Persepolis 2: Life is a choice

Persepolis 2 is the continuation of Marjane Satrapi's fascinating story being a child who grow up in Iran. After fleeing from Iran in order to avoid the war with Iraq and the Iranian extremist government's regulations, Marjane explains her further experiences living in Austria in the Persepolis 2. Her difficulties being an immigrant in Austria and her struggles adjusting to Iranian's culture after she decides to go back to Iran after living in Austria are two main ideas of the story. Marjane explains that it's hard for her to adjust and to be accepted in the Austrian's culture due to it's too westernization culture. For instance, as a child who grow up in fundamentalist country like Iran Marjane has always wanted to have a freedom; however, as she witnesses her friend, Julie, is having sex with a guy whom she just met once, Marjane feels that the freedom seems to be much more affluent than she has expected. As Marjanes states, “ …. the party was not what I imagined, in Iran, at parties, everyone would dance and eat, in Vienna, people preferred to lie around and smoke” (Satrapi 34), she encounters much adolescents more than she can tolerate. After realizing herself miss her family and her motherland's culture so much, Marjane decides to go back to Iran. However, after living in Austria for four years, she faces a new challenge: adjusting back to her own culture. Moreover, some of her childhood friends treat her differently and even excommunicate her from the society due to her experience having sex before married with her boyfriend (Satrapi 149). Therefore, she has to be smart and strong in order to be familiar with her own culture once again.

Relationship to Persepolis 1:
After reading Persepolis 1 and 2, I realized that ones might admire other people's culture so much. However, One would never forget their original culture, for it is a reflection of who they are. As in Persepolis 1, Marjane has always wanted to live her life in accordance to a westernization culture. For instance, she likes listening to punk music, wearing Nike's sneaker, and admiring an American rock star, Kim Wilde (Satrapi 126-134). Unfortunately after her parents sent her to Austria to flee from the war, she has difficulties in Austria adjusting to it's culture which is too westernized. She is not aware of being western is more than just listening to punk music or wearing jeans. She discovers that westernized means much more than she has expected when she was in Iran. In conclusion, after she realizes that westernization culture is not for her, she goes back to her motherland, Iran. "One can forgive but one should never forget" (Marjane).