Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

The first time I read Persepolis, it was my freshman year of high school and I did not really know much about the topics discussed in it, such as female oppression or anything about the Middle East. It was the first graphic novel I had ever read, so I thought it was cool and interesting, but just as a story. This time around, Persepolis was much clearer for me and I could relate parts of the story to my previous knowledge. I think Marjane Satrapi did an amazing job simplifying her story in a way that readers could understand the Islamic Revolution without confusing them with too many facts or characters. She provided readers with a very unique perspective, that of a young girl in the midst of the revolution, that even those well versed on the Islamic Revolution have not yet heard. Satrapi empowers the women of Iran to speak up about the revolution and shares an important story with the rest of the world. Because of Persepolis, I have a much better understanding of culture in Iran and why the situation for women is the way it is.
In my opinion, this is the perfect time for our class to begin covering global feminism because of everything that's happening in the world right now. It is a huge time for revolution; over the past few years, we have seen large scale protests in Turkey, Brazil, Greece, Iran, the Sudan, and many other countries. Egypt revolted in 2013 and ousted their president, while Venezuela is now protesting and the Ukraine is in the midst of their revolution. I do not know much about any of these protests or revolutions, but stories like Persepolis help me to understand the current issues of global conflict. I am excited for the rest of the semester because I want to understand more about feminism worldwide, and just about different countries in general.