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Essay / Analysis of Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - 1206
When Madame Nasrine recounts her key dilemma (99.3.1), Marji frowns and seems worried but out of place, as if she doesn't know what to think about it. he. She tries to show sympathy, suggesting that her privilege makes her unable to truly relate. She continues to look uncomfortable and wide-eyed when Ms. Nasrine says, “Now they want to trade this key for my eldest son.” “Commerce” connotes simplicity, an object, suggesting that the government views lower-class citizens as worthless objects. On her way home from school, Satrapi draws Marji as a small figure in the distance (100.2.1), symbolizing the distance in economic status between her and the servant. This proves class separation and why Marji, who was not offered a key by the government, will not go to war in the hopes of using a key to heaven. When her son says "I'll marry her" while pointing at Marji (100.2.2), this grants him a "whap" from his mother (100.2.3). His reaction to his statement shows his ignorance and naive behavior towards the social hierarchy; the son of a servant girl would never be allowed to marry a girl of Marji's status, because only the rich marry the rich and only the poor marry the poor. This shows the economic difference between Marji and the servant's son, as well as the wall that separates them due to government orders. When she asks her cousin Peyman whether or not the government is offering her school the keys to paradise, he responds: “The keys to what? (100.3.3), implying his equally high economic status. This suggests that the government values upper-class citizens more than lower-class citizens. Satrapi also pits Marji and the poor boys against each other between the bombing panel (102.1.1) and the party panel (102.2.1) where Marji dances with her friends at Peyman's birthday party. She moves from discussing dying boys to having fun at a party to implying a difference between the poor and the poor.