjane had overdone it with this.

Slapping the principal is something I have never even thought of doing. My parents taught me to respect my elders no matter what. I can’t imagine my parent’s reaction of knowing I was being expelled from school because of hitting the principal. This is when Marjane’s parents realize that her ideas were beginning to go to the extremes. They were afraid of the punishments Marjane would receive from her impertinence. So they came to the conclusion of sending her off to Vienna. This is when Marjane realizes that all her actions eventually took effect. Because she couldn’t control her thoughts she was being separated from her family. I was always very attached with my family and if I knew I wasn’t allowed to do something because it could be dangerous or against the law, I wouldn’t do it. Laws are made for us to follow them to keep an order of certain situations. If you know the consequences of your actions, why would you risk it?