Persepolis

Persepolis tells the story of Marjane Satrapi growing up in Tehran as she lives through a devastating time in the history of her country. She, at a young age, witnesses the overthrow of the Shah's regime, the Islamic Revolution, and the war between Iraq and Iran.

The issue of choice is a reoccurring theme throughout Persepolis. The Government controlled everything, and as a result, very little was accepted. Veils were required because hair apparently turns men on, and men wore long-sleeved shirts so it would be fair. If even a strand of hair was shown, it showed opposition to the Regime.
No political expression was allowed. If you "Demonstrated" you were beat or sent to jail. We see relationships forbidden in the movie when Marj's parents tells her that its best to not be seen with "him" in public. There were no parties. No games. No fun. I think the only thing that kept Marji sane is not only her loving parents and grandmother who tried their best to maintain for her a normal childhood, but also the black curtains that kept the outside world shut out. Tinoosh's father was paid a visit from two guardians of the Revolution Patrols for planning a party. "...They found records and video cassettes at their place, a deck of cards, a chess set. In other words, everything that's banned...It earned him seventy-five lashes." I think the limited amount of choices for the Iranian people does not play out well in the end, not only because of the consequences for rebels, but because the rules simply weren't fair.  

When Marj is sent to Austria for a better chance of success and as an escape from the harsh conditions in Iran, I think Satrapi does try to teach a lesson to American readers. The message can possibly be that having  too much freedom can be just as damaging as having too little freedom. While in Austria, Marj finds comfort in her new friends, grocery shopping, and "house hopping." She was basically able to do everything she couldn't do in Iran. All this freedom resulted in her homeless walking the streets of Vienna, searching through garbage for food, and waking up to a doctor in a hospital room. Coming from no freedom to all the freedom in the world would probably be hard for anyone to adjust to, because you just don't know your limit. I'm sure satrapi doesn't want the reader to think that the limited freedom pressed on the Iranian people was okay, but perhaps she is suggesting having too much freedom (like we DO have in the United States) isn't as great as it seems to be.

The Moviegoer

The Moviegoer tells the story of a lonely soul named John Bickerson (Binx) Bolling, a stock and bond broker living in Gentilly, New Orleans. He takes us along on a journey as he searches for a "something." After 242 pages of getting to know Binx, his family members and friends, strangers he observes on the street, travel experiences, and getting acquainted with his "Sharon's and Linda's," for him to never treveal the object of his search is slightly disappointing. Binx realizes that he is definitely in need of something. Maybe he does not know what it is he needs or is searching for? But since the audience is left to wonder, I think it is safe to say he is in search of something intangible, and I personally would assume that he is in search for more than one particular thing.

On the way to Aunt Emily's house "..An idea of a search occurs to him. The search is what anyone would undertake if he were not sunk in the everydayness of his own life." This can definitely make one assume that the search is off the focus of himself, and onto other people and human behavior. Going to the movies is a way of escape for Binx, "Before I see a movie it is necessary for me to learn something about the theater or the people who operate it, to touch base before going inside." Which is exactly what Binx does by talking to the movie owner and making conversation with the ticket booth lady as well. I think his goal is to try to understand both the beauty and complexity of people, and through characters like Kate, Aunt Emily, Aunt Edna, Sam yerger, Mercer, Lonnie, all his brothers and sisters, and all the other characters we meet throughout the story, he is able to take something from each of them to form his conclusion in the search. For example, Binx walks down canal Street hoping he will catch a glimpse of William Holden. He is so fascinated with a young couple. He says "They are twenty, twenty-one, and on their honeymoon.Not Southern. Probably Northeast..." Binx goes into a furhur description of the couples physical appearence and then says "...they find themselves surrounded by couples from Memphis and Chicago. He is anxious; He is threatened from every side. Each stranger he passes is a reproach to him, every doorway a threat. What is wrong? he wonders." Binx acts as of he really wants to understand the boy, not only his physical but mental state as well.

Another search that Binx may have been be looking for is to be able to become the director in his own "movie" (or life).At the end of the book, all that he controlled was kate, his finally somewhat stable wife. Kate says "It seems to me that if we are together a great deal and you tell me the simplest things...tell me things like: Kate, it is alright for you to go downtown to the drugstore..." It is as if Kate asks Binx to be her director. "Im going to sit next to the window on the lake side and put the cape jasmine in my lap?" Binx simply replies "thats right." He is the director, Kate is the actor. She listens, but in actuality, one can only have so much control over his/her life. You can choose to go to medical school or choose to have a wife, but destiny and fate unfortunately is not in our hands.

I do not want to say that Binx is unsuccessful in his search, but one can never fully understand the human mind and how and why people operate the way they do. Every character in the moviegoer is different, and besides Kate who is bipolar, it is impossible to put a finger on an exact reason of why people act as they do in the "everydayness" of their lives. Even after Uncle Jules requests for him to travel to Chicago for business, Binx describes it as "Mosying down Michigan Avenue in the neighborhood of five million strangers, each shooting out his personal ray? How can I deal with five million personal rays?" How is it humanly possible for him to understand the diversity of so many people?  He also says at the start of his search "Really it is very simple, at least for a fellow like me; so simple that it is easily overlooked." Lastly, maybe he realizes that the search really isn't that simple and may take more time than he has. I think ultimately though, Binx got just enough satisfaction he needed in this undefined search, allowing him to call it off.