I was never a big fan of the comic book scene. Something about them never really grasped my interest, but Persepolis has made me think twice about that. The illustrated autobiography of the journey of an Iranian adolescent struggling through the 1980 Revolution proved that graphic novels do indeed have a place within the teaching cirriculum. The aspect that it reads very quickly is certainly appealing to most high school students, but that notwithstanding, Persepolis is one book that I most certainly do not regard as a waste of my time.
It is primarily the depictions of conflict and metaphors in Persepolis that strike me as being characteristic of this graphic novel. For example, the rather literal, morbid, and graphic image of the graffiti slogan "To Die a Martyr is to Give Your Blood to the Veins of Society" really can't be described in words. I myself won't try to do so because I've already stated that it simply can't be done.
It's primarily a story regarding a particularly turbulent journey of growing up, and yet it can't help but bare some of the political tensions that surround the controversial Middle-Eastern nation. The allusions are enough to make you think deeply, but not enough to completely drown the entire point of the book, which I like. I've found myself unconsiously reading "Persepolis" in class, not due to boredome, but because I want to find what happens next. It's habit, however, that I shall have to break.
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i find myself doing the same things as you are with this book. part of me just wnts to keep reading because it drags me in. I also notice the pictures and the metaphors that are placed throughout the book and it helps me sort of realize ore of what is happening than i could if it didn't have any pictures.
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