Persepolis Part 1

On page 95 of Persepolis there is an image of Marjane and her classmates beating their chest as a daily ritual in their classroom. She said that this was their way of honoring those who had died at war. The next page showed some panels that described how some of the men went as far as to beat themselves with chains or even cut themselves with knives. These panels stuck out to me because I recently watched a show on the National Geographic Channel about different cultures and how they honored their war dead. Their was one country, I don't remember which, that once a boy was a certain age, which was not very old, they were allowed to buy razor blades which they held in the palm of their hands and slapped their chest with during an yearly ceremony. They felt that it was honorable to make themselves suffer like their ancestors in war had. It was a very powerful image after they were finished. There were young boys, around the age of ten maybe younger, that had blood gushing from hundreds of cuts on their chest. I realize this is something they believe is right to do, but it is an act I will never understand. Is it really necessary to injure oneself in order to honor those who have fallen in the name of country?

Connecting this to the war poems that we read, I once again am reminded of "War is Kind" by Stephen Crane. Judging from how Marjane's life is playing out, war only has a negative effect on one's being. It is not nice and caring or compassionate as something that is kind would be described. It is not kind to have to beat oneself to honor the dead. If a young boy's father died in battle, would he want his son to suffer physically? I would hope not. His father more than likely went to war so his family didn't have to suffer. Isn't saying a prayer to honor his memory enough?