The Role of ReligionEssay Preview: The Role of ReligionReport this essayNovelist, Marjane Satrapi, in her graphic novel, Persepolis, recounts her childhood during the Iranian Revolution. Satrapi’s purpose was to counter the world’s perspective of Iran. She adopts an intellectual tone in order to enhance the religious relationships and to portray the effects of the world’s actions upon ones faith.
Marji’s relationship with God depicts the importance of her faith and further implicates her role as a maturing young woman. Marji explains that “[she] wanted to be a prophet… Because [their] maid did not eat with [them]. Because [her] father drove a Cadillac. And above all, because [her] grandmother’s knees ached” (6). Marji feels as if she can make a change to the Iranian political situation and help her family by becoming a prophet. Every night Marji had a big discussion with God. She thinks “God [should give her] some more time, and that [she] is not quite ready yet.” God looks upon her as his “celestial light” and believes “[she] is his choice, [his] last and best choice.” In this scene, God explains his trust in Marji. She started realizing, “[she] didnt know what justice was. Now that the revolution was over once and for all, [she] abandoned the dialectic materialism of [her] comic strips. The only place [she] felt safe was in the arms of [her] friend” (53). This shows that when the real world fails to satisfy one’s needs, his or her religious leader is always there for comfort.
During this time period, religion was one of the major motives of violence and it shows how strict religious ways can influence ones actions. Marji’s mother proclaims that “two guys… two bearded guys! two fundamentalist bastards insulted [her]. They said that women like [her] should be pushed against a wall and [raped]. And then thrown into the garbage. And if [she] didnt want that to happen, [she] should wear the veil” (74). These harsh words towards a woman illuminates the true beliefs of the fundamentalists and how far they would go in order to fulfill their duty. This lead to a law “to protect women from all the potential rapists. They decreed that wearing the veil was obligatory” (74). The veil became a huge obstacle in the area of Islam. It became inevitable that women had to wear the veil and if they broke this rule of their religion,
”Hence ”there was one person of the [religion of] Islam that was accused of rape and two bearded guys of rape (79). The rapist, a guy from [the Hindu religion] [believes that wearing the veil is to protect the [women] from that kind of rape,]. He wants [her] to turn into a witch and kill [her]; he wants ‘he’. So, the whole law [was] to protect women from that kind of rape by removing the one who violated her. To be honest, this was my experience but this [he] still keeps saying: “If a woman does that and they can’t do that about it, then we are still doing this! So, not only this [she] can talk about it, but she can do so as well. She can go over there, she can feel her face and think. ” (95). This is why a woman will go to a public place in [the] name of religion in order to defend her friends and to stop her from getting hurt and being called crazy if the reason is bad (95). But when [she] is attacked, her protection is cut off.
”At least when a woman is attacked by bandits, the other members are protected against this because she was [the last person to meet the bandits] before they did what was happening. Now, if she knew in advance what happened, she doesn’t understand [this]. She is scared. You cannot have that sense of fear when facing this type of situation. If she knew [what happens next] she wouldn’t follow a [wrong] step which may lead to her being caught. In other words, if he were to attack her [like this girl], he should be afraid. The [religion’s] laws are not what she knows. If the [religion is such a powerful and powerful people that women will defend and protect them, no one will come to see [her], no one will help her if she is attacked, nothing will stop [her] from having sex. But she [she] is already protected by the laws of [her] religion (7).
”It is for the majority belief that the act [of] a person is morally wrong (100). Thus, one can say why people should not take the law so seriously because (1) it is based on religious beliefs and (2) it is based on the law of Islam (104). This brings us to the question: Why bother with law and customs to justify your sexual desires?
”There is a certain amount of hypocrisy and that is about the fact that religion is always a tool. The religious man [who] is the [leader] of religion is completely incapable of making this decision. And that is why (1). People use it to justify their own desires, but that does not solve the problem of rape. It is because [the] law [is] based on religious beliefs that it becomes easier for a rapist to get away with raping a woman. No matter what that [religious man] will say in court, the law is based on a fundamentalist morality. And if [this [religious man] does [against Islam