"Persepolis"
Jun. 19th, 2008 10:24 pmTwo moving anecdotes from Marjane Satrapi's memoir: Marjane smelling the scent of jasmine from her gradma's bosom before she left for Austria; her parents smuggling two Iron Maiden posters for her from Turkey by sowing them between the linings in the back of her dad's coat.
Young Marjane: 'The revolution is like a bicycle. When the wheels don't turn, it falls.'
Young Marjane (during the Iraq/Iran war): 'The Arabs never liked the Persians. Everyone knows that. They attacked us 1400 years ago. They forced their religion on us.'
Her dad: 'OK, enough of that. The real Islamic invasion has come from our own government.'
Lament of a maid: 'I raised my five kids with the water of my tears... '
Her dad to her religious teacher: 'If hair is as stimulating as you say, then you need to shave your mustache!'
Marjane explaining a pin to a Guardian of the Revolution: 'No, it's Malcolm X, the leader of Black Muslims in America.' (Back then, Michael Jackson was still black.)