Argument Essay- Persepolis By: Marjani Satrapi

                                                       Argument Essay-Persepolis                                    

            A book having sexual harassment, violence, and murder can be disturbing, especially for kids in seventh grade and under. This situation happens to relate with the book, Persepolis, By: Marjani Satrapi. All though it has some disturbing scenes, it should not be banned, because of its realistic history with also not being fair to the kids that are mature enough for it. Besides that, Persepolis should be only available in shelves of eight grade classes and above. So basically this book should not get accessed by kids in seventh grade and under.

            Additionally, seventh graders should not be able to access Persepolis, and read it, for many reasons. Most of the reasons come from the book itself. “They insulted me. They said that women like me should be pushed up against a wall and fucked. And then thrown in the garbage, (Pg.74)” this quote is beyond minds of kids in seventh grade and under, because it is a scene where they might not understand or feel uncomfortable with the concept of it. Also that quote can probably make them tense since they usually don’t read scenes like this. Another text from the book was “As for me, I sealed my act of rebellion against my mother’s dictatorship by smoking cigarette I’d stolen from my uncle, (Pg.117)” this quotation can influence seventh grade and under kids in a bad way because they are not mature enough to understand what is the right thing for them to do and what is not the right thing for them to do.  A quote that also shows why seventh graders and below kids shouldn’t read this book is, “My mother was right to believe it was a murder...when they found his body, only the head was underwater, (Pg.65)” this can shock seventh graders of how ruthlessly they murder people, because they might have not heard of this type of murder before, and get traumatized. Overall this book contains many scenes that can affect kids in seventh grade and below in various ways.

            Moreover, there are also reasons why seventh graders and below kids, should be able to access this book, but without a strong reasoning. Some of these reason come from the article “Why Chicago’s Persepolis Book Ban Hurts Students Most”. One of text is “I survived nihilism, similar to so many other teenage experiences, through books like Persepolis,” even though the author got some benefit, like surviving nihilism, doesn’t mean every seventh grader will see Persepolis, benefiting them, and instead become the opposite.  Another text that the author shows is “... revolutionary spirit of Satapri’s selfie-protagonist will inspire girls to congregate, make art,” even if there are some girls in the seventh grade or below, that get inspired by it on the other hand they also might feel insecure about themselves at the same time, by reading about what happen to girls before in Iran. Also how might that help the boys if they read Persepolis? A text the author of the article also includes is “Some will become heroines in their own narratives.  That’s precisely what Persepolis is all about,” this text is trying to say that girls may become confident of themselves after reading the book, but what if the girls in the grades of seventh and below just get low self-esteem instead, from the scenes they weren’t aware of. Also if that was what Persepolis was about, then why did they include murder and violence, that created a worse situation in the book, and that wasn’t related too any encouraging confidence to girls? Overall even if the article, “Why Chicago’s Persepolis Book Ban Hurts Students Most” has some partly reasonable evidence why seventh grade and below kids should not read this book, it doesn’t really portray why seventh grader really should get access.  

            Furthermore, both have articles have reasons why and why not Persepolis let kids in seventh grade and below access, however there is another article that tries to prove children should read whatever they want. The name of the article is “Age- rated books: Right or wrong?” One of the text states “Let children read whatever they want to read,” I also agree with this statement, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t let them read something that’s obviously going to hurt kids mentally, like letting them read disturbing scenes. Another text is “Children differ. Some race ahead with interests and reading skills. Why should they be held back...” Even though this text is true, we still shouldn’t let kids in seventh grade and below read it, since they don’t know what type of context they are going to see, and if their reading level is up to that level then there are many other books related to the same topic, but with no disturbing scenes. Overall even though this article has many true statements, it doesn’t mean Persepolis shouldn’t be accessed by kids in seventh grade and lower.

All in All, the evidence that has been stated for kids in seventh grade and below to not have access to Persepolis is reasonable because the context Persepolis provides isn’t for kids who are mentally mature enough for this, and in my point of view that goes to kids in seventh grade and below. One of the reasons is because I picked out Persepolis in seventh grade from the class library, and when I started to read it I didn’t understand it, nor did I feel comfortable reading it because of its disturbing scenes. Overall Persepolis is meant for eighth graders and above, which eventually kids in seventh grade and lower will become, but will have to be patient to become mature enough for it.