Comparing and Contrasting Persepolis and Funny Boy Essay...

As a child, we’re presented with ample information that is all relatively new to us. The knowledge acquired in childhood is given to us by our parents and relatives. This allows us to grow, but the influence of our family is what shapes our culture and beliefs. Although our parents believe this is the best culture to follow, we often find ourselves questioning it. This creates complexity within the acceptance of being part of one’s culture. Shyam Selvadurai and Marjane Satrapi, use this theme within their respective novels, Funny Boy and Persepolis to demonstrate the transcendence from innocence to experience. Both main characters are introduced as children that go through an evolution to reach adulthood. Culture challenges the characters†¦show more content†¦( p. 46, Shyam Selvadurai) This quote demonstrates a change in Arjie’s perception. Moreover, the fact that Selvadurai implicates this quote at the beginning of the chapter is symbolic. He does this to symbolize a change in Arjie through the physical appearance of a supporting character. Furthermore, Arjie is caught off guard which depicts how fictional his thoughts on reality are. During the conclusion of the chapter Arjie’s perception of love and beauty is revolutionized through the â€Å"love life† of his Aunt. Arjie goes on to say â€Å"†¦I felt no pleasure, for I knew that, although everything would happen in the way I had dreamed there would be something missing. †¦ I thought of the love-comics and how fervently believed in them, believed that if two people loved each other everything was possible. Now, I knew this was not so.†(pp.99-100, Shyam Selvadurai) This clearly indicates a change in perception in the young boys mind and this would be one of the first steps in the transcendence of Arjie’s character. Selvadurai effectively uses Radha Auntie and many other supporting characters throughout the novel in order to aid the main charac ter evolve. Similar to Arjie, Marjie from Persepolis depicts evolution through the aid of supporting characters. In this novel, Satrappi uses many characters to evolve Marjie’s understanding of the world. For example, at the beginning of the novel, Marjie is introduced to her uncle Anoosh. He is branded as a communist under the Shaw’s