Do both women in the novels struggle to form their identity?
Yes, both women do struggle to form their identity but in vastly different environments.
Enid struggles to form her identity in a Western society that has many different potential lifestyles for her to adhere too. She knows for sure that she does not want to be a part of the socially acceptable culture such as the one that Melorra personifies as she is the girl who is doing something with herself after high school instead of sitting around like Enid and Rebecca are doing. She also has a group of friends that we see in one of the diner scenes rather than isolating herself with only one other person. She's happy and friendly, never cynical and vulgar like Enid and Rebecca. She is, in some sense, the typical American girl in comparison to Enid.
(Clowes 87)
Throughout the graphic novel, it is apparent that Enid is struggling with her identity. Looking through the page on Enid's identity formation shows that plainly. She cannot stick to one look or lifestyle because nothing fits. She ends up leaving at the end and some interpret this as a metaphor for her suicide. However, I think that she is simply leaving the town that has nothing to offer her.
On the other hand, Marji grows up in revolutionary Iran where only one lifestyle is being thrust on its women. But her experience in Austria show her different lifestyles to adhere to but only get her into drugs and push her farther away from someone her parents could be proud of. Marji is very attached to her family as they are major identity shapers for her. Massoume Price of the Iran Chamber Society which promotes Iranian culture stated: "Families are normally extended families and grandparents, uncles and aunts are very involved with each other and the younger members of the family both emotionally and financially. Children are praised, looked after and are raised to be dependent on their families and follow family tradtions and rules." Price also says that "Family members are expected to spend lots of time with each other and socializing with relatives is a very important part of Iranian life."
(Satrapi 340)
While Marji's family is fairly progressive in a time of oppression, she still feels these values that Price points out. Her family is still Iranian and holds those Iranian values but does not hold the newly imposed revolutionary values. It is these extreme Islamic values that are part of Marji shaping her identity because she combats her teachers who teach her lies and propaganda but she also does not wear the head scarf like they are supposed to. Small acts of rebellion but they are still integral in creating her identity as she soon learns that those extremist values are not for her yet nor are the age-old values of marriage. All these lessons shape her and move her to decide to leave Iran for what could very well have been the last time.
How does identity develop? What influences it?
According to mental development professionals at NADD, a non-profit organization for improving mental wellness for those dealing with developmental disabilities, the formation of identity "begin in infancy when children begin to recognize themselves." From there, identity continues to form until it is fairly resolved in the teen years. But they do point out that adults do continue to form their identity as they go through life. "Identify development is never complete."
What influences identity is, well, pretty much everything. "Identity forms through the accumulation of experience and the integration of experiences and interpretations of experience." So all the experiences Enid had, like visiting the adult sex shop, her virginity taken by an older boy, and her road trip with Rebecca in her funeral hearse helped form who she was by the end, even if she did not feel like she had an identity to hold on to.
Marji's experiences of growing up in a place where she saw the hand of her dead neighbor after they were bombed, where she was chastised for wearing anything she liked, and having to leave her home country so that she could have a better life were all events - among many others - that shaped her identity. In the end, her identity was one that resided far beyond that of Iran and resulted in her leaving once again.
What forces cause their identities to move one way or another?
In Enid's case, she sees other lifestyles and tries them on to see if they will fit. She tries the odd, sex-shop lifestyle with her dominatrix mask and enthusiasm for the adult shop she visits with Josh but that doesn't stick. She tries the punk look that she had attempted in middle school but that doesn't work either. She checks out an odd 1950s style diner to see if that does anything for her but yet again she comes up short. In the end, her identity - or lack of - causes her to leave the town of her father and friends to see if she can find herself in a different place.
Marji's identity is almost totally based on events that happen to her rather than events she procures herself. Enid is the cause behind all these different identity attempts and there is not really any big events happening to her. But for Marji, she lays victim to the experiences happening all around her, at least when she is younger. She must react to the bombings and the oppression of the extremists. She must react to her teachers lying to her when she knows better. But once she arrives in Austria, she is more of an actor in what happens to her. She can choose to have a boyfriend and begin doing, and eventually dealing, drugs. Her return to Iran shows her that she cannot prosper in a place that is continuing to oppress its women. Her youth in Iran and her subsequent return are two big experiences that show her she cannot thrive there because her identity does not adhere to the identity of the country. But her experience in the Western cultures of Europe, however bad they were, had shown her that she can be whoever she wanted which meant that she could grow without fear of punishment.
Works Cited
Baker, Daniel, and Randolph Shipon. "Identify Development, Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities, and Person-First Language." NADD, 2009, thenadd.org/modal/bulletins/v12n1a1~.htm.
"Ghost World." The Daniel Clowes Reader: A Critical Edition of Ghost World and Other Stories, with Essays, Interviews, and Annotations, edited by Ken Parille, Fantagraphics Books, 2013, pp. 47-118.
Price, Massoume. "Patriarchy and parental control in Iran." Iran Chamber Society: Iranian Society: Patriarchy and parental control in Iran, 1 Mar. 2006, www.iranchamber.com/society/articles/patriarchy_parental_control.php.
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York, Pantheon Books, 2003.
Yes, both women do struggle to form their identity but in vastly different environments.
Enid struggles to form her identity in a Western society that has many different potential lifestyles for her to adhere too. She knows for sure that she does not want to be a part of the socially acceptable culture such as the one that Melorra personifies as she is the girl who is doing something with herself after high school instead of sitting around like Enid and Rebecca are doing. She also has a group of friends that we see in one of the diner scenes rather than isolating herself with only one other person. She's happy and friendly, never cynical and vulgar like Enid and Rebecca. She is, in some sense, the typical American girl in comparison to Enid.
(Clowes 87)On the other hand, Marji grows up in revolutionary Iran where only one lifestyle is being thrust on its women. But her experience in Austria show her different lifestyles to adhere to but only get her into drugs and push her farther away from someone her parents could be proud of. Marji is very attached to her family as they are major identity shapers for her. Massoume Price of the Iran Chamber Society which promotes Iranian culture stated: "Families are normally extended families and grandparents, uncles and aunts are very involved with each other and the younger members of the family both emotionally and financially. Children are praised, looked after and are raised to be dependent on their families and follow family tradtions and rules." Price also says that "Family members are expected to spend lots of time with each other and socializing with relatives is a very important part of Iranian life."
(Satrapi 340)How does identity develop? What influences it?
According to mental development professionals at NADD, a non-profit organization for improving mental wellness for those dealing with developmental disabilities, the formation of identity "begin in infancy when children begin to recognize themselves." From there, identity continues to form until it is fairly resolved in the teen years. But they do point out that adults do continue to form their identity as they go through life. "Identify development is never complete."
What influences identity is, well, pretty much everything. "Identity forms through the accumulation of experience and the integration of experiences and interpretations of experience." So all the experiences Enid had, like visiting the adult sex shop, her virginity taken by an older boy, and her road trip with Rebecca in her funeral hearse helped form who she was by the end, even if she did not feel like she had an identity to hold on to.
Marji's experiences of growing up in a place where she saw the hand of her dead neighbor after they were bombed, where she was chastised for wearing anything she liked, and having to leave her home country so that she could have a better life were all events - among many others - that shaped her identity. In the end, her identity was one that resided far beyond that of Iran and resulted in her leaving once again.
What forces cause their identities to move one way or another?
In Enid's case, she sees other lifestyles and tries them on to see if they will fit. She tries the odd, sex-shop lifestyle with her dominatrix mask and enthusiasm for the adult shop she visits with Josh but that doesn't stick. She tries the punk look that she had attempted in middle school but that doesn't work either. She checks out an odd 1950s style diner to see if that does anything for her but yet again she comes up short. In the end, her identity - or lack of - causes her to leave the town of her father and friends to see if she can find herself in a different place.
Marji's identity is almost totally based on events that happen to her rather than events she procures herself. Enid is the cause behind all these different identity attempts and there is not really any big events happening to her. But for Marji, she lays victim to the experiences happening all around her, at least when she is younger. She must react to the bombings and the oppression of the extremists. She must react to her teachers lying to her when she knows better. But once she arrives in Austria, she is more of an actor in what happens to her. She can choose to have a boyfriend and begin doing, and eventually dealing, drugs. Her return to Iran shows her that she cannot prosper in a place that is continuing to oppress its women. Her youth in Iran and her subsequent return are two big experiences that show her she cannot thrive there because her identity does not adhere to the identity of the country. But her experience in the Western cultures of Europe, however bad they were, had shown her that she can be whoever she wanted which meant that she could grow without fear of punishment.
Works Cited
Baker, Daniel, and Randolph Shipon. "Identify Development, Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities, and Person-First Language." NADD, 2009, thenadd.org/modal/bulletins/v12n1a1~.htm.
"Ghost World." The Daniel Clowes Reader: A Critical Edition of Ghost World and Other Stories, with Essays, Interviews, and Annotations, edited by Ken Parille, Fantagraphics Books, 2013, pp. 47-118.
Price, Massoume. "Patriarchy and parental control in Iran." Iran Chamber Society: Iranian Society: Patriarchy and parental control in Iran, 1 Mar. 2006, www.iranchamber.com/society/articles/patriarchy_parental_control.php.
Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis. New York, Pantheon Books, 2003.
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