Coming of Age in Exile

Coming of Age in Exile

The idea of being sent into exile has been depicted countless times in world literature, and can be a frightening prospect. Many obstacles come to mind that one might face in becoming a fish out of water in a new country with a immensely different culture. Two women who personally experienced this exile in their adolescence are Marjane Satrapi and Jamaica Kincaid, who both wrote about their time in exile in the books Persepolis and Lucy, respectively. While both women had highly unique experiences in their personal times of exile in regard to being in a foreign culture, there are certain issues and themes that every adolescent female explores, whether they are in exile or in their native culture. The real-life characters Marjane in Persepolis and Lucy in Lucy, both similarly go through typical stages of adolescence concerning alienation and loneliness, rebellion, and blossoming sexuality, even while coming to terms with exile and starting a new life in an unfamiliar culture.

Adolescence is a time of struggling to find an identity for most females, and often a time when the most important thing is to be accepted. Even in a strange and foreign place like Austria, fitting in and acceptance by peers is a significant priority to Marjane who is shipped off by her parents from her home in Iran. Regardless of her surroundings, Marjane wants to be liked by her peers. She begins gaining popularity by excelling at math, which makes her “very popular when it came to math homework” (Satrapi 165). Many young women struggle with alienation for being different in some way. It could be due to looking or talking differently, or just not being considered cool. For Marjane it was a combination of these factors causing “the misery of [her] isolation” (206). Like many teenagers, Marjane isn’t too picky about who her friends are, as she simply “need[s] to fit in” (173), and ends up associating with a group of similarly alienated youth who accept Marjane. It is...