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Marjane's Adaptation to New Cultures

Since in Persepolis Marjane is in Austria, she has to adapt to a new and unfamiliar culture. This includes her peers engaging in casual sex, smoking marijuana and cigarettes and shooting heroin, and generally disrespecting rules of religion and tradition that are so fundamental in Iran. She initially has a hard time adapting, because she learns that being able to simply speak the language is not enough to fully immerse herself.

But even beyond this, she also is struggling with issues that teenagers have to deal with on a regular basis in almost all parts of the world, such as not feeling loved, connecting with her teachers, and listening to parents and figures of authority. All of these things make it the largest struggle in her life thus far, even more than having to deal with routine airstrikes and war erupting al around her. However, the experience will likely turn out to improve her life. The experience of clashing with another culture and immersing yourself within it, while scary at times, is incredible.

Comments

  1. AndrewSeptember 29, 2017 at 10:02 AM

    Why do you think that these issues in Austria were the largest struggles of her life. I feel like she struggled more with having to leave her country and seeing it being bombed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. HunterOctober 1, 2017 at 7:23 PM

    Past eventually having a good understanding of multiple cultures, would you say there are any ways in which this new culture has already improved her life?

    ReplyDelete

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