Persepolis (Summary)

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00:00Perspolis, Brief Summary, Introduction, Perspolis by Marjan Satrapi was originally

00:08published in 2000.

00:11It is an autobiographical graphic novel.

00:14The book shows the author's childhood up to the period when she attains adulthood and

00:19then marriage.

00:21The story is set in the Islamic Republic of Iran after the Islamic Revolution.

00:27The title of the book refers to the ancient capital of the Persian Empire, Perspolis.

00:33The book was originally published in French.

00:37It has been translated into several languages including English.

00:42Brief Summary.

00:43The story opens in Iran in 1980.

00:47Marjan Satrapi is getting ready to go to school.

00:51She is being compelled to wear a veil at her school.

00:55The new rules have segregated the boys and girls.

00:59In the same year, political and religious turmoil begins in Iran.

01:04Marjan's parents also attend political protests on several occasions.

01:10Even their relatives like Uncle Anoush attend the protests.

01:15We are told more about Uncle Anoush at this point.

01:19He had left Iran and fled to the U.S.S.R., when the Iranian government believed that

01:26he was a spy.

01:28Uncle Anoush helps Marjan a lot and he teaches her much about the world.

01:34He carves a swan out of bread and gives it to Marjan.

01:38It looks much better than the swan made from paper.

01:42The bread swan can be eaten.

01:44As the time progresses, Marjan comes very close to Uncle Anoush.

01:50When her uncle is executed, she is shattered and she takes it to her heart.

01:56Owing to her family members, who include her grandmum and Uncle Anoush, Marjan grows passionate

02:03about social activities.

02:05She is a very young girl, but she thinks that she wants to fix the social inequalities and

02:11make the world better for the old people.

02:14Since there are regular air raids on Tehran, life is very difficult for the people there.

02:21Several of Marjan's friends and family members get killed.

02:25Finally, her parents take a very grave decision.

02:30They decide that they can't raise their daughter in Iran.

02:34Marjan happens to be a strong, ah, very independent and outspoken.

02:40Owing to her behavior, she is expelled from her school.

02:45Her parents are afraid that she might get a worse punishment as the government becomes

02:50stricter.

02:51The parents send Marjan to Vienna.

02:55She begins to live in a boarding house in Vienna.

02:58The boarding house is run by nuns.

03:02Marjari finds it difficult even in Vienna because the nuns are almost similar to the

03:07strict regime in Iran.

03:10She spends a few years there.

03:12However, she finds herself in several living situations.

03:17Julie is her friend in Vienna.

03:20She is a sexually liberated girl.

03:23She also finds herself with eight homosexuals.

03:27Then she rents a room from a woman who has bad behavior.

03:32Like this, she has to face several troubles there.

03:36While living in Vienna, Marjan misses her family very much.

03:41She keeps remembering her family living in Iran.

03:45They are her only support system.

03:48She often gets depressed.

03:50Eventually, she is homeless.

03:53She begins to live on the streets.

03:56She falls sick.

03:57One day, she coughs up blood.

04:00However, she survives and goes back to Iran.

04:05In Vienna she had been a free girl, but now back in Iran she has to live under several

04:10restrictions.

04:12It is not easy for her to give up her freedoms which she had become habitual to.

04:17She compromises with the life she has because living with the family is what she needs.

04:23There is no segregation at home and she is treated equally by her parents.

04:29She gets the reality check from her grandmother.

04:32She understands that to be happy she has to be true to herself.

04:37Having come back to Iran, she begins her social activism as much as she can.

04:43She makes a new uniform with a shorter veil.

04:46When she is of age, she is married.

04:49She goes to parties, and eventually gets divorced.

04:54Having gone through all these experiences she is on her way to find her identity as

04:59an individual.

05:01After about two years she realizes that Iran is not for her.

05:05She is once again ready to leave.

05:08She goes back to Europe.

05:10At the end of her narrative, she informs the reader that before her death she wants to

05:15see her grandma once again.

05:18She knows that freedom has a price.

05:31For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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