There is not an existing measure of maturity, yet it is a concept used daily to evaluate whether or not somebody is capable of being thoughtful, acting in an acceptable manner, or accomplishing a general task. As a society, we commonly look for young children to reach an age where they become mature as if it is something that is switched on overnight. However, this is not truly how maturity works. Maturity is created through both experience, circumstance, and biology.
The obligation to mature is extremely recognizable in Persepolis as Satrapi focuses her attention on staying clear of her family's worries. Satrapi describes this when she writes “‘You, stop!’ They were the guardians of the revolution, the women’s branch. This group had been added in 1982 to arrest women who were improperly veiled. Their job was to put us back on the straight and narrow by explaining the duties of Muslim women. [...] Back home… ‘Marji! What happened? Have you been crying?’ No mom, I’m just tired. I’m going to my room. There was no way I could tell the truth. She never would let me go out alone again.” (p. 134) Marji was arrested for not dressing up to code, but rather than telling her family about the instance, she decides to keep her story to herself. This was her way of protecting her integrity and ability to maintain safe in a destructive environment. By not sharing her issue, Marji maintained the trust that her family had towards her and her maturity.
Marji continues to grow upon her aspirations of independence through achieving maturity throughout Persepolis. Marji believes that after reaching a certain age, independence should be acquired because of the capabilities that a person would possess. Satrapi displays this when she writes “What are you thinking? ‘About Taher. His son leaving has done him in. I’ve never seen him like that. Can you imagine? A thirteen, fourteen-year-old child, alone, in a country where he doesn’t even speak the language?’ Tch… at fourteen you don’t need your parents anymore! Get real, up to a certain age, you need your parents, then later, they need you.” (p. 119) Marji is thinking about a concept still used in society today. Once children turn eighteen, they suddenly become an adult even without consideration to whether or not they hold the ability to be active and successful in society.
Once people reach adulthood, it is assumed that they are mature and capable of being active in a society but, reaching maturity requires much more than aging another day. Maturity is achieved not only by experience, but it is also scientific. In an article published by Psychology Today called The Marks of Maturity, Tim Elmore described this coming of age by writing “The frontal lobes of the brain which are responsible for high level reasoning and decision making aren’t fully mature until the early 20s, according to Deborah Yurgelun-Todd, a neuroscientist at Harvard’s Brain Imaging Center. There’s a portion of time when the child part of the brain has been pruned, but the adult portion is not fully formed. They are “in-between.” They are informed but not prepared.” Yurgelun-Todd and Tim Elmore are describing that we truly aren’t capable of being fully independent or mature to the majority of situations until our brains are fully developed. From her understanding, society forces our children to age too quickly for what we are scientifically capable of doing.
Of course, as a society we classify children into groups based on their actions and responses to situations; this is how we decide if someone is mature or not. In order to obtain the status of being mature, one must prove their maturity to an elder. Marjane demonstrates her pursuit of being recognizably mature throughout Persepolis in many ways including her stories of failed attempts to be a part of the political uprising. Satrapi displays this when she writes “When I finally understood the reasons for the revolution I made my decision. Tomorrow we (Marji and Maid) are going to demonstrate. [...] we shouted from morning till night.” (p. 38) By Marjane demonstrating for the Republic, she is displaying that she knows what is occurring around her. Her decision to demonstrate provided her with the feeling of independence, a feeling that she was able to make it in the world without her elders. But this feeling did not last long. Following the demonstration, Marjane writes “it was really our own who attacked us.” Marjane was well informed about why the war was occurring, but wasn’t able to comprehend the consequences of the war.
Following the demonstration, Marjane discovers the punishments faced by prisoners and citizens. The demonstration served as a turning point to Marjane as she began to experience the consequences of war. During a conversation with an ex-prisoner, Marjane discovers these graphic punishments. Satrapi shares her story when she writes “‘Our torturers received special training from the C.I.A.’ ‘Real scientists!!! They knew each part of the body. They knew where to hit!’ ‘Look! On your soles there are nerves that lead directly to the brain. They whipped me with thick electric cables so much that this looks anything like a foot.’ ‘Not to mention putting out their cigarettes on our backs and thighs…’ My parents were so shocked that they forgot to spare me this experience.” (p. 51) Marjane once again is recognizing that she was not as mentally developed as she had thought. She has realized that despite knowing much of the politics around the war, she was not able to understand the entirety that war had consisted of.
Persepolis shows the story of the coming of age and pursuit of maturity for Marjane during the Islamic Revolution. Marjane believed that she needed to prove her maturity in a difficult situation by displaying her political knowledge, but she recognized that she is unable to comprehend every aspect of war. Her story stands to prove scientific evidence collected by many researchers that we are not able to fully mature and comprehend all that we need to know until our brains our fully developed. As we continue to discuss scientific maturity, it is important to recognize that there is no true way to determine if somebody is mature or not; maturity is much up to interpretation just as opinions are.
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