Reading Response - Persepolis

   Throughout human history, rulers have used frightening tactics to stay in power and control their people. In the case of Iran, the situation is no different. In the book Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, the reader can witness the political turmoil of Iran in the 1970s and 80s through a child's eyes. In Persepolis oppressive leaders have the power and they use fear and scare tactics to stay in power.

   For instance, the previous leader of Iran, known as the Shah, used oppressive means to get his power and keep it. The Shah used many tactics to silence his opponents. He jailed political prisoners. At one point, there were over three thousand people in prison for disagreeing with the regime. This wasn't the first time the Shah silenced his people, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. When the people of Iran protested in the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the Shah used his military power to stop the protestors. Marjane Satrapi described it like this, "My parents demonstrated every day. Things started to degenerate. The army shot at them. And they threw stones at the army." The Shah could do nothing but scare his people into silence. Torture was another weapon used by the Shah. Methods like whipping and being burned with an iron were just a few ways the Shah's regime dealt with political prisoners. But the Iranians protested and finally overthrew the Shah. The people fought against an oppressive system, and they won. Hopefully this meant things would get better in Iran.

   Unfortunately, Islamist Fundamentalists replaced the Shah and they used even harsher means to stay in power. The three thousand prisoners that were freed at the end of the Revolution were not free for long. A friend of Marjane's family, Mohsen, who was jailed for being a communist under the Shah, was drowned in his bathtub. "When they found his body, only his head was underwater." Shortly after Mohsen's death, another former prisoner's sister was murdered by the new leaders. Finally, Marjane's own uncle was killed under suspicion of being a spy. After the Revolution, the people of Iran were promised a better life, but they only got another violent and oppressive regime. However, violence wasn't the only weapon that these new leaders used. They attempted to manipulate the educational system. "The educational system and what is written in all school books, at all levels are decadent...That's why we're closing all the universities for a while." This regime also wanted to shape and control the minds of the Iranian youth, instead of teaching them what they needed to know and allowing them to make informed decisions. This era of Iran was no different from the era of the Shah, or Iran's emperors and invaders before him.

   In conclusion, fear and violence are the weapons of those in power and that is unchanging. Iran fought against one oppressive dictator and got another. And although it is a cynical attitude, it does make one believe that those in power will always rule with an iron fist and use fear to control society. But, if the Iranians fought against the Shah during the Revolution, it gives me hope that things will change.