What is interesting

visually about the

front cover?

• What does ‘The Veil’ represent at a literal and figurative level?

• Literal – the most obvious reading/ meaning (giving an actual example)

• E.g. He ran as fast as he could when confronted by the savage dog.

• (Yes he did. He just ran)

• Figurative – alternative readings/ meanings that go beyond the obvious which are more abstract or metaphorical. (Presenting your meaning imaginatively)

• E.g. I'm so hungry I could eat a horse.• (You wouldn't would you? It just means you could eat a large

meal)

P3-9

• How does Satrapi feel about wearing the veil? Find examples in the opening chapter and later in the book.

• To what extent does wearing the veil impact on her upbringing? Her identification with gender? Her political beliefs? Her spiritual and religious identification?

• From your homework research, what further ideas might be considered from ‘The veil’?

• Look at the image on the inside back cover. What similarities and differences are there between the image on the front cover, an image which is repeated on the opening page and the image on the inside back cover?

• Why is the front cover image repeated as the opening image on the first page?

It provides readers with a specific context for Marji’s life. A life symbolizing radical otherness, as symbolized by the veil. It is countered as a self-portrait by the image in the inside of the back cover. The question of how we reconcile these two images of Eastern Marji and Western Marji frames the entire narrative, just as the front and back images frame the physical text (the form – graphic novel).

• Examine particularly the split image of Marji on p6. Here we have Persian artwork (symbolizing Eastern Tradition), and the other half of her is unveiled against a background of instruments of science andTechnology (signifying Western modernity). Indeed, this split is reflected at the level of form: using Western autobiography and comic books to depict a Very Iranian experience.

• This negotiation between Western forms and Eastern content reproduces again the tension the narrative establishes between the familiar and the unfamiliar.

• Explore the article, Estranging the Familiar: “East” and “West” in Satrapi’s Persepolis

• What more can we learn about contrast, radical otherness and “the veil” from this article?

• What are the 5 most significant things we learn about Persepolis from the opening chapter? Consider:

FormContrastIdeas through image Ideas through languageNarrative framing