The fact that Marji is seen to have a neutral facial expression depicts that she is unsure of which ideology is the one she should embrace, a question that plagues her throughout the course of Persepolis. The other half depicts a world of fundamental Islam - Marji is shrouded by the veil as well as Islamic art of all things, to represent the fact that her notion of traditional Islamic faith is visual, not factual. Here Marji is figuratively torn between what she was brought up to know and what she is curious to know - the world she was brought up in is depicted with images of working cogs, hammer and ruler to represent logic and reason, not associated with the veil. This curiosity is reinforced perfectly in fig.4. Even though Marji associated the veil negatively, the Iranian government saw women wearing the veil as an embodiment of cultural authenticity - an expression of Iranian and Islamic culture, rather than repression (Begolo 3). Marji also does not want to associate herself with the regime nor does she want to adopt any of its principles - including wearing the veil she does not want her class photo to be of her wearing a symbol of conformity and obedience.

A significant part of the caption reads, “I’m sitting on the far left so you don’t see me.” Satrapi has deliberately cropped herself out from the class photo, with just her left arm showing, for two particular reasons: To stress the idea that they all look exactly the same with the veil on - they are all just as faceless and insignificant as each other so it simply wouldn’t matter if she was in the photo of not. This is further elaborated in the next panel, fig.2. She has been forced to wear a perceivably thick, black veil, and shows no enthusiasm about it. One of the most telling panels, this depicts a somber Marjane (or Marji as she is known throughout Persepolis), looking directly at the reader, as a prisoner would silently crying for help, with her arms tightly folded as if to physically close her body off from the world.

Marjane satrapi's