How did violence and war impact Marjane (Persepolis) and Starr (The Hate U Give)?

Throughout Persepolis, a desire to live life to the fullest, to enjoy what one has even in the worst of times, is an integral concern. Readers witness contraband pop music and family celebrations, school pranks and moments of absurd irony. They also witness torture and propaganda, bombings and execution. This is indeed a very different, more complex image of Iranians: instead of Islamic fanatics who unthinkingly support the Ayatollah, they are a people who defiantly party in the face of political oppression and violent injustice, who know deep pain and suffering as well as ecstatic love and joy. As a child of these times, Satrapi captures the depth and breadth of her Iranian heritage.

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Starr is angry when she sees Garden Heights depicted on the news with images of “drug addicts roaming the streets, the broken-down Cedar Grove projects, gangbangers flashing signs,” as she sees the report as a mischaracterization [245]. “What about Mrs. Rooks and her cakes,” she asks, “Or Mr. Lewis and his haircuts? Mr. Reuben? The clinic? My family? [245]” Starr understands that Garden Heights is not perfect, she calls it “the ghetto,” but she would never stand for her white friends to pass such a judgment [139].

Garden Heights is a microcosm of the greater black community – a community united in its struggle. After her talk with Maverick about racial injustice, Starr decides that speaking out about what happened to Khalil is important because of the wider context. “This is about Us, with a capital U,” she says, “everybody who looks like us, feels like us, and is experiencing this pain with us” [171]. Because of their shared history, when one member of the community is oppressed, it reverberates through the whole community. The injury is felt by all.

The ultimate proof that Garden Heights is a close knit community full of people who care about each other comes at the end of the novel. When King and his gang burn down Maverick's store, all of the people in the neighborhood come together to inform on him, despite the negative (and perhaps even dangerous) repercussions of “snitching” [425]. Everyone helps clean up the mess after the fire, and Maverick vows to rebuild the store and do anything else he can do to help the neighborhood after the riots, even though the Carters have moved to Brook Falls by then.