Throughout both Persepolis and Reading Lolita in Tehran, both women try to escape the Iranian repression that they are feeling. Marji wants to change her appearance and become a punk rock girl, and Azar choses different books, mostly American authors, for her and the seven students to read. Both though, remained true to their countries as best that they could, even though they were in disagreement with the regime in power. In Persepolis, Marji and her father praise Iran and are extremely patriotic towards their country when they go to war and are dropping bombs on Baghdad, Marji says "I was all wrong about Dad, he loved his country as much as I did." In Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar says, "I left Iran, but Iran did not leave me." These woman have pride in their country, they are proud to say where they hail from and how it has shaped them. Why then is there such a heavy presence on Western society in the worlds that they live? This Western influence is not one that is pressed on them either, but one that they choose. Reading through the books, its clear that Marji's want to be a punk rock girl and to be rebellious and listen to different music, and Azar reading Western books and gathering with her students to discuses them, isn't about changing who they are, or not being proud of where they come from. It is about the prospect of freedom, and having the freedom to be who they want to be, when they want to be that. I think that one thing that Western society, especially American culture pushes is that we are free. To read books, and listen to music and wear denim jackets, this isn't something we do out of rebellion. What we do to rebel, is protest things we don't like that the government is doing, just as they do. But they protest and face police in riot gear for their rights to be like Western society, not to be Western society. They simply want the choice that Western society has, to not have to veil themselves, or to do that if they so wish. The push of Western society in these two books for me is a way to express the freedom that they are searching for, not necessarily the want to be a part of Western society. Its just something that I noticed and something that was briefly brought up in class, what do you guys think?
