The phrase “May tulips grow from your blood” was born after a photograph was taken by Kaveh Rostamkhani of an Iranian woman praying while seated on the ground where soldiers are said to have bled during the Islamic Revolution war. Ever since their establishment in 1979, Iran has revered martyrdom and nationalism as two of the most important values shaping its cultural identity (Kifner, 1984). As of today, a symbolic cemetery designed to look like a foundation of blood still sits in Iran, standing as a testament to martyrdom and the honorable nationalism carried by young Iranian soldiers who died in the Iraq-Iraq war. Set against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution and its aftermath, Marjiane Strapi’s graphic novel unfolds at a time when these values were in their strongest form. The memoir delves into the political turmoil in Iran and the personal struggles faced by citizens through the perspective of Marji as she grows from a child into a young adult. Through Marji’s eyes, readers witness the life experiences and transformation of Marji and other young characters amidst war. Their narratives serve to illustrate how the Iranian government manipulates Iranians’ blind devotion to nationalism and martyrdom to suppress dissent and exploit the youth for their own agendas. 

As a general definition, martyrdom refers to an instance where an individual dies due to their religious or political convictions. Nationalism, on the other hand, refers to an intense or excessive love for one's own country (Cambridge Dictionary). As the story opens with the naive, young Marji, it reveals a society where manipulation of ideas regarding martyrdom and nationalism is ingrained in both the education system and the political atmosphere as a whole. In “The Bicycle” when Marji is a young schoolgirl, she confidently tells her parents that she loves the king because God chose him. When she is asked for a reason, she explains that it is what’s written on the very first-page of their school book. The  small detail indirectly illustrates the oppressive control excreted by the people in power of Iran even before the rule of the new Islamic regime. However, the nation’s attitude can be seen to have shifted eerily quickly after the fall of the Shah. Marji’s teacher who previously told her Shah was God’s chosen man rotates her attitude immediately and instructs children to tear the picture of Shah out of their textbooks. The action demonstrates the blind loyalty Iranians bear to their country regardless of truth due to their deeply-rooted religious devotion. The Islamic government, which understands this fundamental weakness that lies in its people’s fanatical and instinctive nationalism, actively exploits it and uses it to its advantage.  Oppressive control from the government therefore spans across every corner of the education system to gain political dominance. Being young people vulnerable to indoctrination,  Marji along with her classmates developed strong patriotic feelings in reaction to the political propaganda. Marji, for one, presents herself as an outspoken patriot who is willing to fight for her country. She holds in high esteem those who do fight and die for Iran. Marji romanticizes heroism and views martyrdom as particularly admirable. Her emerging patriotism even allows her to place the needs of her country above her own childhood, as she claims she is willing to set aside her “prophetic destiny” to fight for her nation. Her selfless nationalism is also echoed among her peers. For instance, In another part of The Bicycle, Marji and her friends can be seen to be armed and chanting “Down with the King!” (11), despite their young age and probable incomprehension with war violence. Then, over the course of the war, the manipulation of nationalism by the new government only intensifies. In school, Marji and other young people were presented with reports on the war twice a day and were required in self-flagellation to mourn the dead, or in their case, the martyrs. At this point, Marji even associates the action of “hitting yourself” as “one of our country’s rituals”. This twisted glorification of martyrdom, through its constant reinforcement on young children, can, unfortunately, be seen to be effective in brainwashing Iran’s youth with Marji’s constant display of rather extreme patriotism. This indoctrination designed to instill a sense of nationalistic pride and loyalty to the regime is made at the expense of critical thinking and individual autonomy.

The Iranian regime further displays its exploitation of Iranian nationalism and deeply rooted admiration for martyrdom by manually twisting events of violence to fit its own narrative, such as portraying deaths as noble sacrifices for the nation. On page 32 of “Persepolis”, a man who died of cancer, is depicted in stark white, contrasting with the black figures around him. Despite being dead from cancer and having no political affiliation, the man is hailed as an honorable martyr who sacrificed himself for the new regime. The white clothing of the dead men versus the people wearing black surrounding him paints the impression of an almost saintly figure, which highlights the supposed “honorable sacrifice” he made in the eyes of the new regime’s supporters. This manipulation of the corpse effectively demonstrates the regime's ability to exploit religious and cultural beliefs surrounding martyrdom to rally opposition, particularly in a society deeply rooted in Islamic practices. Further in the novel, the new regime as acknowledged by Marji, even “eventually admitted that the survival of the regime depended on the war.” (The Cigarette, 114). The panel in which the quote appears illustrates gory scenes on the battlefield where young men, regardless of political standing (both modernist and fundamentalists), are being blown up and violently killed by gunfire. At this stage, Marji also becomes frustrated over the regime decision to reject peace offered by Irap, becoming aware that the only goal for the Iranian government at this stage is to maintain political domnaince over its citizens, even if it means losing the lives of many. Marji, still a minor at the yet, also describes her sense of being “struck” as she sees a gory image of a person physically demonstrating the new regime’s slogan “To die a martyr is to inject blood into the veins of society”. It serves as a symbolic representation of the sacrifice the new regime demands from Iran's youth as a way of perpetuating war so they can keep control of the people. The slogan also circulates back to Marij as she experiences the death of the people around her as a young Iranian. This concept of using a violent conflict with a foreign nation as a form of nationalist propaganda serves as a display to show the reality of how nationalism is manipulated to justify acts of violence and oppression by the Islamic government. 

The government uses the concept of martyrdom to justify its actions suppress dissent, and gather young military forces. “The Key” is an important chapter that illustrates how the Islamic regime brainwashes young boys to become soldiers. Through glorification and deception,  the Islamic regime indoctrinated young boys (14-year-olds) that dying as a martyr is a favorable outcome. By exploiting their blind devotion to nationalism and religion, the regime brainwashed the young, and notably poor – thus uneducated Iranians that if they were lucky enough to die on the battlefield with a golden plastic key on their neck, they would be granted an afterlife in paradise that is “even better than Disneyland”, with food, women, and endless wealth awaiting (The Key, 103). As Marji’s cousin recounts with horror, the government just “hypnotizes them and just tosses them in battle" (101). The keys to paradise, of course, turned out to be just another one of the government’s manipulation tactics toward Iranian’s lower-class youth. The young character’s fate was eventually reduced to being “exploded on the minefields with their keys around their necks” (102). 

Through Marjane Satrapi’s depiction of Marji’s and other young Iranian’s character’s experience of being indoctrinated through the education system and direct verbal manipulation from the Iranian government, readers can witness how the regime unethically exploits the deeply-rooted nationalism and admiration for martyrdom possessed by the Iranian people to selfishly possess political dominance.