Persepolis: Voice and Icon

In Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, the author gives a recollection of her early childhood years. While reading this graphic novel, the ideas of two theorists continued to be applied here. First, the ideas dealing with changing stylistics and voice from Bakhtin’s Discourse in the Novel are used. Second, the symbols and icons described by Scott McCloud in Understanding Comics are important tools used by Satrapi in the images she uses to convey the story told in this graphic novel.

I noticed that one of the main characteristics of Persepolis is the aspect of a story within a story. The novel consists of Satrapi’s childhood which is the main storyline. Most of the story consists of characters giving flashbacks and retelling stories from other characters. In observing this shift in voice from one character to another I recalled Bakhtin’s Discourse in the Novel. In describing heteroglossia, Bakhtin explains, “...once incorporated into the novel is another’s speech in another’s language, serving to express authorial intentions but in a refracted way” (Bakhtin 324). The way Satrapi uses heteroglossia and different voices in Persepolis gives it its unique style. One voice is that of Satrapi for example, on page 14 when she has one of her conversations with God. Another is on page 28 where Satrapi’s grandmother is telling her the history of the Shah. 


Another important connection is with Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics. McCloud defines an icon as, “any image used to represent a person, place, thing or idea” (McCloud 27). Being a graphic novel, the icons used to represent ideas in Persepolis are vital in moving the story along. For example, page 14 describes the movie theatre that is set on fire with people inside of it. Then later on page 15 there is an image of the inside of the movie theatre with the burning victims. They are not portrayed, however, as humans would usually be portrayed but rather appear to be more of floating ghost like figures. With choosing to use these figures rather than standard human icons, Satrapi can vary the intensity that comes from each icon and image.