"I want people in other countries to read Persepolis, to see that I grew up just as other children do."
Marjane Satrapi
"Graphic Narrative as Witness"
page 138

"I realized then that I didn't understand anything. I read all the books I could."
Marjane Satrapi
Persepolis
page 32

I think it is really to point out this quote that Satrapi made of herself and her book. I know for me, there is no way that I grew up like her. Yes, I understand that she was a child once, as all of us are at some point, but not everyone has to live through what she lived through. I know I grew up very differently from Satrapi, and I never had to live through a civil war, or an uprising, or persecution. Yes, I struggled growing up, but I never feared for my life, even though I did grow up in Flint, Michigan, a very dangerous city to grow up in.
There is some truth to her quote though, and that is coming to realization of when one loses their naivete. I feel that Satrapi portrays this aspect of herself on page thirty-two in the last frame. It is at this point that Satrapi is tired of asking for answers and having to have everything explained to her, or not explained fully, and she wants to know the whole truth, so she buys a bunch of books and teaches herself about what is going on around her. This is almost like shrugging off her childhood in order to be more aware of her surroundings, even if her surroundings are morbid and dangerous.
I remember our discussion in class the other day, and I remember a few of my classmates said that she lost her childhood and naivete when she wondered about the theater fire, but I think that its in this scene on page thirty-two, because this is her wanting to grow up, and wanting to know what is going on with the world; children don't often seek to find the answers to war, or violence, but she does, and she gets rid of her naivete to do so.