The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the novel "Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return" by Marjane Satrapi. Specifically it will discuss the idea of "what if" in the novel. What if Marjane had not married Reza? Would her life have been different? Would she have stayed in Iran?
             Everyone seemed to tell Marjane not to marry Reza, but she did, even though she had misgivings, too. She thought, "I'm only twenty-one! I haven't seen anything yet! But I love him! How an I knew if he's the man of my life without having lived with him?" (Satrapi 158). If she had not married him, her life would have been different. First, she would not have felt "trapped" in her apartment as a married woman. She would not have had to have separate beds with her husband, and she would not have been so unhappy and fighting with him all the time. If she had not married Reza, she might not have gone back to school, and that would have really changed her life, because in school she learned creativity, how to draw, and she certainly would not have met the mayor, who showed her just how uninterested the regime was in anything other than their own ideas and beliefs.
             If she had not married Reza, she might not have gotten the job drawing, and seen how the regime repressed everything from the media to parties and celebrations, and she might not have had the feeling that she had to get out of this country to live her life. She says to her friend, "I can't take it anymore. I want to leave this country!" (Satrapi 183). She comes back because it is her home and her family is there, and Europe was a disaster, but the longer she stays, the more dissatisfied she becomes. If she had not married Reza, this dissatisfaction may not have happened so quickly, and she might have stayed in the country because she did not have anywhere else to go, and her family was there.
             Ultimately, this book might not have been written if she had not marr...