Geneva Week 2 Category 3: Literary Feature Hunt

On page 114, I noticed that the seventh and eighth panels were connected.

Marjane's Pointed finger, when stating "But our governmetn was against it" (Satrapi, 114) and continuing to the following panel "They declared" (Satrapi, 114). These two uses of text are an example of a Scene to Scene connection. The introduction of the next scene and also the re-occuring image of a pointed finger. At first, the finger is Marjane's, but then it changes to a black sleeve, and becomes the main voice of the public. Meanwhile, Marji's hand is in the same position as the darker sleeve, its is just that the hand is flipped over and pointing towards the public. This is interesting because teh public islooking up and they are mesmerized by their 'leader'. This could, in fact, lead us to believe that the leader is her. Because the all male public reaction to their leader appears shocked and they are looking up, because she is part of the "they" whom she mentions in her text. Without putting a face to the commands, Satrapi really opens up the interpretation that could follow. The single hand could reflect Satrapi's common use of identifying with the characters and matching images to her graphic symbols.

On page 115, the final image of "inject[ed] blood into the veins of society" (Satrapi, 115) the image is so vague that the blood could be flowing either way. It is almost as if the blood is not going into society, its is like the blood is going into the veins of the martyr. Only, the martyr is not dead, but going through torture. I found this blend of politics, morals and even the motif of hair, to be an interesting panel.

The fact that the martyr lacks hair is another sign of his pain. Hair is seen as a veil to the women, and even the men, because he has no hair, he is stripped of his individuality and the difference between his inner self and his outer self. This can also connect to 1984, where Winston is going through torture with O'Brien and he is forced to go through physical and mental grief. This character apears to be going through the same situation as Winston. However, he endures more struggle than Winston because of a thicker web of emotional and religious ties.

• This character has a possible family, so does Winston
• This character is fighting for the freedom, Winston is fighting for the freedom
• This character is fighting for his beliefs, Winston fights for his beliefs

Clearly the two story-lines are similar with what the fighters go through and their suffering.

It is interesting to question why Marjane Satrapi chooses this image specifically. Especially when the text states "to inject" rather than "to spurt" or "to ooze". The typical image that comes to mind with injections are needles. It is interesting to see other interpretations of this image, without the text acompanying.

Geneva