I didn't know what justice was. Now that the Revolution was finally over once and for all, I abandoned the dialectic materialism of my comic strips. The only place I felt safe was in the arms of my friend.
Persepolis, 53
Here, Marjane continues a process of shedding the intellectual and spiritual structures that sustained her development as a child. The first structure to fall is her unwavering belief in the efficacy of the leftist revolutionary forces. Marjane's mother sends confusing messages telling Marjane both that she must forgive all while harboring deep hatred for those that tortured and persecuted the revolutionaries.
Marjane first attempts to take on the guise of the torturers whom she sees as having great power. She plays games in which she pretends to torture her friends. At first, she says that she has a feeling of "diabolical...power," but this feeling soon turns in self-loathing. Her mother can offer no political answer to how one should treat their enemies and so Marjane puts away the elementary politics of her youth and finds comfort in the arms of her God friend.