Blog 11-Lau

“Cartooning, he argues, is a way of seeing, not just a way of drawing, so the simplification of characters and images toward a purpose can be an effective tool: ‘[W]hen you look at a photo or realistic drawing of a face—you see it as the face of another but when you enter the word of the cartoon—you see yourself.’”(228)

The story, the Sheep, in Persepolis (62)

Persepolis is comic book talked about the Islamic Revolution through the 9-year-old girl, Marjane. The story in cartoon reduced the sadness of this history that we could get closer to the life story of this girl. In the story, The Sheep, many Marjane’s friends went abroad to escape the revolution. Many people who fight against the government were killed secretly. The picture drew about the death of Mohsen in his bathroom. A man was kneeling in front of the bathtub. His head was buried in water in the bathtub. Her friends moved to other areas to get away from the death. Moreover, her uncle has just been out of the prison. He was captured and killed. In the prison, he gave her another bread-swan. The first one was also made in the prison. These two duck stood for her uncle’s revolution. It also became a souvenir for the heroine. The picture was in a concise style that people would not feel scared. However, this picture would let people to think about them. For example, when I read this story, it made me realize the Great Cultural Revolution. The government killed many proletarian revolutionary because they fight against the wrong orders from the government. Some university teachers were framed and killed. They even did not rehabilitate today. They were trying to pursue the democracy in China. However, they lost their lives. When I read this book, I felt like to back that period to see what happened in that area. Cartoon is in a relaxed atmosphere to review that period. This book also recorded the influence of these families. How this revolution change the heroine’s mind.