The Letter

When first exposed to “The Complete Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi, Marji’s way of thinking about the world around her is shown. She has a lot of ideas, and conviction within her that was brought about by the things she has witnessed. For example, in earlier chapters such as “The Veil”, the confusion about why they have to wear their veils is shown amongst all the kids around her. Marji can seemingly pick this apart and see it on a higher level of understanding compared to the others. Leading up to “The Letter”, Marjane and her mother were worried about whether her father was going to return from taking pictures at the protests. He had been taking much longer than usual, and was not home at their expected time. In this moment, it was sort of a wake up call to Marji. Fortunately, her father returned and was not harmed in any way. In “The Letter”, it was around that point that Marji began to be more aware of things that she hadn’t thought too much about. While reading more books, by an author such as Ali Ashraf Darvishian, she realized the work that others had to go through due to their social class. Such as kids cleaning windows at the age of 3. This was further reinforced with her relationship to Mehri, as she thought about how she had to take care of her from an age such as 10 years old. I believe that this is a very important chapter because it starts to bring the things that Marji was talking about closer to her. Ironically, as she became more aware of these things, she still ended up going to a protest with Mehri even though many others had lost their lives in this. It was a symbolic notion as it displayed Mehri and her being equals despite their social class, but also an allude to her outlandish behavior. In a way, it showcased the dangerousness of knowledge as well how it can impact one’s empathy.