Veil Symbol Analysis

The veil is an extremely vital piece of clothing to Marjane’s identity, not because she feels pious and wants to wear it and thus asserts it as part of herself, but instead because she doesn’t want to wear it and must anyway. Persepolis opens with Marjane describing how she first has to start wearing the veil at school. This moment for her most markedly divides her pre-Revolutionary life and her post-revolutionary life, when the rise of the Islamic Republic creates an enormous schism in society between those who are traditionally religious and those who are not and prefer to dress with Western influences. Marjane, though she still considers herself Muslim, belongs to the latter category. But the Islamic Regime dictates the moral code of society, and Marjane must contend with a world that disallows her regular mode of expression. The veil for Marjane and for many women in Iran becomes the key symbol of repression, particularly against women.