The Persepolis series is an interesting window into life in an oppressed society that we in the Western World like to generalize and condemn universally. Marjane Satrapi uses this window to berate our assumptions about a culture in repression and offer an alternative, nuanced view of a culture that is as complex as any other. The tone of the book mirrors that of the culture viewed from afar: oppressed, wholly unhappy, and thus at times struggles to let its commentary be heard through the affliction felt from an Iranian heritage. For this reason, the book is notable for its novelty (no pun intended) than for its actual literary merit. 
 Persepolis follows the life of Marjane Satrapi from childhood through her mid-twenties, as she tries to live a life true to her Iranian label. As a child, she has trouble understanding some of the rules of the regime that has taken control of her home country. Her Mother and Father, first and foremost, teach her about the struggles of her family to aid in the cause of a liberated Iran. Other relatives, like her grandfather and uncle, serve as idealized heroes of this alternate Iran, and connect Marjane to the past eras of free and proud Persians. These heroes remain with Marjane for the rest of her life, and serve as a moral check on her as she struggles to grow up to be a model for the Iran she wishes to see. 
 As Marjane matures, she struggles with her identity like any other teenager, and tries to create a version of herself that simultaneously appeases her new (view spoiler)[European (hide spoiler)] friends and harkens back to the example set by her elders. Predictably, this causes frequent dissonance in her life, and after several long years she must return to her family broken by her lonely teenage life. 
 From there, her college life serves to harden her rebelliousness, and highlight how disparate it is from the perceived culture of Iran. Marjane frequently faces off against men who perceive women as lesser, and participates in whatever counter-culture she can in an attempt to subvert the regime's authority. She finds both peace and dissent in art, and turns to it as an outlet for her feelings about her relationships and her families. It is finally art that allows her to put her own unique stamp on an insubordinate family heritage, and this artistic merit is what provides us with Persepolis today. 
 Persepolis overall is laudable for its unusual perspective on the past half century in the Middle East, at least to Americans today. The case that Persepolis makes for Iran is that Western powers have an ignorant and imperious view on Middle Eastern politics, and thus don't properly understand the people it fights with or against whenever the West is involved in a conflict. In its mission to educate, Persepolis succeeds, and helps shed light on the culture. But Satrapi's flaw in telling this story is that she provides a much more nuanced view of Iran's history than her own, as if she is so busy casting a critical eye on her country she forgets to cast a critical eye on herself. For this reason, I feel the book missed the mark in terms of where it could go, and I was interested, but altogether unmoved.