The two big spaces in Persepolis are Iran and Austria and of course there are the spaces within each of these countries. Each of these spaces influence Marjane’s identity and the people around her. Iran was a very traditional, conservative, Islamic country with many rules. Austria, on the other hand, is a very liberal, Western country. While Austria was very free, Iran was not. All of these qualities influenced Marjane’s identity and the people around her.

In Iran, Marjane was just like every other Iranian girl. She was very much close to her roots and she was very proud of who she was. She spoke Persian and she was close to God. She would dress like all Muslim women and act very Iranian; and although she listened to Western music, like Pink Floyd, she was a true Iranian. When she was sent to live in Austria, Marjane started losing her culture and her identity. She made new friends and of course none of them were Iranians, so she stopped speaking in Persian. She constantly spoke in French. She started dressing like a punk. Marjane also cut her hair and she stopped liking her looks. She stopped being proud of her identity and her culture, although her grandmother told her to never forget who she is and where she comes from. Marjane even started smoking. She also tried weed and pretended to do it, even thjough she didn’t like it, just to fit in with her new friends. Overall, Marjane kind of lost her personality and turned into a different person.

As the spaces changed, the people around Marjane also changed. At first she was surrounded by her family, friends, and people of her own culture. Everyone in Iran was much more conservative and tried to stay as Muslim as they can. From what I can see, you couldn’t really be yourself in Iran. On the other hand, in Austria everyone was open to everything. The people around Marjane were her friends who were mostly Austrians. She had a French friend and her housemates were all gay. The fact that she was living somewhere with all gay men is very different from Iran, since in Iran gay people are looked down upon and even executed. Every one of these people influenced Marjane and they, themselves were also influenced by their space.

The last thing that I noticed while I was reading Persepolis, is that, the fact that Iran drastically changed during the years of the Revolution and when Khomeini came to power, the space changed and so did Marjane’s and the Iranians’ identity. One thing that changed was Marjane’s attitude toward the government and she had to dress different. The neighbors and others turned into totally different people. A few months back, the women were dressed in mini skirts with everything popping out and then they wouldn’t be seen with even their ankles showing. Some people became Communists and others became Khomeini supporters.