Persepolis: The Sheep Summary & Analysis

During Anoosh’s stay with Marjane’s family, political discussions occur frequently. Anoosh and Marjane’s father wonder about the contradiction of the revolution. They are amazed that while the “the revolution is a leftist revolution…the new republic wants to be called Islamic.” This is in direct opposition to the expectations of Marjane’s family, who supported the leftist revolution without expectations of it being Islamic as well. Indeed, they Believe that a free and republican government is incompatible with theocracy—that church and state in a republic must be separate, yet the revolutionaries buck this understanding and seem to want to combine both. In order to explain the strangeness of this phenomenon, Anoosh clarifies that “in a country where half the population is illiterate you cannot unite the people around Marx. The only thing that can really unit them is nationalism or a religious ethic.” Marjane is heavily affected by the discussion, though she does not quite understand it, and cries when she realizes the changes in the country remain beyond the reach of her comprehension.

Later, one of Marjane’s friends tells her that his family will soon move to the United States because his parents believe it is “better to leave” than to “live under an Islamic regime.” Much of Marjane’s family also leaves the country, and though Marjane’s mother suggests perhaps her family should leave, too, Marjane’s father points out the family’s limited economic opportunities in the US, where Marjane’s parents would be relegated to menial jobs. He is confident everyone who left will soon return.

Marjane’s father receives a phone call, after which he sobs in front of his family. It turns out that his friend Mohsen, who was just released from prison after a long time as a political prisoner, has been murdered: an assassin drowned Mohsen in his own bathtub. Later, Assassins target Siamak, too, though the assassins end up executing his sister in his stead when she opens the door for them, because Siamak wasn’t at home at the time. Marjane finds out some time after the murders that Siamak, Laly, and her mother have escaped over the border by hiding themselves among a flock of grazing sheep. Those who once supported the revolution are now being targeted as enemies of the new Islamic Republic because their opinions about how the new government should function differ from the policies of the new ruling class.

Soon after, though Marjane’s parents try to protect Marjane from the fact that Anoosh has been arrested. Nevertheless, Marjane sees through their attempts at giving her a white lie about his whereabouts—they say he has gone to visit his wife in Moscow—and she guesses the truth about his arrest. Later her father tearfully admits the truth to her and tells her that Anoosh, stuck in jail, asked his jailor to see Marjane, since he is allowed one visitor. Marjane visits him in his cell. Emotionally, Anoosh tells Marjane, “you are the little girl I always wanted to have” and gives her another bread swan, which he calls “the uncle of the first one.” The next day, the newspapers announce the execution of Anoosh as a “Russian Spy.” When God visits Marjane at night, she yells at him to “Shut up!” and to “get out of my life!” God disappears as a character from the book. Marjane feels disorientated and helpless, but at the same time her parents scream for her to run to the basement because they are being bombed. “It was the beginning of the war” between the new Islamic Republic and those who oppose it.