For most of our lives, we’ve been told “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Well, maybe we should. Every book tries to appeal to their intended audience in some way. Life narratives are no exception.
First, let’s look at 1000 Lashes: Because I Say What I Think by Raif Badawi. Raif is a Saudi blogger who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1000 lashes for “insulting Islam through electronic channels” (Badawi). The cover is a shade of orange, which makes the black and white of the letters and a picture of him pop out. However, what really pops out is that his picture doesn’t seem to be a photo, but rather a sketch of him, with many little ink slashes that compose him. Maybe this technique was used to represent the slashes that he has gotten and will get in the future. However, past all the slashes we see a normal guy. This really speaks to readers, not only with this book, but with any sort of media that shows struggle because this means that this could happen to anyone and it’s almost like he’s representing not just himself, but many of the Saudi people who wish to protest as well. It’s as Rushdie says on the back of the book the “struggle” that everyone has to face where he’s from, and everywhere else too (Bawadi). What seems interesting is that the way the picture looks sort of resembles a picture from a funeral, so it’s like Badawi is saying that he would die to fight to speak for himself and encourages others to do so as well. The title itself also makes an impact because we, in the western world think of freedom of speech as a normal human right, and we become outraged when someone denies us or someone else’s rights. That grabs us because we think its so normal and we can’t imagine a life without it, while here’s someone who has to. This book has a huge grab on readers. First, it appeals to our emotions because of our fury for him, as Whitlock said we needed in Protection (Whitlock). Secondly, it paints him as a rebel which is one of the reader’s favourite topics.
Another book we can observe is Robin Williams: When the Laughter Stops 1951-2014 by Emily Herbert. The entire cover is black and white, which we usually associate with either times of the past, like in movies, or in sadness, like at a funeral. Even his face, which we like to picture with a smile, looks like he’s trying to smile but just can’t manage too. Maybe this is to communicate the inner turmoil that he was going through during his moments of depression and to mirror the feelings his fans felt whenever they thought of him now. Similarly to the other book, almost everything about this cover makes it almost as if we’re at his tomb stone. Maybe this is to help the reader feel like someone is mourning with them and encourage them to read the book so that, perhaps they could relive the memories and maybe have a small part of him back. The book title also makes him seem very important, as if he were one of the only people to bring joy into this world and now we have to live in an entirely different world because of it. This will appeal to the readers because it strikes at the core of sadness and nostalgia that many of us experience, so the cover alone helps us feel sympathy and want to read more.
A lot of the time autobiographies seem to be about someone who has made a huge impact in the world no matter how. However, there are still many who suffer similar things and still don’t get published. Maybe these people were chosen because their punishments seemed especially harsh or their stories were the most relatable. Others could be chosen because it was just so unexpected. However, with the increase in channels to share our stories, maybe more voices will be heard.
Badawi, Raif. 1000 Lashes: Because I Say What I Think. Greystone Books, Canada, 2015. Print.
Herbert, Emily. “Robin Williams: When the Laughter Stops 1951-2014.” Amazon. 1 Oct. 2015. http://www.amazon.com/Robin-Williams-Laughter-Stops-1951%C2%962014/dp/1784183008/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1443756230&sr=8-7&keywords=autobiographies
Whitlock, Gillian. “Protection.” We Shall Bear Witness: Life Narratives and Human Rights. Ed. Meg Jenson and Margaretta Jolly. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 2014 80-99.
