Persepolis: And That Was That...

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Scott Brown

The panel that engulfs all of page 71 is symbolic in many aspects. The slide has a lot of black color which shows the character floating in a space void. 

Panels in this novel are typically not a full page, showing that this particular slide is of more importance. The main character is in a seemingly depressed and defeated state due to events occurring in her life. 

 

 

It is a rather simple drawing that is not rich in detail. The celestial bodies are small with minute detail. While the main character appears to be floating or falling in space, she is actually lying in her bed. Her pose can be received as a message of hopelessness and uselessness. There is also a

speech bubble that is protruding from the right, implying that while she is lost in her trance, the outside world is still active. But she remains zombified to what is occurring around her.

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Krystal Elliott

The most important moment in the story to me is in the very beginning  when she learns the truth about the prince. She learns that the prince wasn't chosen by god and that he is not even a good person like her history book has made him out to be. Her father tells her about the prince's tyrannical rule and her attitude begins to change. 

 

This is the moment that leads her away from being a prophet and leads her to be more of a radical like her parents. She also learns that her mother's family was once in charge and he get a sense that she is so in love with this idea and she believes that perhaps they can be in charge once again. 

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Alexander Marosy

I really enjoyed the technique used on Page 188 with the way the wording is and the way the girl and her dad are having an awkward, yet funny conversation on what balls truly are. 

 

The girl proceeds to talk about her boobies not truly sure what her dad meant by testicles. I found this conversation to be very humorous and different. I also enjoyed how the author brought out the drawings and facial images on this page, in their discussion on what balls truly are. I found this page to be unique and something I couldn't help but laugh in an enjoyable sense. Overall, the author bringing the novel to life through images and with gestures of this nature was something I really liked, because at times I do enjoy jokes of this nature. So I personally enjoyed the obscene gestures on page 188.

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Darla Rogers

 

Martyrs are fashioned by a perplexity in understanding. Often there is a assurance they feel was made to them and someone else failed to live up to it. The martyr requires that promise, no matter if it was real or not, possible or not, be kept. The martyr is the child or teen that never grew up and lives in self-inflicted indigence. 

Then, contemplate it as a traditional and spiritual belief that preserves itself through anger and pain - and builds through this kind of disease. Think of the martyr in relation to the Muslim and jihad, because it is their core belief and mode of operating is “If I'm killed, I will be killed for the sake of God."

The religious martyr believes that they must suffer to be holy and welcomed into heaven, to be worthy of God's love. They feel they have nothing to live for, so are willing to die for a cause.

I think the most engaging and interesting panels are the ones where Marjane is walking on the bones of all the martyrs of her country.  

 

It is said that every country is built upon the backs and the bones of its fathers and predecessors.  It is said that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.  I cannot imagine what it feels like to be constantly reminded and surrounded by the spirits and lives of the people who had literally given their lives.  We had discussed the simplicity of the drawings, but as I look at these panels I feel that they perfectly convey the somberness of the moment.  Anything more elaborately drawn could take away from the feeling of simple seriousness.

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Autumn Seiver

I chose page 28-29 to talk about. In the first frame I noticed that they made Cyrus huge. I am sure that this was to show just how important he was as a ruler. One thing that threw me off though was the soldiers in the frame below that. I see where they would all have on matching head dresses but does it also cover the mouth or is that supposed to be the curly hair of a beard? Either way they are all dressed in the same garments and all have the same weapons to show unity.  You can clearly see that Marji is upset that her grandmother is avoiding answering questions about her grandfather so she uses the excuse of being hungry to end the conversation. 

In the kitchen you can see her mom is cooking by the little puffs of smoke or steam. They are worried though because her father is not home yet from taking pictures. He had been arrested before for taking some. 

The pictures is my favorite part because they show confusion, chaos, fire, power, struggle, and a lot of violence. Just goes to show what was going on during the revolt.

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Nick Taylor

On page 113 of Persepolis, it starts with Marjane coming home from what she said was a “wonderful day” to her mother, who obviously knows something was up.  She then tries to lie to her mother, who calls her out on cutting class, and then, after another lie and finally forcing the truth out of Marjane, begins yelling at her angrily for both lying and cutting class.  


The page ends with Marjane storming off angrily and shouting back at her mother, calling her “the guardian of the revolution of this house”. 
 
As for the illustrations, they are very plain and basic, focusing mainly on Marjane and her mother, with a couple close-ups on their face to show emotion, albeit basic and simplistic, like much of the other illustrations.  In the scene they also are in front of a plain white background, which can be considered simplistic, but also focuses the action in the scene on the two characters.  The lack of detail is also emphasized as she walks away, as her mother is portrayed as a simple silhouette in two frames.   Internal thought is also used in boxes on either the top or bottom of certain frames, as the incident is retold.  Jagged speech bubbles are also used to emphasize shouting and yelling, whereas regular speech is shown in bubbles that are square or rounded rectangle in nature.