Conversing Texts and Identity

   The panels I choose to consider reside on pages 14-15. In these panels Marjane is listening in on her parents conversation in the next room they are discussing the burning of the Cinema. All of the people were locked inside and chains were put on the doors so they could not escape and then the building was set on fire; it claimed 400 victims. This event is similar to the lines in, I explain a Few Things by Pablo Neruda " one morning the bonfires leapt out of the earth devouring human beings..."These two texts conduct a lively conversation due to the experiences which are described. In Pablo Neruda's poem the slaying of children is powerfully mentioned and it is described that their blood ran in the streets. This converses with Persepolis because the protaganist also indirectly observes the death of children soldiers and family members. She is cognizant of the fact that the ghostly blood of those who died for the war hovers over Iranian soldier. In furtherance of this Pablo neruda is conspicuously changed by the war as is Marjane. In his poem he says that people will ask why he does not speak of flowers and dreams, he responds by saying " come and see the blood in the streets." His world view has changed as a result of the horrific things he has been witness to, he can non longer identify with the more delicate aspects of life on the same level he could before the war occured and in this way the conflict of war has " forged" his identity.

Blankets

The three specific panels/areas I found to be intriguing are pgs 28-29, 206-209. on pages 28-29 the abuse subjected on Craig and his brother is revealed. I believe this is a truly powerful passage depicting the childhood foundation that was established and ultimately compelled Craig to want to escape by drawing and becoming fervently religious. As a child it is evident that this babysitter made sexual acts seem "dirty" and on page 208-209 this muddying up of an almost innate often transitional part of life is further depicted in a more emphatic way. The uncertainty Craig feels when thinking about Raina, and acts of fornication is stemmed from his religious beliefs and the traumatic childhood he endured. The second panel I choose to consider is when he regresses back to his child hood and recalls the shame he felt after his parents caught him drawing a picture of a women; nude. His parent's tell him that drawing such a picture has saddened Jesus. He looks at the picture of Jesus and begs for forgiveness while being haunted by the naked female. A second later he is transported back the present as the naked girl haunting his memories transforms into Raina and he realizes he is in her room. It is almost as though the reader can feel the shame he experienced during his childhood reach out and stretch across time, spanning vividly into his adolescence..

I choose these four pages for a multitude of reasons, I found them to be interesting parts of Craiogs story but more significantly they aid in understanding the young man Craig evolves into. These excerpts illustrate why Craig is reluctant to engage in intimacy with Raina, why he feels ashamed for harboring such thoughts, and where his internal struggle originated from.

There is a very lively conversation going on between the two texts most recently explored. Both of the protagonists are going through an internal struggle between what is natural to them and what they have been taught through life experiences and religion. Both are struggling to accept themselves in their own implicit worlds where their sexual desires are stigmatized.