Persepolis 2

I of course realize how late I am in posting this, and would like to apologize.  I did however, want to post something about this work.

I think that Uni Q. stated it best last week when she said that she does not pretend to have any authority over Iran, and following the discussion of authority in regards to Circle K Cycles, my concept of having authority over something, thankfully, is now very clear.  I also would not like to pretend that I have any authority over Iran, though it is very clear that Satrapi does.  Whereas in the first Persepolis I felt that she did a great job as educator, defending her country from Western criticism, stating in the beginning, it was not always like this... I felt that the second Persepolis was much more personal, and while it still served an educational purpose, it was much more intimate. 

I felt that Perepolis 2 was indeed a Bildungsroman story, moreso even than the first.  Perhaps it is because I felt that the time period she documents in the second book is that of such a formative age.  Not that the younger years in the first were not formative, but the teenage and early twenties are so definitive.  I think any memoir serves to document occurrences and offers a chance for the reader to find something relatable within it's pages.  Persepolis 2 is especially successful because, as a reader, I found it incredibly relatable, and understandable.  To do that within a very different cultural framework is, to me, fantastic.  She's broken down barriers.  Isn't that what all great literature should do?

Marjane's search for her identity was, of course, a very strong theme throughout this Bildungsroman.  She states it best herself on page 118 when she describes her conflicting identity as being "an westerner in Iran, and Iranian in the west."  She later describes another conflict, a conflict within a conflict, on page 151 when she describes the opposite nature of her public and private life as schizophrenic. 

She feels throughout, the second one in particular, that she lacked a place.  She in constantly in search of what she calls a space of her own.  It of course applies to a physical space of her own, but I think it is rooted deeply in the idea of identity- identity being the space of one's own.

If she is judged as an Iranian, within a prejudicial manner, when she is in the west- she is denied authority over her identity due to her outward appearance.  When she is in Iran, she is denied authority over her identity due to the fundamentalist regime.