A Graphic Novel is Worth a Thousand Words

As Marjane Satrapi eludes in her introduction to Persepolis, it is important for young adult literature to break down false stereotypes. This is also one of the requirements for adolescent literature that is outlined in the article, “In Search of Literature for the Twenty-First Century” (Murphy 110). This was Satrapi’s major goal when she sat down to write Persepolis: to make sure that Iran was not judged solely upon the actions of its extremists. By making this an important part of her writing process, Satrapi was able to accentuate her own life as an Iranian girl along with the lives of her family during such a desperate time in her country.

One example of how Satrapi was able to show the truth of the majority of Iran was by speaking about the political prisoners. She began by explaining why two friends of Marji’s family were imprisoned in the first place. Then, the story leads to their treatments in prison. Ultimately, this particular section explains that all of this torture and imprisonment was simply for standing up in opposition to other’s beliefs. It showed the true heroics of the day to day men and women of Iran (Satrapi 47-53).

            Obviously, Persepolis falls into the graphic novel category. Satrapi offers an adolescent audience a different approach to a novel by structuring Persepolis in comic strips with illustrations. The only other book we have read this semester in ENG-L376 that offered up something similar was in Sherman Alexie’s book, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Even in this book, Alexie did not offer a comic strip approach but did extend illustrations.

                Lastly, as an adult reader and a future English teacher, I would definitely recommend this book to adolescents. My major reason for doing so would be to show our youth a different side to Middle Eastern people than what they have learned about in the past few years. Hopefully, in doing so, this will break the prejudices that some people may have for people of Iran or any other country in the Middle East. I would also recommend Persepolis to kids slightly under the teenage perimeters. Because of the graphic novel approach and the fact that Marji starts out as such a young child in the book, I think Persepolis would be appropriate for them as well. It will teach younger children also about appreciating what they have because some kids are not as lucky as they are. Marji’s parents had to go to another country just to get her things that she wanted, and then they had to smuggle them back into the country. Ultimately, Persepolis does an excellent job of being an adolescent novel as well as a novel meant to break stereotypes and should be read by anyone.

Works Cited

Murphy. Elaine. “In Search of Literature for the Twenty-First Century.” English Journal. (2001):

110. Print.

Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. First American Paperback Ed. New York City, NY: Random House,

2003. 47-53. Print.

How an Outsider Must Feel

As I stated before in talking about Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, it is a very important requirement for adolescent literature to touch on subjects in which teenagers can relate to. If we stop to look back at the very first book we read for L376, The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, we can see that Hinton includes very real life topics that kids face every day throughout her novel. The characters in The Outsiders have to face the death of their loved ones and of their friends, violence between them and the Socs, feelings of being alone or an “outsider,” and a general feeling of not knowing who they are as people. Hinton also does a good job of something mentioned in the article, “In Search of Literature for the Twenty-First Century” written by Elaine Murphy. Murphy suggests that adolecent “literature must contribute to a dismantling of false sterotypes and offer balance by presenting diverse views of a topic” (Murphy 110). Hinton fulfills this suggestion very well because she is representing a group of teenage boys that would often times not be misrepresented by their stereotype of being a “greaser” or a “hood.” In Hinton’s question and answer portion of her book at the end, she even recalls the day that she finally saw a group of her friends “as everyone else sees them” (Hinton 183) which is why she wrote the book—to show the falsehood of the stereotype her friends held. At the opening of the book, Ponyboy talks about what “greasers” are like, and then he stops to say, “I only mean that most greasers do thing slike that” (Hinton, 3). Throughout the rest of the book, Hinton gradually proves this statement—that Ponyboy’s group of friends are not always like “greasers.” There is more to them than that even though most people do not think so.

The Outsiders most definitely falls into the category of being a problem novel. The biggest reason why is because instead of having a “happily-ever-after” ending, it is replaced by a much more disturbing ending with the death of Johnny and Dally. It was meant to provoke thought, not provide answers. Hinton was also not shy about portraying violence in her book which was previously not done so much. Having the greasers, in particularly Ponyboy, face the trama that was presented in the book allowed them to grow and start to heal.

Finally, as an avid adult reader of adolescent literature, I would recommend this book for anyone interested in adolescent literature regarding the themes Hinton has included. I would also encourage teachers all over the nation to teach this book. I personally read The Outsiders for the first time in my eighth grade English class, and I loved it. I had always felt like somewhat of an outsider as a teenager myself, and this book was the first I had read that dealt with that issue so it was very easy to relate to it, and I feel like many other young adults would feel the same.

Works Cited

Hinton, S. E.. The Outsiders. New York City, NY: Penguin Putname Books for Young Readers,

1967. 3, 183. Print.

Murphy, Elaine. "In Search of Literature for the Twenty-First Century." English Journal. (2001):

110. Print.