Aiden Holczer

Ms. Wilson
English II
3/27/2019

Instructions:
1. Write a well-constructed SPEPES paragraph in response to the prompt below. You must
CITE EVIDENCE​ from the text to support your response. Be sure to include the title(s)
and author(s) in your answer. You may use your annotations.

Prompt: ​So far in ​Persepolis​, we have seen how Marjane, her family, and the people of Iran
have been affected by the Iranian Cultural Revolution, the Iraqi invasion of Iran, and other social
influences and experiences. In the text, how do social influences and experiences shape the
protagonist's attitude towards herself? (Type your response in the space below).

In the graphic novel Persepolis, the main character; Marjane Satrapi's Attitude towards herself is
shaped by societal influences for better and for worse. So far throughout the story there are two
main social influences. The first is the oppressive government and the revolution attempting to
overthrow it. After the “black friday” protests, in which protesters were met with lethal opposition.
Marjane, who was already well more educated in politics than other children her age, took it
upon herself to read and study political theory to continue her understandings of the revolution.
This decision would forever change her opinions on the revolution and change the way that she
spoke. “I realized then that I didn't understand anything. I read all the books I could.” she put her
pride away for the sake of understanding the revolution. The second influence in the story would
be the war with Iraq. Like any conflict, war creates stress and paranoia. We observe in the
vignette “the jewels” two women arguing over food. Marjane is not immune to this stress and as
such she has developed bad habits. One of which is evident on page 117, “With this first
cigarette, I kissed childhood goodbye.”, this cigarette is not only bad because of the health
factors but because like she said this cigarette erased the last strands of her childhood. In
conclusion the social influences observable in Persepolis affect Marjane both positively and
negatively.