Persepolis Marjane's Mother Quotes

"It's against the law to kill a virgin, so a guardian of the revolution marries her and takes her virginity before executing her. Do you understand what that means??" (19.19-19.21)

The implications of this are insane. It further illustrates how much women are considered property, objects to be used by the men of Iran. It also helps explain why Marji's mother is super-protective of her daughter. As women, Marji and her mom have more to fear in Iran than men do. It's a dangerous place for women.

"[Marji] should start learning to defend her rights as a woman right now!" (10.32)

Marji gets a lot of her feminist nature from her mother. If her mother was the type of person to wear the veil and force Marji into wearing it also, without having a discussion about how wrong she felt it was, Marji would be a different person. Heck, we probably wouldn't have this book were it not for her mother's influence.

"His father did it, but it's not Ramin's fault." (6.34)

This is important advice from Mom that young Marji is getting old enough to understand. She had just bullied a boy because of something his father did, but as she gets older, she's starting to gain some perspective. She even does the Big Girl thing and apologizes.