"Politics and sentiment don't mix"

Much easier said than done. In a perfect, Utopian world...this statement would undoubtedly be true, but our world is far from perfect, as can clearly be seen in Persepolis. Perhaps a truer statement would be "politics and sentiment don't mix well." The two entities are inevitably intertwined, for a man's liberties and allowances are in direct correlation with the state and the well-being of his/her soul, and an imbalance in the two only creates an ugly breeding ground for greed, dishonesty, and war.

When you really think about it, how could sentiments not be involved where politics are concerned, especially when the particular political structure in question is that of Iran during the Islamic revolution? It is my belief that its is not in a man's nature to be stifled, to have to wear a veil, to be controlled with violence or to be told what to believe. Don't get me wrong, I do my very best to be open-minded and nonjudgmental of all cultures, especially those like this one that are so vastly different from my own...you know, live and let live...but I have struggled throughout this book with the feelings that people were not meant to live this way, not meant to be treated this way.

On a different note, I must point out the fact that Marji's father said "politics and sentiment don't mix." The simple fact that this statement came from a man's mouth explains quite a bit. I do not mean to imply that the obstacles and hardships of the Iranian government's control did not have an impact on men, that would be absurd...but so would be denying that the women's suffering was greater. The way I see it, Marji (and her mother, grandmother, and all other Iranian women, for that matter) couldn't help but involve sentiments in her view of politics.