2 thoughts on “Student Blogs”

1. ryan bednar December 3, 2015 at 2:09 pm

   Hey everybody. It’s the end of the term and we’ve finished all of our texts. After reading some of the class blogs about Persepolis the argument is generally that the graphic narrative is the best representation of trauma, and the simplistic drawings contrast the normality of violence, therefore representing trauma more effectively. After reading Safe Area Gorazde, however, the general agreement was that the detailed depictions were shocking and made Sacco’ work very effective at conveying this trauma. After reading both graphic narratives, there were questions of whether or not the trauma would be represented effectively if they were simply narratives without the graphics. This question can be somewhat answered after reading Obasan. Kogawa indeed had a very somber mood attached to her book, and she represents the trauma effectively in my opinion. However, there is a question that remains. What text conveyed trauma the best? What style was the most effective? I believe that Sacco had the biggest impact on me, and that his intricate illustrations were very shocking and represented trauma in the most effective way. Please let me know what your thoughts are, and it also gives you a chance to post your last comments!

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2. kate hammond December 3, 2015 at 11:19 pm

   Hey Ryan!

   I really liked your comment and it allowed me to reflect on the major texts that we read during our first term! I’ve been thinking about your question, “What text conveyed trauma the best?” and I agree with you that Sacco represented trauma in the most effective way. It took me a couple of minutes to decide between Persepolis and Safe Area Gorazde because I think that both graphic narratives convey trauma in very effective ways. After reading Persepolis, the simplistic drawings from a child’s perspective made trauma easier to take in, yet the realistic component of trauma was missing. Sacco brought much more realistic and violent images to Safe Area Gorazde, which although may have been hard to see at times, allowed me to grasp a better understanding of trauma.

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