Wars, revolutions, families, martyrs and prison are major topics in Persepolis, but the thing is that they do not have a simple answer. They are topics which sometimes, we don’t really know wether they are good or bad, or in the middle. It seems even that Satrapi herself isn’t really sure about what is the answer.
For instance, Â Satrapi saw people who went into prison and participated in revolutions as heroes (which, in her perspective, is a good thing). Yet, she knows that because of those things, many people die, which is a bad thing. An example includes when Pardiss’s father dies in the war. This is the kind of situation where the question “are people who die at war heroes?” can have different answers, none of them being right or wrong. On one hand, Satrapi sees the “positive”, saying “Your father acted like a genuine hero, you should be proud of him!” while Pardisse symply responds “I wish he were alive and in jail rather than dead and a hero.” I believe the reason why this has struck Satrapi so much is because she noticed that not everyone had the same way of seeing things. Although it isn’t easy to come up with an answer here, I think that Satrapi wanted to say that war needs sacrifices, and that they serve freedom. Also, I think that because of uncle Anoosh, Satrapi doesn’t want people to think that everyone in prison is neceserally a bad person. Is she right? I still don’t think there are any right or wrong answer here, since it can be more or less subjective for each person. Transitioning to family, there’s a moment in which Satrapi wishes that her dad went to prison, got tortured, and/or almost killed, just so that she could consider him as a martyr or hero. She also gets mad at him because he won’t go and fight at the war, not being conscious of all the risks of doing so. Â She clearly loves her parents and family, but yet, she’s ready to sacrifice her dad for her country. By acting like this, Satrapi doesn’t make it easy for anyone and herself about what she thinks of family, nor for any of the other topics…
In conclusion, I’d say that according to Satrapi, there are multiple sides to everything. Wars and revolutions kill millions, but at the end give freedom. Although prisons are for criminals, not everyone inside them may be “bad”. According to Satrapi, anyone who died in a battle bravely become maryrs, and she doesn’t care if someone from her family has to become one, since she would like to be proud of it.