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Summary: The Water Cell
Marji’s parents protest against the Shah’s government every day. They come home tired and beaten and too tired to engage much with their daughter. Marji tells her parents that despite their protests, she loves the Shah, since God chose him as leader. When Ebi, her father, asks her who told her that, Marji says she was told by her teacher and by God himself. Her father then sits her down to discuss what really happened.
Marji’s father describes how, fifty years before, the father of the current Shah—who was an illiterate low-ranking officer in the army—overthrew the emperor at the time and made himself king in his place. This new king, who went by the name Reza Shah, did this with the help of the British, who were given unfettered access to Iran’s vast oil reserves by Reza in return. Marji is stunned to learn from her father that the emperor who Reza overthrew was the father of her mother’s father, and that her grandfather was himself a prince prior to Reza’s putsch. Marji also learns that, realizing he needed someone educated and courtly to help his new regime succeed, Reza made her grandfather his prime minister. But Marji’s grandfather mingled with intellectuals and later became a communist, for which he was imprisoned and thrown into a water-filled cell. Later that evening, Marji sits in the bathtub for a long time, trying to feel what her grandfather felt.
Summary: Persepolis
Marji’s grandmother comes to visit. As soon as she arrives, Marji peppers her with questions about her husband’s time in prison. Marji’s grandmother tries to avoid talking about the gory details but does tell Marji how horrible Reza Shah treated both of them. She explains that the Shah stripped them of everything and that they were so poor and embarrassed that she used to boil water to pretend she was cooking food. Her grandmother tells Marji said that they were only able to get by because she took in sewing. She says that, as badly as Reza Shah treated her husband, the current Shah treated him ten times worse. Her grandmother adds that the Shah is a frivolous and terrible person and that she is happy that there is finally a revolution occurring. Marji isn’t satisfied with these stories, and her grandmother suggests she read books to educate herself better about what is happening in Iran.
At this time, Marji’s father is visiting a protest to take photographs. When he doesn’t come home after several hours, the family begins to worry. When he finally returns, Marji’s father describes how he saw a group of protesters hailing a pair of dead bodies being taken from the hospital as martyrs. One of the bodies was a man killed at a protest, but the other was a man who simply died of cancer. When this man’s widow explained the error to the crowd, one of the protesters said, “No problem, he’s a hero” too. Everyone laughs at the story except Marji, who feels confused. Frustrated, Marji decides to read more about the revolution and Iran so she can understand.
Analysis
In these chapters, Marji learns several important lessons that contribute to her ongoing coming-of-age process. It is clear at the beginning of “The Water Cell” that Marji is too young to understand the social upheaval in the country and that she still has a naïve and childish view of things. When she repeats what her teacher has said about the Shah having been chosen by God, her father becomes concerned. He and Marji’s mother are putting their lives on the line and exhausting themselves every day to protest the Shah’s regime, and he sees Marji’s credulousness as a liability during these dangerous times. Furthermore, allowing their child to believe the falsified version of history presented to all children by the state would go against everything they stand for. Thus, her parents telling her the true history of the Shah’s rise to power is an important turning point for Marji on her path to adulthood.
Marji learns not only that the truth is much more complex and nuanced than a simple fairytale about God choosing the Shah, but also that stories, both true and false, can be powerful. The Shah’s divinity is not merely a lie, it is a lie fabricated to drum up support for the Shah’s rule. After all, if the Shah is chosen by God, then to protest the Shah is to protest God. This is the very conclusion that Marji, in her naïve and uneducated state, comes to. The false story told by the Shah’s regime has succeeded in driving a wedge between Marji and her parents. By sharing the ugly truth with her, Marji’s father heals that divide. Though Marji is only beginning to grapple with the implications of what she is learning, her need to devour the history books her parents give her demonstrates that she has learned an important lesson about the power of knowledge and storytelling.
Iran’s long history of invasion and occupation by non-Persians is deeply ingrained in the Iranian cultural memory, and Iranians’ sense of their own history plays an important role in the story's events. The people of Iran, including Marji’s family and now Marji herself, feel a sense of shame over thousands of years of being controlled by powerful outsiders. Though the Shah is Iranian, his father was installed by European powers who wanted easy access to Iranian oil. This is partly why Marji’s grandmother characterizes the Shah’s rule as a betrayal and why the general populace of Iran sees him as illegitimate. The Shah represents just another invader in a long line of them. The revolution is, therefore, a genuine attempt by the people of Iran to take their country back once and for all. But the Shah’s story also foreshadows the cruelty and oppression by the new regime. Most Iranians’ pure motivations for a free and unoccupied Iran sets them up for brutal disappointment and disillusionment.
Learning that her grandfather was once an emperor’s son is at first a source of pride and wonder for Marji, but once again, a more complex reality contains a more troubling lesson. Through her grandfather’s story, Marji learns that when power changes hands, there are winners and losers. This dynamic is an important theme that will remain relevant throughout Marji’s story. In her grandfather’s case, he was on the side of the losers and went from prince to prime minister to prisoner in the blink of an eye. The family was suddenly impoverished, and Marji’s grandfather’s health was ruined. This suggests to Marji that during turbulent times, anything and everything can be quickly taken away. It is a critical blow to Marji’s perceived security and another significant step in Marji’s coming of age. At the end of “The Water Cell,” Marji recreates her grandfather’s water cell experience in the bathtub. When she steps out, her fingers are wrinkly, symbolizing how much she has grown, or “aged,” since the beginning of the chapter. At the end of the next chapter, however, Marji realizes that she understands very little and seeks to educate herself, signaling how far Marji still has to go.
