Satrapi's Cultural Balance: Fundamentalism and Individualism

Consistently, differences between Marji and Iranian culture is a theme suggested by Satrapi. The author maintains a balance between the individualistic nature held by Marji (which was gathered from Marji's parents and their relatively unique status in Iranian culture, being open-minded and the relatives of royalty) and the newly-imposed fundamentalism instituted by the post-revolution government. We can see this relationship manifested in Marji's mind (or, occasionally the narrator's, as the example illustrates): she is nationalistic and patriotic in the desire to defend her country against the Iraqi attackers (p. 79, bottom frame) and demands a revenge bombing (p. 82, top-most frame) in response, stating, "WE HAVE TO BOMB BAGHDAD!". 

This is obviously strikingly different from the freethinking we also view in Marji's (as well, the narrator's) mind. Take, for instance, two scenes from the text wherein her autonomy from societal norms gets her into trouble with fundamentalist authority. The first (p. 134), when Marji is caught in the street by the women's branch of the "guardians of the revolution" wearing "punk" clothing, shows that her choices are not accepted by the culture when is chastised and forced to lie about her appearance to the women, and she narrowly escapes persecution by lying. Shortly after Neda Baba-Levy was killed, Marji no longer fears retribution against her nature, and thus wears whatever she wants to school (p. 143), and speaks what she feels is the truth, to the chagrin and consternation of her school superior. Thus, the kind of overt patriotism despite external control over her behavior was reversed into an (at least marginal) anti-fundamentalist, undogmatic intellectualism in the face of extremism.

The disparate nature of Marji's personality and Iranian fundamentalism is, in fact, a large part of the reason she went (was sent) to Vienna. The end of the section is, thus, the conclusion of the sort of balanced relationship maintained through the first half of Persepolis: by leaving, Satrapi/Marji/the narrator unite to show us that this balance was paradoxical, and that her personality was incompatible with Iranian fundamentalism. This is confirmed when Marji's grandmother tells her, "... Always keep your dignity and be true to yourself." (p. 150), which she then reiterates the next morning, stating, "I will always be true to myself". This also shows the remnants of cultural balance (i.e. that she will retain her Iranian identity, despite what had happened).