Persepolis the Movie

I loved the move ten times more than reading the book. I think that it was because the movie put you right in their situation being able to live it with them instead of trying to understand what they are feeling through reading. The movie showed you visually how affected Marjane was when the bomb had hit the area where they had lived and when she was the braclet that she knew looked familiar. While reading that part I didn't put the same emphasis on her facial expression of just how affraid she really was. But actually seeing her face it made this whole situation so much more realistic to me. The movie definitely made me appreciate this book so much more because she is truly telling her story of her home life. Having to deal with bombings and worrying if your own mother is still alive to even showing how she was so focused on this war and just how frustratd her parents had gotten with her. I never realized how serious she was to the point where they would just have to send her out of the room, for her pure misunderstanding sometimes of what was really going on with the war. I loved the same in the movie as I did in the book how outspoken she was to her teacher. The one thing that I never really got from the book was her students reaction towards what she had said. The fact that they were chearing for her and clapping just solidified how wrong they were teaching even in the school systems, and trying to lie to the children so that they would believe the way of the government.

180- End of Persepolis

Going through the second half of this book it was very difficult to get through. It was very drawn out to me- and sometimes wordy in different situations. It seemed to turn me off when blocks of dialogue were lots of writing and long lengthy speachs from when she was in a class getting a lecture. It just seemed that the reader could have gone without having to read all of that. I don't think that the political stuff would have made much of a difference in the book anyhow whether we read and remembered it or not.
What I did enjoy about this book was how it told a true story of a young woman trying to find herself. Trying to make her own mold and not conform to society. Marjane was taking the risk of stepping out of the boundaries in a country where they killed people, where speaking or out doing some of the things that she had been accused of doing such as speaking out in such a manner, I am suprised that she wasn't killed for. I did love that she did stick up for what she believed in though, she wasn't about to let anyone tell her a lie when she knew that she knew and understood the truth. I loved also her parents in this book to allow her to grow up. Though I don't think that sending her to Austria was a way to make her not be so dependent on her family it worked in that same when. She returned home knowing that there is definitely more of a world out there and she lived it and not the easy way. She returned home depressed but picked herself up. She learned from her own mistakes which is exactly what her parents seem to want to let her do. Live life learning from her own experiences. For example her marriage, her father says that he knew all along- he just needed her to do it on her own.

Persepolis -179

I find it amazing how young children want to help everyone around them, first off in this book that surprised me was her wanting to be a prophet; not for the attention she would get but because of what is around her. Helping her grandmother not have pain anymore, and so her maid could eat with them. Also, her wanting to participate in the revolution makes you think what other children thought about or wanted to do related to the revolution. At the same time I think it is in a way comical that she is a tape recorder, she takes in what any adults tells her and plays it back to anyone where the topic realtes. She is completely unsure if it is true or not but she simply goes with it anyway. But as Marjane grows up you learn that she is very outspoken. She begins to learn about her culture and debatable topics and sticks people with them. She always seemed to come off as a very young and independent girl, always saying by a teen that she could take care of herself. That obviously had shown through when her parents had decided to send her to Austria. Thats when comments such as "I'm only fourteen! You trust me?" came into her vocabulary, not being so big and bad any more now that she was going to be on her own. I found it very interesting how she was really trying to find herself in Austria, it was interesting to see how long she would truly allow herself to stay with certain groups. Such as the nuns- that was bound for failure from the beginning just because of how much of a true spirit she had.