Oppression expresses authority over another group, disengaging that specific group from the rest of society. This concept is particularly apparent in Marjane Satrapi's graphic childhood memoir, "Persepolis," a story set in Iran in the 1980s and chronicling the severe political unrest caused by Iran's Islamic Revolution at the time. In her memoir, Satrapi evokes pathos in her audience by illustratively exploring how secularists, women, and children were marginalized, excluded, and silenced during the revolution. Satrapi's choice of a graphic novel as a medium allows his story as a marginalized individual to be more accessible to his audience of worldly and interested viewers due to its relatively basic language which is accompanied by images that enhance the readers' ability to conceptualize the complex issue. of the Islamic Revolution. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay The Use of Symbols of Oppression and Marginalization Satrapi presents her story and the systematic oppression she faced during the revolution through the symbol of the veil. The novel begins with young Marjane being forced to wear the veil at her new girls' school. In the last panel of the first graphic page, she states: “We didn't really like wearing the veil. Especially since we didn’t understand why we had to do it.” This interior monologue which highlights his inability to "understand", plays on the confusion expected of a child and appeals to pathos by arousing sympathetic emotions in the audience who instantly recognize the oppressive meaning of having to forcibly wear the veil . Through this incident, the introduction to her story shows that, because she is a child and a woman living during a time of takeover by a patriarchal and fundamentalist religious government, Marjane's voice is among the most marginalized. This makes Satrapi's stories of oppression against herself and others all the more believable given that she is a silenced person herself. As Marjane recounts how martyrs were recognized at school, she writes: "They lined us up twice a day to mourn the war dead." The image illustrates all of his peers wearing veils, meaning that the veil is a common motif throughout the novel. The girls' facial expressions vary from fear to confusion to anger, but never satisfied. Marjane has no obvious distinctions from her classmates, and with this image Satrapi creates a sense of loss of individuality, forced conformity, and resignation to oppression. The uniformity of the image and its placement shortly after the forced imposition of the veil makes the veil a visual symbol of political oppression against women. Following this event, as the novel continues through Marjane's scope, she begins to show how a multitude of beliefs and actions were silenced and punished during the Islamic Revolution, particularly those held and committed by her family. The chapter "Wine" observes how Marjane's secular family opposes many of the ideals held by the ruling government by depicting her parents celebrating the birth of her cousin in the first image on page 105. The panel shows all her family dancing. Everyone is shown in black, except for his father who stands in the center, drawn in white. His father, as the head of his westernized family, represents leadership in their,.