Persepolis

Observation: Both the graphic novels Persepolis and Maus are based on historical events in life.

Question: In what ways do these novels differ?

Answer: In Maus, we are given a story about the Holocaust. Artie is writing a comic about the struggles his father faced during this event. This novel begins with a first person introduction, but as we progress the narrative shifts to second person from son to dad. We still view Artie as the main character throughout the novel, but the main focus is on his father's story.

In Persepolis, we are being told from the point of view of a young girl growing into a young adult. She is telling her story straight from memory. Maus does this in the same way, but the information is being transferred through Artie to the audience. Marjane Satrapi shares her story, whereas, Artie works to get his from Vladek.

Question: What role does her family history and the stories of her relatives play in shaping Marjane?

Answer: Marjane admires her parents and is definitely influenced by them. Mr. and Mrs. Satrapi demonstrated every day. After marching and throwing stones at the army, they would come home exhausted. Many people lost their lives and were shot at, but her parents continued to protest.

Another example is when Mrs. Satrapi refuses to wear a veil. Her mother was completely against the idea and decides to challenge it. A German journalist takes a photograph of her which ends up being published in every European newspaper. In the next panel, we see Marjane looking at the picture saying how proud she was of her mother. Her parents inform her of what is going on and do not try to sugar-coat any of the details. Even at a young age, Marjane is outspoken. Much of what Marjane believes in stems from her parents and plays a role in shaping her life.

Adrian Tomine

Observation: The mood captured in Adrian Tomine's short stories in Sleepwalk tend to be depressing.

Question: What examples can be given to justify Tomine's style of writing?

Answer: Tomine narrates every part of his comics step-by-step. He follows Hayden White's narrative arc by including a beginning, middle, and end. Tomine does not give a definite conclusion to readers, but rather keeps us guessing at the possibilities of each story. Take Lunch Break for example, the mood is completely silent. We are introduced to the sound of the afternoon news channel, not a single word spoken. There are thirteen panels with no text. This woman lives in a house of utter loneliness and just the memory of her dead husband. Sound depressing? I think so. Many of the other short stories included in Sleepwalk deal with self-isolation, lack of closure and a sense of hopelessness. Whether not readers consider Tomine's stories as literary or pretentious is up to the individual.

Question: How do the panels drawn in Sleepwalk contribute to mood of Tomine's short stories?

Answer: One of the easiest ways to distinguish the art in Tomine's Sleepwalk is to compare it to Jimmy Corrigan. There is no color, Tomine keeps it simple with black-and-white. I think that Tomine chose not to include color because the main focus is supposed to be on the story. Color tends to enhance or distract the dialog in comics. The panels are all about the same size and shape. There is flow from panel to panel in Sleepwalk which makes it an easy read. In Understanding Comics, McCloud refers to comic readers being conditioned by other media and the "real time" of everyday life to expect a linear progression. A straight line from point A to point B makes this the perfect comic for a beginner.

Maus & White

• Typically, I'd pick up a fantasy novel at a local bookstore before I would a comic. So when I cracked open Maus by Art Spiegelman, you could imagine my surprise. The graphic novel was captivating. His illustrations were a brilliant take on a historical event such as the Holocaust.
  
  I was able to relate with his brave, yet, cartoonish characters -- Artie and Vladek. The two are mice in the novel who share an intimate and tragic family story with the readers. Artie's mother, Anna, committed suicide. She was torn about losing her son, Artie's older brother he never knew existed, in the Holocaust. Since Anna died while Artie was a youngster, he never really knew his mother. Artie depends on his father's memory to learn more about his dead mother and brother.
  
  The storyline was a clever way to teach young people like myself nearly fifty years removed from the Holocaust. Aside from dry history books and vintage black-and-white documentaries, I didn't know how truly devasting it was for those who died and lost relatives in the massacre. Even generations after the event took place. You can read books and watch films, but the comic made you feel connected with the characters. In this case, Artie and Vladek. So even though Artie wasn't alive during the Holocaust inadvertently his life was ruined as well. He lost his mother and a brother in the process.

• What is the significance of the animals (mice, cats, pigs) in Maus: My Father Bleeds History?

Mice were used to represent the Jewish people of the Holocaust. A mouse is looked at as a dirty rodent that needs to be exterminated. People pay top dollar to have them ripped, trapped, and poisoned from their homes. The Nazis did the same. Cats were portrayed as Nazis and the Polish officers were pigs. As for the cats, well, those are natural predators. They chase to kill. The Polish police are pigs who are usually the first to squeal or snitch on you. In all, it seems like no matter how determined you are, not all the mice in the world can be eliminated. Millions of Jewish people were killed in the Holocaust; this is one survivor's tale.

• What is the significance of the epigraph given by Adolf Hitler in this novel?
  

I think that Art Spiegelman chose to include the quote, “The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human...” because it sets the tone for this novel. While I was reading Maus, it dawned on me that these mice were real people. As the reader, we don’t see people based off of their race. We see mice, cats, and pigs. Art Spiegelman gives us the opportunity to challenge this quote.

Art Spiegelman's take on the Holocaust was innovative and a great way to storytell. He had the foresight to tell his story in a way that bridges the generation gap of older book readers and young tech savvy bloggers.