Teaching Persepolis

Instructions for You

Objective: In an interview, Satrapi bemoans the difficulty of having to always explain herself in the face of cultural stereotypes: "A simple question that for everyone is a one-word answer to 'Where do you come from?' – 'I am French.' For an Iranian, it's a one-hour explanation: 'I am Iranian but, I am Iranian but…'"

Today's lesson will focus on character complexity and how Satrapi's creation of the beloved "Marji" crumbles some stereotypes we might have about the Middle East. (Alternately, this could be a lesson on how cookies make for the greatest metaphors apparently, or how whacky the word "bemoans" is.)

Timing: 60 – 90 minutes, plus a super awesome homework assignment.

Materials Needed: Access to this YouTube video on how to make a Mind Map, white paper, pencil crayons, felts, etc.

Step 1: "Fitting in" in high school is one of the toughest expectations you might ever encounter. Sometimes figurative "blue mohawks" make us feel more like we belong, but how come there's so much pressure? Tell students to flip open those notebooks and reflect on the following questions:

• What's your blue mohawk?
• Have you ever done something that was unlike you, just to please others?
• When have you felt most like you?
• When have you felt the least like you?
• Where would you say you find your identity?

Give them ten minutes to write down their answers

Step 2: Ask your students to reread the episode "The Vegetable" in Persepolis 2 (pg. 41). Then, implement a "Think-Pair-Share" activity using the following discussion questions. Give students ten minutes to think about and write down their answers, share their answers with a peer, then have the pairs share their findings with the rest of the class.

• Look up assimilation. What does it mean to assimilate?
• What events and activities make Marji feel like she's assimilating into a culture she doesn't initially feel at home in?
• What finally makes Marji accept her identity as an Iranian?
• Marji realizes that "if you're not comfortable with yourself, you will never be comfortable." What do you think?
• What's the difference between assimilating and integrating?

Step 3: Ask students to take out a blank sheet of paper and draw small images of Marji in the center. Tell them to be detailed: add a facial expression or a posture that represents her personality, etc.

Show them this video on how to make a Mind Map. Their mission is to make a mind map that they think is representative of Marji as they know her in the book. Suggest they make branches for Marji like "family," "school," "friends," "important life events," etc. This part of the exercise is really based on their gut feelings about her so be careful not to be too directive (Ha!). That comes later…Give them about 20 minutes to develop their Marji mind maps.

Step 4: Despite the fact that Persepolis is a story about the author's very own life (therefore making it creative nonfiction or a "real" story), Satrapi still uses some pretty standard creative writing techniques from fiction (or "make-believe" stories) to help us get to know her better. Characterization is basically an author choosing certain qualities of a character to show their readers, who really get to know these characters by these choices. (Want more on characterization? Shmoop's got you covered.)

Using their mind maps as references, get students to take another blank sheet of paper and write "Marji" in the middle. Have them add the following branches: dialogue, action, narration, relationships to others, changes over time. Encourage them to see if anything on their mind maps fits into one of those categories. If not, here are some leading focal points to help them fill in these characterization mind maps. They should be looking for:

• moments in the text where she says things that you think define her in a way. What are some of her beliefs? What does she care about?
• actions that give us a sense of who she is.
• moments in her narration that tell us more about her.
• her friendships and family relationships. What does her friendship with her grandma, for example, tell us about her?
• who she is at the beginning of Persepolis 1 and who she is at the end of Persepolis 2. What changes did she go through? What events spurred those changes?

Once they've completed their characterization mind maps, have them compare and contrast with a partner. If they have different moments/quotes from the text, ask them to justify their choices to one another. What makes you think you're so right, man?

Step 5: For homework, ask the students to create a social media page for Marji. They can choose any stage of her character's development for this fun and creative assignment. To spur their thinkings, suggest the following ideas:

• Maybe they want to make a Facebook page for young, conservative Marji whose buddies include God and Karl Marx.
• Or maybe they want to make a dating profile for an older Marjane who just left Iran for France at the end of the book.
• Maybe they would make a LinkedIn account profiling her mad skills in art.
• Or maybe a Twitter feed for young Marji who's in the thick of the Iran-Iraq war (at least 15 tweets, if Twitter)
• Maybe they could make a Pinterest board with all her favorite things (rusty nails, Kim Wilde posters, Iron Maiden, etc.).

*Note: Tell them this doesn't mean they necessarily have to create an actual account, but rather they could fill in the components of one of these social media sites and print them out. Ask the students to share their creations at the next class. If they made actual accounts, they can trash 'em after that.

Instructions for Your Students

Remember the part in Persepolis when Marji freaks out and yells "I AM IRANIAN AND PROUD OF IT?" Well, today we're going to focus on why she lost it. And also learn about this thing called "characterization" and make some pretty drawings while we're at it.

Step 1: "Fitting in" in high school is one of the toughest expectations you might ever encounter. Sometimes figurative "blue mohawks" make us feel more like we belong, but how come there's so much pressure? Flip open those notebooks and reflect on the following questions:

• What's your blue mohawk?
• Have you ever done something that was unlike you, just to please others?
• When have you felt most like you?
• When have you felt the least like you?
• Where would you say you find your identity?

Take ten minutes to write down your answers.

Step 2: Reread the episode "The Vegetable" in Persepolis 2 (pg. 41). Then take ten minutes to think about and write down answers to the questions below:

• Look up assimilation. What does it mean to assimilate?
• What events and activities make Marji feel like she's assimilating into a culture she doesn't feel at home in?
• What finally makes Marji accept her identity as an Iranian?
• Marji realizes that "if you're not comfortable with yourself, you will never be comfortable." What do you think?
• What is the difference between assimilating and integrating?

After you're done, share your answers with a partner. After that—you guessed it—you'll be sharing your answers with the class.

Step 3: Now the fun part: take out a blank sheet of paper and draw a small picture of Marji in the center. Be detailed, yo: add a facial expression or a posture that represents her personality, etc.

Watch this cool video on how to make a Mind Map. Your mission is to make a mind map that you think is representative of Marji as you know her in the book. Make branches for Marji like "family," "school," "friends," "important life events," etc. This part of the exercise is really based on your gut feelings about her so let loose and just go for it. This should take you about 20 minutes.

Step 4: Despite the fact that Persepolis is a story about the author's very own life (therefore making it creative nonfiction or a "real" story), Satrapi still uses some pretty standard creative writing tricks (or "techniques," but what's the difference?) from fiction or "make-believe" stories to help us get to know her better. This is known as "characterization." Characterization is basically an author choosing certain traits of a character to show their readers. The way you really get to know a character is by these choices. (Want more on characterization? Shmoop's got you covered.)

Using your mind map as a reference, take another blank sheet of paper and write "Marji" in the middle. This time, add the following branches: dialogue, action, narration, relationships to others, changes over time. See if anything on your first mind maps fits into one of those categories. If not (and even so), go back to the text and use these focal points to fill in your characterization mind maps. You should be looking for:

• moments in the text where she says things that you think define her in a way. What are some of her beliefs? What does she care about?
• actions that give us a sense of who she is.
• moments in her narration that tell us more about her.
• her friendships and family relationships. What does her friendship with her grandma, for example, tell us about her?
• who she is at the beginning of Persepolis 1 and who she is at the end of Persepolis 2. What changes did she go through? What events spurred those changes?

Once you've completed your characterization mind maps, compare and contrast the finished product with a partner. If you have different moments/quotes from the text, justify your choices to one another. What makes you think you're so right, man?

Step 5: For homework, create a social media page for Marji. Choose any stage of her development to work with for this assignment. Maybe you want to:

• Make a Facebook page for young, conservative Marji whose buddies include God and Karl Marx.
• Or maybe you want to make a dating profile for an older Marjane who just left Iran for France at the end of the book.
• Maybe you'll make a LinkedIn account profiling her mad skills in art.
• Or maybe you'll create a Twitter feed for young Marji who's in the thick of the Iran-Iraq war (at least 15 tweets, if you choose Twitter).
• Maybe you want to make a Pinterest board with all her favorite things (rusty nails, Kim Wilde posters, Iron Maiden, etc.).

*Note: You don't necessarily have to create an actual account, but rather can fill in the components of one of these social media sites and print them out. You'll share your creations at the next class. If you make an actual account, you can trash it after that.