Throughout Western education, the concept of the winner writing the history books is truly embodied as great tales are spun about the accomplishments of the British Empire or American Veterans recalling the trauma of World War II. However, the Third World, which occupies four-fifths of the planet, is very much brushed to the side with the broad umbrella teachings of being poor, uneducated, uncivilized and ultimately needing to be saved by the West. The past fundamentally affects how we act in the present as we learn from our mistakes and to only critically analyze a select portion of history based on how well the West will be perceived by it is a great injustice to the sufferings of a majority of the world. This is the main concept that can be read from Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Parade by Patricia Grace as both present very simple stories of women in Iran and New Zealand respectively. Both of these women live in cultures that are being marginalized or forgotten by their governments and detail how the
se women react to the rebellions that they witness. To further understand the importance of these texts, I will be applying Marianne Hirschs theory of postmemory and Assia Djebars theory of anamnesis to the main characters. The effects of postmemory enfold in different ways in these texts as it becomes clear Marji needs to move on from the influences of her postmemory that is continuing to hold her back while the narrator of Parade ultimately embraces how postmemory affects her to feel connected with her family again. Furthermore, the struggle with past and present can be seen in the simple choice of language. The authors of these texts, much like the characters within them, struggle with conveying their culture the way they want it read while also having to write in the language of their colonizers. Ultimately, both of these texts portray how colonizers have slowly been wiping away other cultures and how these effects can not only go completely unnoticed but how they can continue to affect later generations.