The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi's (Blog 1)

Marjane Satrapi's Representation of How the Child Understands War:

One theme or idea that has stuck out to me the most while reading The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, is the affect of war on childhood growth and development. The beginning of this story follows Marji from a child at the age of ten to a young adult who is forced to flee her country. Throughout the first half of the book, traces of the effects of war and corrupt politics on her young development can be pointed out. Satrapi not only describes these childhood events from her personal memory, but she also uses dark contrasted ink to paint a visual image for the reader to engage and get an emotional insider view. 

Examples:

Talking to God and planning to become a Prophet.

Pretending to be solders in the Revolution and demonstrating in the garden.

Believing God chose the King.

Trying to understand the tortures and imprisonment of her grandfather.

She didn't understand the social class.

Going out and demonstrating with the maid.

Believing those gone at War are dead.

Being lucky enough to die for the War and use their key to Paradise.

Smoking a cigarette and becoming an adult.

Trying to be unique.

Disagreeing with authority, but understanding the truth.

In Satrapi’s comics there is a huge uses of negative space, either a presence or absence of ink. It is consistent throughout the book that the panel's background is either left alone and completely white, or completely inked out and all black. I believe this represents the positive and negative moments throughout her childhood. When the panel is blacked out the reader can sense a dark or sad emotion, when the panel is plain white the reader can sense a feeling of openness and clarity. This can be explored in the examples above. It is a dark/ sad moment when she is informed that God did not choose the King, when she learned about the social classes, and when she demonstrated without her parents knowledge. It seems more positive when either not specifically talking about War or after her first cigarette when she started to rebel and found her voice.