The first thought I had when I read Persepolis’s ending is that it was a very important part in Satrapi’s life.

For one, the part of her life which Satrapi would put last in a graphic novel which is an autobiography obviously had to have some importance. But other than that, I think it mostly comes from the last couple of panels on the last page. The way Satrapi compares saying goodbye and dying implies how bitter it was for her to leave her parents in Iran, while she went to Austria. There’s also the fact that she saw her mother pass out, with her father holding her. Combining this with the fact that this is the last panel, and that this panel is the biggest one on the page, with the parents on the front and Marji in the back, looking at them, she understood that it wasn’t easy for anyone, not even for her parents, and that they mey even be suffering more than herself, and from there, she again saw how much her parents loved her, and that it is for her protection that all of this happened…