The Visual Aspects of Persepolis - Book Report/Review Example

With a deliberate drawing style using strong lines and vivid images, the author draws the attention of the reader. Since the drawings are simple, they do not break the rhythm of the story. These thick inky black and white drawings with the narration are an effective way of telling a complicated story like Persepolis. The drawings are non- fussy, clean, and well defined. She makes use of shadows and symbolism in her drawing. Images convey an idea much more effectively than words, and Satrapi has made full use of this fact.

It is a well-known fact that pictures and images capture the attention of a reader. Although the graphic novel is different from the traditional novel, it is a more effective medium to tell a story that is full of tragedy. Spiegelman's Maus is a classic of this genre that inspired Satrapi to tell her story. The format of the comic adopted by such serious writers as Spiegelman and Nakazawa tell their tales more effectively than what only words could tell. Persepolis is in a storybook format, but it portrays growing up in Iran during the Islamic revolution.

In Persepolis, .the reactions of the ten-year-old girls who were forced to wear the veil to school for the first time, after the Islamic Revolution of 1980, is depicted humorously. In the episode called "The Veil",' the little girls are given the veils and ordered to wear them, by their teacher. Satrapi writes, "Then came 1980, the year it became obligatory to wear the veil at school.", followed by drawings of girls playing with the veils. One girl has tied up many veils to form a skipping rope, while another is pretending to be a "monster of darkness".

The drawings and the text, though seemingly light-hearted, tell us about the imposition of male chauvinistic rules on women. The class photo is at once self- mocking and humorous, while at the same time it draws the attention of the reader to the plight of the girls.Satrapi's drawings are more than mere sketches to illustrate the narrative. The drawings themselves give us a lot more information than words. In the scene with Marjane's grandmother, the old lady tells Marjane that they had a hard time when her husband was imprisoned.