The Bicycle

My chapter is the Bicycle, chapter 2

. Title


The reason the title is named "The Bicycle" is because the main character, Marjane Satrapi, compared the Islamic Revolution to a bicycle. " The Revolution is like a bicycle. When the wheels don't turn, it falls"

. Events


In the chapter "The Bicycle" it is describing some of the violent actions going on at the beginning of the revolution. The main part of the chapter is taken up with the report of a violent act, a theatre had been locked from the outside and a fire had been started on the inside. The people were trapped and all 400 of them died. The police were there but prevented people from opening the doors and let all of them die. Besides describing that, "The Bicycle" also explores the religious sentiments of Marjane as she listens in horror to the afforementioned events. She said that, "despite everything, God came to see me from time to time" and shows the depiction of a tall man with long hair and a beard. They talk to each other like friends, discussing Marx and Descartes from the book "Dialectic Materialism" and speak to each other like friends.


. Entertaining Part


The funniest part of "The Bicycle" was when God and Marjane were talking at the kitchen table about what Marjane wanted to do when she grew up.

God: So you don't want to be a prophet anymore?
Marjane: Let's talk about something else.
God: You think I look like Marx?
Marjane: I told you to talk about something else.
......
God: Tomorrow, the weather is going to be nice.
Marjane: ?

The casual way Marjane talks to God is some cause for humor, but also the akward conversation, that is normal in everyday life- but not when you are talking to God, is cause for some humor also.

. New Terms
Many historic revolutionary people of the time are mentioned within the chapter "The Bicycle." Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Trotsky, F. Frezai, Dr. Fatemi, H. Ashraf, and even Marx and Descartes. God is also introduced in personnification and talks to Marjane as mentioned above.


. Photo
The photo above is directly after the quote " The revolution is like a bicycle, when the wheels don't turn, it falls." The bicycle with the people on it is symbolic of the precarious situation the country was in and that there was every chance of falling, like riding a bike for the first time.