Caught in Two Worlds: Marji’s Social Captivity Anonymous 10th Grade

There are two different types of captivity: being captive to an outside force or being captive to yourself. When most people think of captivity, they think of an outside force, someone restricting someone else through overt force. Yet the other type of captivity is a struggle to overcome the mental barriers that can hold someone back. Satrapi, in her memoirs Persepolis and Persepolis 2, experiences both of these forms of captivity, through growing up as a woman in Iran and though suffering from depression. Satrapi’s struggles with social and intrapersonal connections restrict her more than the tyrannical laws of Iran, showing that mental captivity generally is more restrictive than physical captivity because it prevents someone from wanting to change.

The tyrannical laws that subjugate women in Iran suppress Satrapi, but by doing so create a struggle that allows Satrapi to have some freedom. The Iranian government represses and frustrates Satrapi through restricting her learning, forcing her to wear a veil, and often imprisoning her. These restrictions give Satrapi a purpose. Recounting how she argued with the University’s lecture on “’Moral and Religious Conduct’” (Satrapi 142) advocating further restrictions on female...