Persepolis Close Analysis

Losing one's innocence, is a common theme in many novels and movies. This theme is present in both Tim O'Brien's, The Things They Carried, and Marjane Satrapi's, "Persepolis." Both novels main characters who struggle with the lose of innocence are female. Mary Ann and Marjane are faced with situations that do not arise in normal childhood. Because of these incidents, each is changed and forced to grow up a little too fast.

Mary Jane is flown over to the Vietnam, during the Vietnam war to be with her boyfriend. When she arrives there, she is seen as a typical American girl. She is bubbly, and comes off as ditsy and completely unaware of what is going on around her. Mary Ann is described as, "she was seventeen years old, fresh out of Cleveland Heights Senior High. She had long white legs and blue eyes and a complexion like strawberry ice cream. Very friendly, too"(93). But after a couple weeks in Vietnam and being shown the true essence of war, Mary Ann grew curious and began to explore her surroundings. In time she completely lost that young girl trance, and frankly lost her innocence. She turned almost wild, and joined the Greenies, who were in charge of the extreme missions.

Marjane was very similar to Mary Jane but also very different. Marjane also grew up in a time of turmoil and war, the Islamic Revolution. Marjane rebels against the Shah's rules for women. She faced her lose of innocence when her friends apartment building is bombed and her friend is killed. Marjane describes the experiences, "No scream in the world could have relieved my suffering and my anger"(142). Also at the end of the novel, Marjane is shipped to Australia to escape the danger that living in Iran has brought. She turns back to see her parents, and she is forced to suddenly grow up in that one moment.

Both of these characters are viewed as strong femine roles in the novels they are present in. But that strength comes with a price, a end to being naive, a loss of childhood fun and innocence. Through terrible events these characters are forced to grow up way to fast and lose a part of themselves.