Society, Family, and Peer Pressure: How Do Supporting Characters Influence The Main Character in Persepolis?

The world is full of people from tons of different backgrounds coexisting in thousands of different "ecosystems". As it is with animals, each ecosystem contains everything that a person needs to thrive; including a nurturing family, and caring friends and neighbors. It is within these environments that we, as humans, grow and change until we are shaped info fully functional people with thoughts and emotions, and a deep and complex personality. But further into the murky waters of society, rasists, anti semitics, and all around malicious people anticipate our decent into their unbearable domain, and lay in waiting to feed upon our insecurities and doubts. A society such as this is present in Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, a memoir of her life as a girl growing up in and out of Iran. Throughout the course of the novel, a young Marjane grows up in a world influenced entirely by her environment, and often finds it difficult to combat her own assailants. Supporting characters in Persepolis greatly affect Marjane's personality, appearance and mannerisms. 

When Marjane leaves Iran to live in Austria, she soon comes across a group of outcasts and befriends them. Her new friends represent the "stoner" demographic In her school and she soon developes an unhealthy taste for smoking not only weed, but Tobacco. Her peers also influence her appearance as well, causing her to cut her hair extremely short and develop a more severe personality. Marjane feels pressured by her peers to become more daring and often participates in demonstrations that discredit the government for being unfair. Soon, however, Marjane's friends begin to become more resentful of her Iranian heritage and begin to talk about her viscously when she isn't there. When Marjane becomes aware of this, she becomes infuriated and is filled with a new drive to prove them wrong. Iranian women aren't prostitutes or whores, like her Austrian peers seem to believe, they are intellectuals, and Marjane once again remakes herself to become a living example of this. 

 

Another person that greatly influences Marjane's personality is her mother. When Marjane is away in Austria, she misses her mother and becomes lost and helpless without her. She has no idea hoe to function without a maternal figure to guide and mold into a curious, inquisitive individual. When her mom pays a rare visit, Marjane is filled with understandable love and joy, but also great apprehension. She fears that her mother is growing old without her and also dreads her departure. Although Marjane hates to see her mother leave, she also becomes a more empowered person for moths after she leaves to go back to Iran. Although Persepolis is a memoir, the author uses obvious symbolism and it seems apparent that Marjane's drug addiction is symbolic of her relationship with her mom. When Marjane uses drugs, she is filled with a fleeting happiness happiness but is also hurting herself, just like the apprehension and hurt Marjane knows she will feel after her mom'a visit, but when her mom is away, Marjane becomes a brooding shell of a human, similar to a person in drug withdrawal. 

Marjane's ecosystem is only one of thousands across the world, each full of joy and happiness, but also same, and sadness. Everyone had their own bullies, parents, and friends to deal with and you are most likely no exception. The fact that the events in this book actually took place make thinking about it seem more philosophical, as we are actually theorizing about symbolism, imagery, etc. in scenarios that really happened. This book has definately helped me assess how my relationships shape and affect me.