Usually, Marji does not wear patterned clothes or dress-up for anything. However, to see her Uncle Anoosh for the final time, she does. He even mentions "what a beautiful dress!" (Satrapi, 69) when he first sees her.
From afar, the dress looks like S's (for Satrapi?) or even musical notes. Yet, when Uncle Anoosh gives her his classic symbol of the bread swan, the shape of the swan and the shape of pattern on her dress look similar. If you look closer, the dress pattern does take on the shape of a swan.
The swan seems to represent their bond and swans generally symbolize love or fidelity. This represenation could reflect their strong affection for each other. By wearing the dove on her dress, it also represents how their bond will always remain with her.
On page 95, the image of women beating themselves is an interesting image. At first glance, they look almost like the same women. But there are minor features that make them look completely different*. The uniformity almost makes them look like a wave or army working in total unison. The text states that it is a funeral march that they are walking to, making the group look more wave like. This idea of a wave is also used in the previous text, where Taji (Marjane's mother) discusses her father's philosophy. "When a big wave comes, lower your head and let it pass!". This demonstration of women almost look like a wave, and even though we do not know what the group is thinking, it is possible that they are 'lowering their heads' by holding their tongues and 'letting it pass' by not standing up and speaking their opinions. This relates to 1984 during the Two Minutes Hate, where everyone is yelling and screaming and they don't really know why, they just follow. This sense of group mentality is similarily drawn from this image. The women look so blank, because they don't know why they "had to beat [their] breasts" (Satrapi, 95) they just did because everyone else did.
*Such as hair sticking out of the veil, their noses, eye shapes and lips
This image also linked to one of our workshops in the Cypress Student Summit Conference. In Day 2, Culture Clash, we experienced a simulation of a change in culture without knowing what or why we were doing what we did. We were initially sent into a dark room lit by candle light. The men got to sit in chairs with their shoes on and the women were forced to take their shoes off and sit on the ground. The men were then fed grapes and the women had to hold their hands out to get the grapes.
The simulation was supposed to achieve an experience that is completely different form our own culture. We perceived the fact that men got chairs, got to keep their shoes and were fed grapes, as a good thing; however, the reality of the situation was that the women were valued higher than the men. The fact that women got to give birth, they were physically connected to earth and got to extend life. Women got to sit on the floor to be fully connected to the earth, they got to take their shoes off to feel the earth beneath their feet and got to feel the food that they were eating, to touch the product that came from earth.
That total change in culture, changed my outlook on this image as well. Although we see the image as a negative forcing action that appears to emphasize the degrading of women in Iran, it may be totally opposite. The way we perceive and interpret their traditional customs may be completely different from the way they justify their customs. It shifted my perspective and it was interesting to see, and would be interesting to know, Are the Iranian women really being degraded or by doing this religious action are they being more respected and essentially valued higher?
Geneva
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