"choosing" identity

A! Throughout Persepolis, Marjane develops her identity. Because of the constant changes of perspectives and lives of everyone around her, she initially reaches a struggle when developing her own point of views.  I feel that initially she felt she was a very religious person but unfortunate events she lived and heard of caused her to change that. All the negativity around her and ultimately the unfair loss of her uncle caused her to abandon her faith.  I definitely think Marjane's parents had a lot to do with her shift in identity too. Despite the fundamentalism that occurs in Iran, Marjane's parents are very 'modern' as she calls them.  Their liberal point of views and political activism are a tremendous influence to Marjane, as she tries out the protests herself. Also, I think gender plays a role in it.  As she grows up, Marjane is able to see the difficulties of being a woman in Iran. For example, the wearing of the veil, and how it objectified or didn't objectify women. For those reasons, I feel that Marjane was able to identify with the older rebellious girls and also with the western items her parents get her. She felt more comfortable in rebellion than being subordinate to that which she did not agree with.

B! For everyone there are obviously elements of  identity that weren't chosen, like race, gender, or where they came from. But I generally feel that we all have a good amount of control with creating our identity. I mean, although we may be influenced by communities or family, as individuals we all decide what our take on situations and ideas are. Each to our own opinions. So I guess what I mean is although we may be inspired or forcefully pushed to embrace something by our surroundings, we ultimately have that final word in whether we choose to agree or disagree or to believe or not to believe. At least I hope.