Weekly Response 11/5

1a) “Cartooning, he (Scott McCloud) argues, is a way of seeing, not just a way of drawing, so the simplicification of characters and images toward a purpose can be an effective tool.” (Naghibi 228).

1b) “And this is a class photo.  I’m sitting on the far left so you don’t see me.” (Satrapi 3). 

2) How do the use of the graphic novel conventions and its use of “cartooning” to tell the story of Persepolis play in part with the story’s theme of “identity”?

3)         Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis can be seen as a “familiar” coming-of-age story where “identity” plays a crucial part in the protagonist’s quest.  Yet, the story takes place in a revolutionary Iran, which is far from the “coming-of-age” style.  Many “English” teenagers would find this to be interesting, but would have a hard time relating themselves to this aspect of the story.  If Persepolis was written in a traditional novel approach, the reader would most likely have a disconnect from the main protagonist, because the written words provide a story of an “other”, not themselves.  Naghibi relates to McCloud’s saying: “When you look at a photo or realistic drawing of a face- you see it as the face of another but when you enter the world of a cartoon- you see yourself” (228).  Just like a photo or realistic drawing, text provides some “relatability” for the reader, but Satrapi’s “cartooning” illustrations provides the reader to put themselves in her shoes and to relate with her struggle with identity.  Satrapi immediately enters her story with an identity crisis by stating the readers “don’t see me” in a class photo.

            Yet, why does Satarpi use the “cartooning” approach to tell her story?  Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan discusses the power of “English” literature on a world scale, by saying “It is (English) also, Paul Gilroy would argue, transgeographical, a culture without national boundaries that thrives on a lateral connections and syncretism, a culture where in-betweenness replaces identity as the defining trope of culture production (1074).  While Persepolis was translated from French, the idea that with English, “in-betweenness” replaces “identity” is a very interesting concept.  It can be seen that with Persepolis, Satrapi knows that language brings a lack of “identity”. In order to connect on a “transgeographical” level, illustrations, or “cartooning” will provide the “identity” for readers from different continents and countries to fully understand how this coming-of-age story can relate to their own personal struggles with “identity”.