Exploring the significance of the veil in Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis”
The Islamic Revolution in 1979 overturned a progressively Westernized Iran into a country deeply rooted in archaic and patriarchal ideologies, where it became obligatory for all women to wear the veil. Over time the wearing of the veil, enforced through Islamic Shi’a tradition, has either been embraced or met with reservation by women. For some, it is ritualistic — a necessary compliance with the Qur’an. Whilst for others, it signifies conforming into faceless obscurity. Satrapi uses this veil to symbolize her transitions in her Persepolis, from her state of conformity, to her metaphorical unveiling of the truth behind the Islamic regime and ultimately her complete rebellion that leads to her eventual freedom.
We are immediately confronted by Satrapi’s conformity to the veil at the start of Persepolis. In Fig.1, Satrapi introduces herself to the reader and makes note that it is post-Islamic Revolution, when she was 10.
One of the most telling panels, this depicts a somber Marjane (or Marji as she is known throughout Persepolis), looking directly at the reader, as a prisoner would silently crying for help, with her arms tightly folded as if to physically close her body off from the world. She has been forced to wear a perceivably thick, black veil, and shows no enthusiasm about it. This is further elaborated in the next panel, fig.2. A significant part of the caption reads, “I’m sitting on the far left so you don’t see me.” Satrapi has deliberately cropped herself out from the class photo, with just her left arm showing, for two particular reasons: To stress the idea that they all look exactly the same with the veil on — they are all just as faceless and insignificant as each other so it simply wouldn’t matter if she was in the photo of not. Marji also does not want to associate herself with the regime nor does she want to adopt any of its principles — including wearing the veil; she does not want her class photo to be of her wearing a symbol of conformity and obedience. Even though Marji associated the veil negatively, the Iranian government saw women wearing the veil as an embodiment of cultural authenticity — an expression of Iranian and Islamic culture, rather than repression (Begolo 3).
Another interesting point to note in fig.2 is that all of her classmates hold different, subdued facial expressions while simultaneously wearing veils. Satrapi deliberately did this to convey to the reader that although the veil is physically and metaphorically weighing them down, their differences in eye shapes and expressions, hairstyle and noses show that underneath the veil they are individual women in their own right, wanting to break free.
The juxtaposition of women who are either for or against the veil depicted in fig. 3 deeply symbolizes Marji’s perception of the veil. The four women to the left of the panel are heavily shrouded in the black veil, both physically and metaphorically, with their eyes tightly shut. Satrapi intentionally did this to convince the reader that they have their ‘eyes wide shut’, as in, they believe that what they know is real and true, but in reality they are ‘blinded’ by tradition and their eyes are physically and metaphorically shut to what is the actual truth. At this point, Marji is unsure of what is truth and what is myth behind the veil, but it is starting to evoke her curiosity about the regime and what is causing this dichotomy between “The veil” and “Freedom.”
This curiosity is reinforced perfectly in fig.4. Here Marji is figuratively torn between what she was brought up to know and what she is curious to know — the world she was brought up in is depicted with images of working cogs, hammer and ruler to represent logic and reason, not associated with the veil. The other half depicts a world of fundamental Islam — Marji is shrouded by the veil as well as Islamic art of all things, to represent the fact that her notion of traditional Islamic faith is visual, not factual. The fact that Marji is seen to have a neutral facial expression depicts that she is unsure of which ideology is the one she should embrace, a question that plagues her throughout the course of Persepolis.
The unpleasant truths about the regime are metaphorically unveiled to Satrapi, paralleling to her loss of innocence. When Marji is told of her communist grandfather’s imprisonment, she is disheartened to hear that he was brutally tortured for holding beliefs that differed from the Shah’s.
In Fig. 5 we see Marji’s mother sadly concluding that her grandfather was in pain all of his life. The fact that visually almost half of her face is shaded black signifies how the regime has caused her to lose faith, hope and ultimately innocence. This visual dichotomy between dark and light is reiterated in the following image of Marji, whose innocence physically evades her after hearing of the brutality of the regime. She wants “to take a bath” to empathize being in a cell filled with water, just like her grandfather. This guilt causes Marji to begin to lose faith in the regime and everything associated with it. In Fig. 6 this is further addressed to the reader visually when the Shah crowns himself as King of Kings, seeking legitimacy in the heritage of the Persian Empire (Sciolino 1). The Shah promises a modern Iran, where “People will regain their splendor” (Satrapi 27). Marji is drawn to be in the luminous moon because she is figuratively becoming enlightened, after beginning to come to the realization that the Shah’s regime was built on false promises.
Marji’s resentment for the regime continues to grow the more statistics she hears of it (regardless of their validity). After hearing that her friend’s father “was in the Savak” and that he “killed a million people,” (Santrapi 44) Marji wants to teach her supposed friend Ramin “a good lesson.” (Satrapi 45)
In fig. 7 Marji and her peers put nails between their fingers with the intention of attacking a petrified Ramin, who hides behind a tree. The eyes of Marji and her peers are closed tightly in anger, which again represents the notion that their eyes are physically and symbolically shut — they are metaphorically veiled to believe that what they are told about the regime (even if it has not been proven to be accurate) is enough justification to outright attack someone they once considered to be amongst them.
Marji is profoundly unveiled to the brutality of the regime when she hears of the torture that is exercised in Iran’s prisons. Fig. 8 depicts the brutal torture that political prisoner and family friend Ahmadi had to endure that led to his eventual assassination.
Note there are no panel walls; firstly because the Satrapi wants to make it clear that the effects of the torture are everlasting, and secondly the veil virtually has been lifted — the truth behind the brutality of the regime is out in the open to Marji and the Iranian people and it is so shocking and profound that it cannot be confined within panel walls. Marji can barely comprehend what she hears, and is astounded that a domestic appliance in her home, a single iron, could be used to end someone’s life with such brutality.
It is this brutal force in the regime that kills Marji’s beloved uncle, Anoosh. After hearing the devastating news of his death, Marji experiences a significant turning point. In Fig. 9, Marji firmly tells God (or her notion of God), who has come to console her, that she never wants to see him again.
She feels betrayed by everything she thought she knew of religion, Iran, its leader and his ideologies. This harsh unveiling of the truth results in Marji’s loss of childhood innocence — she will never be the same again, and it is at this point where she begins to use the regime and its restrictive ethics as a justification for rebellion.
Satrapi uses the veil to symbolize her rebellion against the regime, which leads to her eventual freedom. In fig. 10, Marji and her classmates make a mockery of the on-going war between Iraq and Iran by knitting ill fitting, comical and impractical winter hoods for the soldiers.
They are not taking the reality of the situation seriously in any regard, and show little respect for the soldiers and/or authoritative figures behind the war. They do not realize the impact the war has taken on families, especially those of the 40,000 soldiers who died (Anon 1). This could convey to the reader that not only do the soldiers deserve the attention or respect of the girls, but it is how the girls see the veil — an article of clothing that is ill-fitting, impractical and something that they cannot take seriously, for they do not see any logic or reasoning behind it. The bottom three panels in fig. 10 illustrate Marji and her classmates’ lack of respect for an authoritative figure — in this case her teacher. When the teacher demands which student jokingly said the word “Poopoo,” Marji’s captioned response was simply that they were all united — she is making a mockery of the fact that they all look identical wearing the veil, thus they are automatically all ‘united’ as one. The far right panel shows the girls’ further disrespect for authoritative figures/people in power by making silly gestures behind the teacher’s back, after the teacher informs them that they are all suspended for one week. This is emphasized through the visual aspect of this panel — all of the girls huddled together are the exact same height as the teacher, depicting themselves as equals to the power figure. Noticeably, the power figure is depicted as wearing a continuous long black veil that shrouds her entire body, rather than the typical veil seen throughout Persepolis that meets at the shoulders. This could have been Satrapi’s intention to further illustrate that those in power were the most metaphorically veiled to the brutality of the regime.
Marji continues to rebel against the veil and the ideology it represents in fig.11. Even though she wears the compulsory veil (which she now refers to as headscarf — a slightly more laidback, modified veil) Marji puts on her “1983 Nikes” as well as her denim jacket fitted with a Michael Jackson button.
She wants to be able to express her individuality through clothing and personal style, as she is starting to come into her own self whilst slowly turning her back to the regime. When Satrapi gets caught for her “punk” clothing on the bottom right panel on p.132 (Satrapi 132), she is ultimately released — an outcome that symbolically foreshadows her eventual freedom from Iran, the veil and the ideologies it represents at the end of Persepolis.
Despite its negative connotations, the veil has physically and metaphorically guided Satrapi to her eventual freedom. Despite her initial state of conformity, at the end of her journey in Persepolis, Satrapi is no longer metaphorically ‘veiled’ or blinded by disinformation or deceptive ideologies behind the regime as she is able to think freely and critically for herself. The wearing of the veil itself has caused Satrapi to realize how important it is to express and embrace individuality, rather than choose to be defined by patriarchal and conformist ideologies at the hands of another.
Works Cited
Sciolino, Elaine. “Iran and PERSIAN MIRRORS: THE ELUSIVE FACE OF IRAN.” 2000. Web. Nov 3 2012“The Iran-Iraq War (1979–1988).” Jewish Virtual Library. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Web. Nov 3 2012
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis, Paris: L’Association, 2000, Print
Bergolo, Zephie. “Veiled Politics.” History Today. Volume: 58. Issue:9. Publication Date: September 2008. Page Number 42+. Nov 3 2012
