While reading Persepolis, I keep coming back to the children and how they behave. They've experienced war, revolution, violence, and opression and it seems to have affected them profoundly. While playing, they pretend to be revolutionaries ("I'll be Che Guevara." "I'll be Trotsky.") or they chase after Ramin with nails. Perhaps what strikes me most is how aware of the political situation all the kids are. Marjane calls her mother a representative of the revolution (or something like that). I can't decide if that awarness is just a reflection of how politically involved Marjane's parents are, or if all kids, by necessity, had to know what was going on.
I can't help comparing this to my own experience growing up--I played everything from army men to house, but there was nothing political involved. I barely knew who the president was until I was eight or so.
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Interesting idea and I do agree that growing up in a war zone does have an impact the games they play. But I think most of her ideas are just a reflection of her parents ideals that they discuss around the house. And Marjane's way of better understanding the situation and sharing it with others her own age is by playing games. I don't think she understands the full meaning of everything she does, she just wants to use her brain and express her thoughts. Which is a good way to be :)
ReplyDeleteI never really thought about how it must be like to live in a war zone or any type of disaster area. I don't know how I would react if something like that would happen here in McFarland. I've always imagined what i would do in a zombie apocolypse situation but not a warzone situation.
ReplyDeleteIt's odd to think about. I was the kind of girl growing up, dreaming up games that had very little to do with the world beyond my neighborhood. Not much of a warzone situation, my little fantasy battles never reached higher than the Lion King. Oh yes, I was an epic child.
ReplyDeleteI always felt like the war was something devastating, sure, but it was on the other side of the fence. The war never touched me.