Educating "Onself"

One aspect of our discussion concerning the second half of Persepolis included a quote on page 327 that Marji said about life and what not only she, but people in general should do; “one must educate oneself.” I really liked this quote and I think it summed up a lot of the experiences that Marji went through before leaving Iran for good. Furthermore, I feel like this quote applies to just about everyone, regardless of the society or country they reside in. For me, this quote epitomizes learning. We are constantly learning on a day-to-day basis. Essentially then, I believe that to be successful and understand the world around us we have to first realize that learning is in fact internalized and individualized, and Marji’s story confirmed that for me. She faced many challenges throughout her life and had more ups than downs; but, when it was all said and done, she concluded that in order for her life to change she had to take on the task of learning for herself and learning what the world means to her. Isn’t that what we all do? Take an initiative to decide what we want out of life and essentially “educate our self” about how to achieve this? Personally, I believe that’s what the majority of people do today; but, then again, it’s those who don’t that cause society to be unstable and at times ridden with turmoil. I’m not afraid to say that the issues we deal with here in our own country stem from people who refuse to take it upon and educate themselves about ways that could ease the tensions that seemingly never cease. I’m willing to bet that if we were to ask Marji today if she wishes she would have uttered those words a little earlier in life and followed through on them, her answer would be an emphatic yes.


Also, I want to point out that I was in fact satisfied with how the story ended. Granted, she could have given us at least a sneak peak about what her life was like after she finally left Iran for good, but her closing, “freedom had a price” (341), I think gave the story a more authentic ending. Especially for Marji, but also a lot of people today, freedom does have a price. When we decide to free ourselves and essentially become independent we have to understand that we must give something up in order to receive something back. In a perfect world, which we all know is an impossible goal, we could be free without have to forfeit or give up anything. However, we don’t live in a perfect world and a far less perfect society, meaning that when we decide to “cut-the-cord,” we have new and exciting challenges ahead of us that like anything will take getting used to and more-or-less cause some sort of pain and hardship along the way. Marji is leaving what she has known her entire life and not necessarily abandoning her family, but growing up and starting her own life. No one ever said that growing up was easy and that when we decide to venture off on our own and are essentially free, that we will succeed. However, if you recall what I said in the first paragraph and what Marji said about educating oneself, then you can see a direct correlation between the two. Now, more than ever, Marji must educate herself because she is on her own and will not have the luxury of her family, which is the price she paid for the freedom, to turn to. Don’t get me wrong, she will never lose the support and love she received from her family, but it will never be like it used to.

Brian Pullyblank