When writing any type of story, be it novel or poetry, fiction or nonfiction, academic or frivolous, an author must take into account the most effective way in which to effectively convey the message to their audience. Choosing the wrong form, or method of speaking to the reader, could lead to a drastic misunderstanding of the meaning of an author's content, or what exactly the author wants to say (Baldick 69). Even though there are slightly fewer words in a graphic novel than the average novel, an author can convey the same content and meaning through images that he or she could convey through 60,000 words. To do this, however, their use of form must be carefully considered and controlled. Marjane Satrapi, author of the memoir The Complete Persepolis, put a lot of effort into creating her panels to strengthen and emphasize her narrative, much as a novelist uses punctuation and paragraph breaks. Through her depiction of darkness and lightness, Satrapi demonstrates that literary content influences and is primary over form. Lightness and darkness have very different meanings in the human psyche as lightness is synonymous with innocence and naivety while darkness coincides with all things discouraging. and evil. Throughout the memoir, many situations are repeated but with varying degrees of severity. For example, on pages 113 and 145, Marjane is arguing with her mother. However, the former case is simply a minor act of pre-adolescent rebellion, while the latter hints at the possibility of state-sanctioned rape and execution. At first glance these pages are very similar; Marjane's mother is obviously angry and invades her daughter's personal space while lecturing, and... middle of paper... panels describing her actions, and the results of those actions, amplify the reassurance imparted with The Words of Satrapi. He was in no real danger, yet his hasty decision to draw the Guardians' attention to another could very well have proved deadly to his chosen scapegoat. In fact, the Guardian he asks for protection from the seemingly "indecent" man immediately responds to the situation with "Where is that bastard, I'll silence him once and for all!" This blunt and aggressive statement is written on the very few panels in this chapter that have a black background. It brings a temporary sense of fear and anxiety regarding whether or not the poor, confused man will fight the Guardians to try to maintain his freedom from completely false charges. The white backgrounds return when the reader learns that the man fortunately did not fight the armed group of men.