02

1. Why do you think that Marjane Satrapi choose the comics style to produce her memoir?

- I think that Satrapi chose the comic style to produce her memoir, because besides the obvious that she majored in illustration; it's easier to to show the certain aspects of her young life through pictures than it is through writing. In high school many of my teachers told me that you want to "show not tell" with your writing, so I believe that Satrapi wanted to literally show instead of tell. I think it's also easier to convey her innocence as a child through pictures, because every child learns to draw before they can write. Just like looking at a child's pictures the comic shows Satrapi's understanding of everything that was happening when she was little.

a. I think it's easier to show how a child might percieve things in this comic format because instead of using complex writing, Satrapi uses pictures which are right to the point and easy to understand. It's also much more obvious to see certain parts stand out because unlike writing, where you can't make a portion stand out unless you use literary terms, you can take an entire page of the book, use different fonts, and different styles of coloring/drawing to show emphasis.

2. If I wanted to create a memoir I would probably follow in Satrapi's footsteps because not only am I better at drawing than I am writing, I think there are certain things that can be done with pictures than can be done with words. For example Satrapi's black and white style of her comics convey that in the time as she was growing up, things were very different than they are now. Not only is she growing up in a land that is much different than ours, she is different in the sense that she is economically blessed, whereas many of the people she comes in contact with are not. Some of the symbols, such as the veil, are much more powerful because the veil, as it is drawn by Satrapi, is just a black hood, covering everything that is under it but her face. I believe that this is much more powerful than any description of the symbol in writing because it is much more obvious that the veil is covering a part of her, and not allowing her to be her true self.