Blog 12: Quote Response Satrapi

Before this sequence of frames, Marji has been helping her maid Mehri write letters to the boy next door that she is in love with. Marjis' dad find out and goes to the boy (Hossein) next door. In this following sequence he lets it be known that Mehri is their maid and not their daughter.

(First clip) Father: "I am your neighbor. I would like to have a few words with your son."

(Second Clip) Father: "Ok, I'll get to the point: In know that Mehri pretends she is my daughter. In reality she is our my maid."
Hossein: "Really?"

(Third Clip) Father: "Do you want to continue seeing her?"
Hossein:"Ehh..."

(Fourth Clip )(without any hesitation, Hossein gave all the letters he had received to my father.)
Father thinking to himself: "But this is Marji's handwriting."

(Fifth Clip) Father to Marji: "Tell me what these are!"
Marji: Letters!"
Father: "Why didn't you tell us anything?"

(Sixth Clip) Father: "You must understand that their love was impossible."

(Seventh Clip) Marji: "Why is that?"
Father: "Because in this country you must stay within your own social classes."

(Eighth Clip) Marji: "But is it her fault that she was born where she was born??? Dad, are you for or against social classes?"
(Ninth Clip) Marji narrating: "When I went back to her room she was crying. We were not in the same social class but at least we were in the same bed."
(Satrapi 36-37)

The words that stand out to me are when her father says, "Because in this country you must stay within your own social classes." It is important because it points out just how harsh the government was. That you would be punished for going outside of your social class is wrong. Yes, there are people here in the U.S. that may look down on a lower social class if they are in a higher one, but we are free to choose what social class we can date. It just shows how strict the government was and even though Marji's parents didn't agree with the way things were going, they still felt they needed to follow such rules to keep as much peace as possible. In the 8th clip you can see how upset Marji is and it is illustrated so well. The image of her with her hands on her head and a look of discouragement on her face shows her feelings about the situation. This is important to the novel because it just shows how the rules were so harsh and how a child like Marji didn't understand. I am sure a lot of children were lost on the rules and why they were rules. I think it shows the frustration Marji felt in what was going on all around her. This interests me because I am not one to really read and learn about other things that are happening or have happened in this world. I have been spoiled by living in the United States all my life. Things like this just make you realize how good we have it in America.