In "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi, the narrator compares the wait for her father to come home to "the same silence as before a storm" because:
The silence before a storm is broken by awful thunders and heavy rain. Similarly, the silence in her home as she, her mother, and her grandmother waited for her father to return could be broken by awfulnews.
"Persepolis" is a graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi based on her life experiences as child in Iran during the revolution.
In the story, the narrator is also just a child. Her father has left home to take pictures of the demonstrators out in the streets.
Taking photos was forbidden, and her father had been arrested before.
The family was now afraid something worse might happen to him.
They waited for him in complete silence. The narrator compares that situation to the silence before a storm.
It is that calm moment before something terrible happens.
With the storm, it is the heavy rain and the thunders. With the family, it could be the bad news of the father's death.
The narrator comes from the Midwest. The excerpt describes one of the reasons he and many others moved to the big Eastern cities, especially New York: ambition. Life in the Midwest seemed small and limited compared to the bustling metropolis, which offered more possibilities for advancement, and the desire for wealth is one of the themes in <em>The Great Gatsby</em>. As Sinatra, would later sing, "If I can make it there I'll make it anywhere".
