"The Letter"

Explain the significance of the title of your chapter.

The significance of my chapter, titles "The Letter" is it shows that one person can be someone else on paper. During this revolution it dealt with social classes and how everyone wanted different things, so although Mehri seemed pleasing on paper, once Hossein found out she was a maid, he just stopped talking to her. Also, the literal meaning of the chapter title, is how there is an actual reference to several paper letters. It shows the social class difference between Mehri and Marji, since Marji has to help write all the letters as Mehri has never had that sort of education. The letters come back up again as a symbol when Hossein rejects them once he finds out Mehri is a maid, and also when Marji's dad flings them at her questioning her. Above all, the letters show how close of a sisterhood type of relationship the two girls share.

Summarize the Chapter

"The Letter" is about how Marji realizes how fortunate she really is. Along with discovering that, she also realizes how having a maid puts you up on a higher social class level, where as the maid would be in a lower social class. With that being said, Marji remembers the days where she would write letters to the next door neighbor's son, for her maid, Mehri, who was in love with him. At that time, he was also in love with her. Weeks went on where Marji would write what Mehri told her to, and he would respond. One day however, news spread throughout the family about their forbidden love, and Marji's dad told the son the real truth about how Mehri was a maid, and that ended the love quickly. Once she finally understood the reasons, including the differences in social classes, for the revolution, she and Mehri went to demonstrate on Black Friday. Fortunately, Marji learned the lesson that social classes are idiotic. However, she also learned from her parents that she is too young to go demonstrate at the rallies without them.

Explain any terms (word, historical references, etc), names that are unfamiliar (new characters, people alluded to)

The only term in this chapter that is unfamiliar is "Black Friday." In this text, it doesn't mean the hectic shopping day after Thanksgiving; but it basically means a disastrous event. Two new characters who are introduced in this chapter, or who are given more details about, are the neighbor's son, Hossein, and Mehri, the maid. All it includes about Hossein is that at one point he was in love with Mehri, but after finding out about her low social class, he declared he didn't want to keep seeing her. For the maid, it explained about how Mehri came into Marji's house. She left her parents when she was eight years old to go and work for Marji's family because her family already had fifteen kids, and they didn't make enough money to feed them all.

Point out humorous parts of your chapter and explain why they are funny

There are two relatively humorous parts in my chapter. The first one is when Marji talks about how Mehri took care of her and also played with her. And then she also mentions how she finished her food. This is humorous because it shows the little things we take for granted everyday when we are younger, are not always available to some people. The other humorous part (in a sarcastic way), is that even though Marji and Mehru demonstrated during the most vicious rally, they didn't get killed by any enemies; only slapped by their own family. This to me is not only sarcastic humor, but also irony.

Choose one picture in your chapter that you think is significant. Explain the picture showing why it is significant and why you chose it.

The picture I chose in the one on page 37 of Marji comforting Mehri in the same bed. I think it is significant to the chapter because it shows how even though Marji learned that different social classes are the reason for the whole revolution, she doesn't care. She still looks at Mehri as a human being and doesn't judge her by the idea of social classes. I chose it because it ties in with the chapter's title, "The Letter." Although Mehri's dreams of marrying Hossein, who she got all the letters from, were ruined; she still was able to be thankful for the friends who cared about her and the fact that she was still alive. The way Marji is comforting her shows that even during the revolution, people didn't forget how to love and care for people who meant the most to them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: The author of Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi. She was born in Iran in the year of 1969. Throughout childhood she, like Marji in the story, went through difficult times in her country. Just as Marji's parents did, Marjane was sent off to Vienna when she was only fourteen years old. Later in life, she then returned to Iran where she got married. After a divorce, she moved to France where she is now a comic artist, writer and illustrator.