Journey to Adulthood
"With this first cigarette, I kissed childhood goodbye. Now I was a grown up."
The moment Marjane decides to grow up was the moment she changed her whole future.
12 moments from Marjane's life:
1. Marjane tries to first act grown up. Marjane wants to join her parents and go to demonstrate with them but she is thought by them of as too young to go along, and this only makes her want to demonstrate even more. On page 17.
2. Marjane goes by herself to demonstrate. Marjane makes the decision herself to go out and demonstrate and becomes less dependent on her parents, instead she sneaks out by herself. On page 38
3. Marjane stops relying on God. Marjane decides that she does not want to speak to God anymore, someone she used to be so reliant on, and decides she never wants to see God again. On page 70.
4. Marjane attends her first party. Marjane goes to her first party and it is physically shown that she starts to act more like a teenager than a child. On page 102.
5. Marjane kisses childhood goodbye. Marjane decides she is done being treated like a child and tries her first cigarette to prove to herself she is now an adult. On page 117.
6. Marjane becomes a true teenager. Marjane acts more like a teenager than before when her parents risk their lives to bring her back posters from Turkey, and she does not really care, instead she acts like a bratty teenager. On page 130.
7. Marjane rebells like a teenager. Marjane goes out wearing clothes that are not considered appropriate, like her own teenager rebellion, but gets in trouble with the law. On page 133.
8. Marjane leaves for Austria alone. When Marjane's parents decide she needs to leave Iran and go to school in Austria, Marjane is not ready to leave her home, and it shows she is not ready to live alone and act like an adult. On page 153.
9. Marjane starts to find herself. Marjane developes her own group of friends, something she never had before, and starts to find herself through making a choice to be friends with this group instead of just falling into a group of friends like she did in her childhood. On page 167.
10. Marjane's mother treats her as an equal. Marjane's mother comes to visit her in Austria and offers Marjane a cigarette, something that used to seem so grown up to Marjane has now become her daily routine, and they start to bond more like friends than as a parent and child. On page 204.
11. Marjane makes a big decision of her own. Marjane's health has rapidly declined from living on the streets and she makes a decision for herself to return to Iran for her own personal health instead of letting other people decide for her. On page 242.
12. Marjane leaves home by her own choice. Marjane leaves home alone again, but this time by her own choice because she is doing what she thinks is best for herself, proving she is grown up enough to live alone and lead her own life. On page 341.
Description:
An image I found that really stood out to me was a picture of Marjane declaring she was done being a child. She is holding up a cigarette and decides it is time for her to be a grown up. I think this stood out to me because I remember going through a phase similar to how she is acting. By trying to smoke a cigarette, she is jumping into adulthood too fast and is not really understanding how to act like a grown up, but more how to look like one. In the picture, her face is very determined and driven and she is holding the cigarette in the air as a sort of declaration. From the expression on her face, it seems as though she has made this a final decision. In the images leading up to this one, Marjane is shown coughing and having trouble with the cigarette. In the image where she declares herself a grown up, she appears to look as though she knows what she is doing. She is done being treated like a child and is ready to be an adult. I think this really stood out to me because people always think I look younger than I am, and treat me more like a child than an adult. I can understand how she feels and why she would make the decision to be a grown up.
The caption of the picture is a speech bubble from Marjane that says, "with this first cigarette, I kissed childhood goodbye." And in the caption it says, "now I was a grown up." I think that this was striking to me because I went through a similar phase and understand why she acts like this. I think Marjane wants to be heard by her parents and feels like she is being treated like a child. When she says that she kissed her childhood goodbye, she decides to force herself to grow up. For most people adulthood comes naturally, like through puberty or even life experiences. Majane is making herself act older when she is too young because she is unaware of what growing up means for her. She sounds like she has made a decision from this and forces herself to act more grown up by having her first cigarette and ending her childhood.
I think that by having the cigarette, Marjane made a conscious decision to end childhood for herself. Most people do not want to leave their childhood, but she is eager to grow up. She wants to be heard and be treated as an equal by her parents and other adults around her. She forces herself to grow up by trying a cigarette and kissing her childhood goodbye, I think that this image was chosen because it illustrates that she still looks physically like a child, even when she is holding the cigarette,Marjane is already a mature child, but she wants to look older by trying something generally used by adults. The cigarette gives her an older status and makes her feel more adult even if she is still a child inside.
*The image I chose was on page 117 in the bottom right corner*
