Who are some characters who have influenced her?

Mr. Satrapi

Mr. Satrapi is Marjane's father. He is a leftist political protestor that takes part in the demonstrations of 1979, yet he is also an established engineer and maintains a middle class lifestyle.

Mrs. Satrapi

Mrs. Satrapi is Marjane's mother. She holds leftist political views and often urges Marjane and her friends to rely on education as a way to further themselves and their country. Marjane often equates her with an overbearing presence as she grows older, yet she maintains a close bond and relationship with both her parents.

Anoosh

Anoosh is Marjane's uncle. He was imprisoned by the Shah for his communist views, but was released after the Revolution. He had been married in Russia, but his wife divorced him. Anoosh is arrested by the Islamic regime and executed on the false charges that he is a Russian spy.

Grandmother

Marjane's grandmother lives with Marjane's family for a while. Her husband had been a prince of the Shah and had been made prime minister. He had been arrested for conspiring with communists and tortured in a water cell. Her grandmother provides Marjane with a matriarchal figure.

Siamak

Siamak is a hero of the revolution. He had been captured and tortured by the Shah's police and had been released after the Revolution. The Islamic regime also seeks to capture him and they kill his sister in the process. Siamak escapes Iran by hiding in a group of sheep being transported across the border.

Mohsen

Mohsen is a hero of the Revolution and a friend of Marjane's family. Mohsen had been captured and tortured by the Shah's forces. He is murdered by the new Islamic regime by being drowned in a bathtub. The regime frames his death as a suicide.