Marjane Satrapi could have told her story just as easily in a straight autobiography, and I'm sure it would have made for a good read. But by telling it as a graphic novel, she brings a visual part to it that increases its impact. The graphics themselves are plain black and white drawings, but her ability to use imagery to tell the story along with the dialogue and narration makes them as effective as if they were in full color as a film.
The visual element allows her to include the offstage, and imagined part that the reader normally has to do on their own. Instead of having the information as separate incidents, where its impact is reduced by removing it from the context of the story, we see things as they happen. In my opinion this technique increases the emotional power of the moment. Something about the directness of her style that allows her to do two things: distinguish between individuals easily, especially portraying all the women as completely clothed in black (suggesting they are just objects that are all the same). It also allows her to make her own depiction of horrors, death, torture, and anguish, emotionally realistic without being graphic or gruesome.(Shawn Parkhurst, 21)
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