Purity and Social Distinction in Persepolis and Incidents...

The two novels - Persepolis, and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, both raise issues of social distinction, and separation, along with Identity and Purity issues in social classes. Social distinction in both novels involved birth status and the balancing of understanding the place of inferiority in their related cultures. In the novel, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, social class plays a role in the significance of your stature in society. Linda Brent, the protagonist of the novel, deals with separation from her parents, her siblings, and later her children- due to being born a slave. In Persepolis, Mehri, the maid of the Satrapis was separated from her family as well at the age of five and was raised along with Marji.†¦show more content†¦Both novels show examples of this theory. In Linda Brents, Incidents in the Life of a Slave girl, Linda Brent writes, Slavery is terrible for men; but it is far more terrible for women, (64). By living in seclusion for seven years, Brent realized her ultimate dream was to live a traditional family life which in the conclusion of the novel she does. Due to being an African-American slave, Brent was thwarted from obtaining her goals for an extended period of time. Brent, though a woman was thwarted from enjoying her family life because she was a b lack woman living in bondage. If Brent had been born a white woman she would never had suffered the turmoil of separation from her children. Marji, the protagonist from Persepolis, falls prey to Social Distinction through political affiliation. Marjis parents were not practicing the ways of Fundamentalism in their homes, but society at the time in their town dictated for them all to conform to the majority. Along with Brent, Marji was only allowed to communicate and associate with people in her community with the same social distinction and standing in society as her family. Marji never truly understood this concept- considering one of her closet friends was her maid Mehri. Due to the constrictions of society and the norm, Marji was stifled from growing up with a higher tolerance of the unknown considering her social circle was minimal. The comparison of purity and virtue in both novels established