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aaclh's picture

Satrapi's Perspepolis I

One thing that struck me was how much watching or gazing went on in the story. Skimming through again you could see this on:

male/gov't/guardians gaze: 4,5,14, 55,60, 66, 75, 76, 105, 108, 109, 110, 125, 129, 132-4, 143

There were also warnings/stories about torture, and once torture specific to women on p 145.

To sum up, I interpreted this as a theme of control. I also think it is interesting to see that a person wasn't allowed to 'gaze' back (p 29) you see the father, Ebi, is feared for being dead because he takes photographs.This suggests that watching something gives you power of what or who you watch.

She mentions several times a desire to educate herself, to gain clarity of a situation, but I think also to gain power.

I thought this was an interesting quotation:

"we were not in the same social class but at least we were in the same bed" p37

Why is every think in the upper case? Is this important or just a minor detail?

I'm not sure if this a me thing or a reader of this book thing, but I really identified with the main character Marji.

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