Graphic novel is often used as a medium to present a complex story of historical, religious, or political matter for many years. Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis is one of the examples; it is about a young Iranian girl’s life, when the Islamic Revolution in 1979 occurred. The Islamic Revolution has taken a significant part in Satrapi’s life, especially as she was transitioning into a young woman. It was a time where wearing a veil was obligatory and bilingual schools had to close down because they were thought of as a symbol of capitalism. It was also a time where Iran was divided into two ideologies, fundamentalism and modernity. The streets were full of conflict between them and it was not a strange thing to see both of them clash on a day-to-day basis. Satrapi emphasizes the distinction between the two ideologies in Iran through her use of symbolism, graphics, and layout.
Satrapi’s use of symbolism in the novel is one of the factors that distinguish the two ideologies apart, such as the wine. The wine symbolizes the act of rebellion that the modern Iranians did to defy the fundamentalist’s beliefs (p.108). Satrapi also symbolizes the veil as a form of restriction towards modernists (p.74). The women are obligated to wear a veil; this results to a diminishing of their freedom. This way, the wine and the veil have become a barrier between fundamentalists and modernists, and have become some of the factors that cause a conflict between them.
Another significant factor is Satrapi’s use of graphics to illustrate the clear distinction between the two ideologies. For example, when there were demonstrations for and against the veil, which you can see, the image on the top panel (p. 5). The fundamentalist women and the modernist women are shown side by side to indicate their sides upon the matter; Satrapi uses the color black to represent the veil that the fundamentalists