Analysis Of Discipline And Punishment And Persepolis

Authoritative bodies uses many techniques to regulate every aspect of their citizens’ lives. Those with power impose certain moral rules for a myriad of reasons, many of which are less transparent than they seem. Some individuals are more responsive to these moral standards than others. Michel Foucault’s historical research focuses on the way that systems of power control people’s behavior by create self affirming discourses. His book â€Å"Discipline and Punishment† focuses on ways in which modern governments enforce their authorities psychologically rather than physically. The graphic novel Persepolis follows a girl as she grows up in a country that is seemingly in constant revolution against some newly developed oppressive regime. She†¦show more content†¦This flippant disregard of his input is representative of an assertive defiance against those who monitor and stabilize her behavior. Her slight discomfort towards the lack God’s presen ce is the product of being unsupervised much like the way a small child deals uncertainty when left to their own devices. Marjane experiences a similar situation after the death of her uncle. She rejects her conception of God completely when he comes to comfort her. Following her eruption, Marjane laments â€Å"And so I was lost, without any bearings†¦ what could be worse than that?† (Satrapi 71) She is faced with the unfamiliar freedom from strict morality once more. The internal moral code in which she found comfort no longer reflects her reality. The panel in which the aforementioned quote appears depicts Marjane floating in space with her arms outstretched. This imagery implies a weightlessness that accompanies the feeling of being directionless. Without this system of self monitoring Marjane is untethered from her worldly self and miserable. As Marjane gets older, the issue of surveillance and freedom becomes more clearly external. During during her adolescence, Iranian government becomes publicly invested in enforcing islamic values onto its citizens. Days after this development, Marjane’s mother is harassed in the street for not wearing a veil which motivates Satrapi family to participate in a protest of the policies making the vale mandatory. The