Apr
25
This comic is the style of Persepolis written by Marjane Satrapi. Her book is written from the perspective of a girl growing up in Iran during the Revolution and its aftermath. I chose the narrator of the comic to be a girl who begins wearing the hijab and her complicated relationship with hijab. While the girl feels frustrated with her parents for pressuring her to wear hijab, she also is upset at the people at school who assume she is oppressed for wearing hijab. They view her as less of a person because she began wearing hijab, and she does not view hijab in that manner as them. In reaction to the assumptions of teachers and students at school, she wants to wear hijab more. However, she is still not entirely comfortable wearing it, but feels obligated to wear it because of her family.
I feel that so many people try to speak on behalf of Muslim women, assuming their views, from Muslim men to Western feminists. For instance, in the discussion following the documentary we watched in class about Turkish women, we seemed to be putting words in the mouth of the former model turned hijabi women. The conclusion of the discussion seemed to be she was fighting back against the Western influence of her country by wearing hijab, and she was against anything Wester. How much she valued education was ignored, which can be seen as a progressive value. The language barrier might have contributed to misinterpretation of her views. I feel it is important to have Muslim women tell their own stories and to portray them fully, with complicated emotions.