Marjane Satrapis Persepolis Essay -- Marjane Satrapis Persepolis

In the 1970's a great power struggle began in Iran, leading to a profusion of civil unrest and mass emigration. In 1941 Iranian monarch Reza Shah, was removed from power by the United States and replaced by his son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, who Westernized the highly conservative and religious nation. He continued implementing the Westernized laws set by his father, which were known to "discouraged democratic political expression in the public sphere" and condemned Islamic fundamentalism (Khosrokhavar 3). The largely conservative citizens of Iran protested the alterations in multiple movements in response to the westernization, financial failures, and perceived belief that the Shah was being controlled by Western powers for control over Iran's vast oil supply. January of 1979, the Shah went into exile in Egypt and the devoted Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini assumed power, reinstalling the strict, Islamic law; "The Constitution allows all laws to be revised [...] by an Assembly of Expert, which is dominated by conservative clergymen" (Khatami 122) . In 1980, Iraqi troops invaded Iran in hopes of capturing the oil- rich country amidst the Revolutionary turmoil, further contributing to Iranian emigration to European countries. The Iran Iraq War continued until 1988. The mass exodus resulted in the "forced dispersal, immigration, displacement and establishment of reconfigured transnational communities", now known as the Iranian diaspora (Agnew 19).Such abrupt uprooting of a citizen's identity and physical connection to their homeland leads to a conflicting sense of identity and belonging in individuals who are involved in the sudden transition. As a member of the Iranian diaspora, Marjane Satrapi endured many h... ...2010. N. pag. Print.Parsa, Misagh. Social Origins of the Iranian Revolution. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1989. Print. Safizadeh, Fereydoun, Persis M. Karim, and Mohammad M. Khorrami. A World Between: Poems, Short Stories, and Essays by Iranian Americans. New York: George Braziller, 1999. Print. Satrapi, Marjane. "On Writing Persepolis.†." Pantheon Graphic Novels 1 (2005). Satrapi, Marjane, and Marjane Satrapi. The Complete Persepolis. New York: Pantheon, 2007. Print. Salehi, M. M. Insurgency through Culture and Religion: The Islamic Revolution of Iran. New York: Praeger, 1988. Print. Diaz 13 Shavarini, Mitra K. Desert Roots: Journey of an Iranian Immigrant Family. El Paso, TX: LFB Scholarly Pub., 2012. Print. Talebi, Shahla, and SuÌ„daÌ„bah ArdavaÌ„n. Ghosts of Revolution: Rekindled Memories of Imprisonment in Iran. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 2011. Print.