How The Puffing of The First Cigarette Marks The Puberty Completion

“Koofff! Kofff! Kofff!!! It was awful. But this was not the moment to give in. With this first Cigarette, I kissed childhood goodbye. Now I was a grown-up.” (Satrapi, 117) Marjane states these words right after she completes puberty from a puff of a cigarette. In this powerful scene of Marjane's life, she smokes a cigarette that she stole from her uncle. After she smokes this cigarette, she believes that she now is capable of becoming an adult. Through the imagery of her reaction, she truly believes that she has reached adulthood.

The First Puff of a Cigarette as a Symbol of Puberty Completion

During Marjane’s experimentation with cigarettes, she seems nervous and very skeptical. On the top comic strip, her face seems skeptical. When she is looking at the cigarette, she seems nervous. She is looking at the cigarette and states “Naturally, the regime became more repressive.” She is thinking to herself that she wants to be different than what the government or society tells her to be. She wanted to be rebellious, and one of the ways to complete her goal is to smoke the cigarette. However, her face says she is contemplating the decision. She looks to be unsure if smoking would be a wise decision. This internal conflict is symbolic of the larger struggle she faces against societal expectations and norms. After she decides she wants to become a rebel, she lights the cigarette. Her face becomes even more hesitant as she lights the cigarette. In her mind, she knows that smoking is a rebellious action, however, it is not an intelligent one. Therefore, she is skeptical about smoking her first cigarette.

Marjane does not enjoy her cigarette as she smokes it. When she takes her first “puff,” her face shows disgust and unsatisfactory. Slightly after, she coughs abruptly with tears out of her eyes. Her eyes are open wide and her eyebrows are angled high. When someone has this type of face, it is evident that they are experiencing something unsatisfactory. The unsatisfactory she is experiencing is from the cigarette that she is smoking. This reaction highlights the tension between her desire to grow up quickly and the harsh reality of adult actions.

The final picture in the strip is most alarming. After she continues to smoke the cigarette, she begins to tear more. She states “It was awful, but this was not the moment to give in.” She computes in her mind that she has to smoke. It seems as if she thinks of smoking her cigarette as something she had to do. However, it is alarming the reasoning why she believes she has to smoke the cigarette. The final picture shows Marjane with her cigarette in hand and with a strict face. She states “With this first cigarette, I kissed Childhood Goodbye. Now I was a grown-up.” She acts as if she is an adult after she smokes the cigarette. In the picture, her arm is in a position that an adult would do if he/she was yelling at a child. Her facial expressions show that she is in a state of mind that is serious and mature. She is trying to say with her smoking for the first time, she has become an adult. I believe that Marjane believes that now she does not need her mother. Even though on the surface she is trying to rebel against her mother, she is also trying to prove to herself that her mother is not necessary in her life anymore. This marks a significant transition in her personal identity and independence.

Conclusion

Marjane believes that she is an adult at the end of the comic strip. At first, she is uncomfortable and is skeptical about taking the drug. However, after she realizes that she had to do it in order to be an adult. This moment of rebellion is not just about the act of smoking, but about asserting her autonomy and confronting the complexities of growing up in a repressive society.

References

Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. Pantheon Books.