Often times, when we read books, we rely on the text to tell
us what each character is experiencing. A lot of times, we have to infer what
our character is feeling through their thoughts and actions as well as the
thought and actions of others. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi is a different kind of book. Rather
than having a lot of text, its main emphasis is the usage of pictures. Because of
this, we must look at the pictures to get a better understanding of what
happens in the book. In particular, we must pay attention to the faces of the
people in the book to understand what really occurs in Persepolis.
In the book, there are many different kinds of faces. Some
of the more common ones are the faces that are smiling as well as some that
look really sad. These faces really let us know what the main character, Marji,
is feeling, as well as telling us the influences others had on her. For
example, on page 69, in the scene where Marji meets her uncle Anoosh in prison,
it is their facial expressions that really tell us what they feel. Just looking
at the tears rolling down Marji’s face is enough to tell us just how sad she
really is. The same applies to Anoosh as well. You can tell by the grim yet
semi smiling face that he is really sad about leaving Marji, yet he is still
trying to be strong for her sake. The words on the page don’t really emphasize
these emotions, it is the touching images that do. Those images make us feel
much more empathy for the characters since we can visualize their expressions.
All in all, I really like the style the book is created in.
I think that writing this book like a graphic novel was an excellent idea. It
really drives in the emotions the characters were feeling. There is a saying
that a picture is worth a thousand words. I think that saying is very appropriate
to use here. No amount of text would be able to paint the emotions we see from
the faces in Persepolis.
