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Andrea Lee Dr. Sherry Literature for Young Adults 29 March 2011

Reader-as-Writer Lens

//Persepolis // by Marjane Satrapi is an autobiography written as a graphic novel. The story follows Marjane’s life from childhood into adulthood. //Persepolis// deals with issues that were going on in Iran during Marjane’s life, for example, in 1979 she had to start wearing a veil to school and the war between Iran and Iraq. Although, this story deals with very important and yet sometimes depressing issues the comic relief makes //Persepolis// an easy and fun read.

This text teaches a reader a great deal about writing. It shows a writer that not all texts need to be composed in old fashion written paragraph form; sometimes you can think outside of the box and compose a piece in a way that is meaningful to you. Normally a piece of writing which touches on issues so important and changes a society like having to be told by your government to wear a veil and having a war between you and a neighboring country going on are written in plain old text. However, Satrapi chooses to use a comic book to tell her readers about these issues. I believe that this really works here. Some of these issues would be very difficult for young adults to understand; I know for me I had a hard time imagining some of these things happening. The graphics being simplistic and in black and white shows the reader exactly how she viewed these issues and her life. Satrapi may have made this a graphic novel because there is no room for interpretation unlike if the story had been written regularly. The reader sees what happened through the eyes of Satrapi.

This graphic novel shows a writer that writing can be multidimensional. Writing can be anything the author wants it to be. Writing gives a writer the chance to express themselves any way they see fit. For some who find writing to be a chore might like to write a graphic novel because it is something different that appeals to people who are more visual learners as well. This writing can be a “mentor” for young adult writers who enjoy comic books or drawing because they will be able see that there are different forms of writing you just need to find the one that meets your needs.

To compose a similar text would be a rewarding experience for some. For me, I would not benefit from drawing the actually graphics because I cannot draw at all; however, I think it would be a good experience to just write the captions for the pictures. I do believe that for other young adults this would be a very enjoyable writing experience because it touches on writing and visuals. Writing these issues in a graphic novel that students view as a comic teaches writers that they do not have to be wordy in their sentence structures; sometimes the simplest writing conveys your point.