Persepolis

 

"I wanted to know what it felt like to be in a cell filled with water" (25).

   Hearing about her grandpa's past and learning that he was often in jail,
 Marjane wants to put herself in his shoes.


Moments

1. Marjane wants (and finds) a hero. After the political prisoners were released, she grows jealous of her mother's friend's daughter Laly who tells Marjane that her father is a hero, but Marjane's father is not a hero because he wasn't in prison. Marjane finally gets a hero of her own when she meets her uncle Anoosh who had been in prison.

2. Marjane is a prophet. When Marjane was young, she believed she was the last prophet and often had conversations with God. 

3. The first cigarette Marjane let's go of her too-short childhood when she smokes a stolen cigarette to rebel against her mother. 

4. Busted! Marjane is caught for the first time by two Guardians of the Revolution, who see her dressed improperly, with sneakers, a jean jacket, and a Michael Jackson pin. 

5. Experiencing death (not for the first time). A missile explodes in Marjane's neighborhood and destroys the Baba-Levy's house. Marjane sees a bracelet still on the Baba-Levy's daughter Neda's wrist in the wreckage, and feels indescribable anger and suffering.

6. Leaving home. Marjane leaves Iran for the first time when her parents tell her they are sending her to Austria.

7. Expelled (again!). Marjane eats pasta straight from the pot, and the nuns stereotype all Iranians as having bad manners. In turn, Marjane says all the nuns were prostitutes and then gets expelled.

8. Rock bottom. After breaking up with her boyfriend, getting kicked out of Frau Doctor Heller's house, and turning to drugs, Marjane is living on the streets and eventually ends up in a hospital.

9. Returning to Iran. Marjane goes back to her home country for the first time and learns about what has happened during the war.

10. Arresting an innocent man. To protect herself from getting in trouble, Marjane distracts the Guardians of the Revolution by saying an innocent man said something rude to her.

11.  Marriage and divorce. Marjane marries Reza, someone she thought she loved, but soon realizes that marriage is not for her.

12.  Leaving Iran for the second and last time. Marjane becomes fed up with Iran, and continues her education in Strasbourg. Before leaving, she spends quality time with her family and friends.

The image (25) features Marjane wanting to take a bath/in the bath after she finds out her grandfather had often been put in a cell full of water while in prison. She wanted to feel what he felt in the cell, although there is no way that she could feel what he went through. She is hugging her knees and sitting in the water with a worried expression on her face and a rubber duck at her feet. Marjane looks worried because she now realizes that the same thing can happen to someone she knows. Hearing about her grandfather is the first time she hears about torture. God is sitting on a chair next to her, although Marjane isn’t paying attention to him. She is too wrapped up about her grandfather to say anything to him.

The caption above the image says, “That night I stayed in the bath for a long time. I wanted to feel what I would be like to sit in a cell full of water” (25). God is asking Marjane, “What are you doing?” I think it’s interesting that what was almost a sidenote when her mother told her that her grandfather had been in a cell full of water, but Marjane took it very seriously and it left an emotional mark. She wants to feel connected to her grandfather even though she never met him, and this is the only way she knows how. In her mind, God doesn’t understand why Marjane wants to experience something similar to what her grandfather felt. Obviously, taking a bath is nowhere near the same as being put into a cell full of water, but to Marjane it is the closest she can get.

The caption and the image interact well because we hear from Marjane how she wants to feel what it’s like to be in a cell full of water but in reality she is just sitting in a bathtub with a rubber duck. The contrast to what she wants to feel and what she is actually doing is very vast and can’t be compared, and not even God can do anything to make Marjane feel better. The significance of Marjane trying to experience what her grandfather felt shows how she isn’t afraid of getting in trouble for what she believes.