Persepolis

**Guiding Questions**
 * 1) Look for an example of antithesis in “The Letter” (33-37).
 * 2) What is the relationship between the images and the words in the bottom, left-hand panel on page 43?
 * 3) What does Satrapi want to do to Ramin? Why? How well is her plan executed?
 * 4) What does the image in the bottom, left-hand panel on page 52 tell us about how Laly is feeling?
 * 5) What is the effect of the repetition on pages 65, 66, and 67? Why do you think Satrapi does this?
 * 6) Why do the fundamentalists argue that women should wear the veil?
 * 7) (Do you notice any connection between the information on page 75 and a quote from Rick Steves’ Iran?)
 * 8) Why do you think Satrapi sums up the majority of her trip in one panel, but spends five panels describing a scene from their final day in Madrid?
 * 9) How do Marjane and her dad react to the news that Iran has bombed Baghdad?
 * 10) How does Pardisse’s thinking of heroes and martyrs differ from Marjane’s? Why?
 * 11) Can we use a literary term to describe the bottom panel on page 89?
 * 12) Notice the philosophy of resignation in “The Key.” How do we see this idea in other parts of the memoir?
 * 13) How does Satrapi's father respond to the teacher who instructs parents to make sure that their daughters' veils are on correctly?
 * 14) How does the military recruit poor young boys for the front lines?
 * 15) What is happening in the top, right hand panel on page 103?
 * 16) What is Marji doing in the top left-hand panel of page 113? Why might Satrapi want to show her doing this?
 * 17) What’s the irony in “The Passport” (118 – 125)?
 * 18) In “Kim Wilde” (126-134) what other items do we learn are contraband?
 * 19) What exactly happened to Niloufar?
 * 20) Where do Marji’s parents send her? Why?
 * 21) What advice does Marji’s grandmother give her?
 * 22) What do you think happened in the last panel on page 153?
 * 23) What is Satrapi portraying in the last panel on page 161? What’s the mood in this panel?
 * 24) How does Marji gain recognition at her new school?
 * 25) Why does Satrapi change the font in the last panel on page 168?
 * 26) What do you notice about the body language between Marji and Momo in the middle of page 173? What is the relationship between them? What is the mood in the three panels that portray the two of them?
 * 27) What does Satrapi’s physical portrayal of herself in pages 176 – 177 demonstrate about her current perspective on the situation?
 * 28) Look at the middle three panels on page 181. What does Marji’s body language suggest?
 * 29) What’s going on in the last panel on page 181?
 * 30) What literary device can we use to describe the first panel on page 189?
 * 31) Describe the biggest obstacles that Marji faces in Vienna? What do you think is her most crucial problem?
 * 32) What literary device can we use to describe the first panel on page 215?
 * 33) What’s Satrapi’s tone in the last panel on page 222?
 * 34) Why doesn’t Marji like Frau Doctor Heller?

Student Created Guiding Questions for pages 233 - 257

 * 1) What can be portrayed in the image at the top of page 254 (the first panel)? By whom and to whom is the attack made? Explain. (AM)
 * 2) What literary device or devices is/are used on page 251 in the fourth panel? (the big one). Compare Tehran´s situation before and after Marjane´s life in Vienna. (AM)
 * 3) Describe Marjane´s last days in Vienna and briefly say how different her life was from Iran. (AM)
 * 4) What´s happening in the fourth image of page 236? Which literary devices are used? (AM)
 * 5) As seen on pages 234-235, what can be said about the relationship between Marjane and Frau Hellen? (AM)
 * 6) Why did Satrapi leave Heller´s house? (TV)
 * 7) Why did Satrapi start to hate Marcus once she was living on the street? (TV)
 * 8) How did Satrapi manage to return to Iran? (TV)
 * 9) What did Satrapi think of Iran when she returned? (TV)
 * 10) Did Satrapi´s relationship with her parents changed after she returned to Iran? (TV)
 * 11) Why does Marjane become so depressive? What are the consequences of her depression? (FN)
 * 12) How does Marjane justify Markus’ betrayal of her? (FN)
 * 13) Why does Marjane go to Zozo´s house after her hospital incident? (FN)
 * 14) What literary device can we use to describe Zozo´s second speech bubble in the third panel on page 243? (FN)
 * 15) Why, when Marjane goes back to Frau Doctor Heller’s house, doesn’t she get all of her belongings? (FN)
 * 16) Why did Marjane keep on smoking despite the fact that her doctor told her that she could not smoke anymore? (FN)
 * 17) What literary device can we use to describe the fifth panel on page 247? (FN)
 * 18) What does Marjane do to her room when seeing how it was when she was 14? (FN)
 * 19) How does Marjane react to the significant changes on the streets of Tehran? (FN)
 * 20) Why didn´t the population support the Mujahideen? What happened to them in the end? (FN)
 * 21) How do Marjane and her father react to Taji saying, on the bottom panels of page 255, that she is leaving them to go to sleep? (FN)
 * 22) What is Ebi’s view regarding the aftermath of the war? (FN)
 * 23) After listening to her father’s report of the war between Iran and Iraq, what does Marjane decide to do when talking about her Austrian life? (FN)
 * 24) How does the author express Marji’s loneliness in the bottom panel on page 259? (MY)
 * 25) When she entered her room after coming back from Austria, why didn’t she turn on the light? (MY)
 * 26) How does she think about Iran after coming back? Does she feel comfortable? (MY)
 * 27) Why does her mother go to bed earlier when Marji and her father talk about war on page 255? (MY)
 * 28) What does the biggest panel on page 251 show readers? (MY)
 * 29) What do you think is the impression that Maji’s friends have on her when she comes back? (RT)
 * 30) How do you think Marji felt after making an innocent guy go to jail? (RT)
 * 31) On page 256, comment on the way Satrapi portrayed the innocent guy. Why do you think she portrayed him that way? (RT)
 * 32) Why was the story of the man who was all torn apart created by soldiers and why did Marjane tell it again on her book? (RT)
 * 33) Comment on the way Satrapi used the double panels on page 279 of the book. (RT)
 * 34) Do you think there is any reason for Marjane’s sudden change in behavior in chapter “skiing”? (IG)
 * 35) Can a literary device explain the top right panel in page 272? (IG)
 * 36) Why did Marjane decide to make a ‘makeover’? (pg 274) (IG)
 * 37) Describe Marjane’s reaction in page 286. (IG)
 * 38) How does Marjane describe herself on the last panel of page 290? (IG)

Context Lesson
Muslim Women vs. Western Women