Hello Everyone!

Most recently in class, we’ve been reading Safe Area Gorazde by Joe Sacco. This graphic novel tells Sacco’s story as a journalist in Gorazde during the Bosnian War. Sacco’s art style is very different than the art style used in Persepolis, the first book we read for this class. Persepolis uses a much more minimalist style, while Safe Area Gorazde uses a much more detailed art style. This style allows for much more information to be transmitted through the images, and adds a completely different tone to the characters and story.

Firstly, it’s in the eyes. Eyes have been called “the gateway to the soul” and in Sacco’s illustrations, all characters except for himself have eyes. Sacco wears large, round, opaque glasses that cover his eyes. He’s one of the few characters in the that wears glasses, but the other ones that do you can see their eyes through the lenses. I liked Sacco’s choice to do this, it helped establish Sacco as a narrator, but not really a character in the story. He’s constantly surrounded by others who have these very detailed and expressive faces, the people this book is really about. I believe that Sacco drawing himself without eye shows the audience that while Sacco is the one telling us everything, he’s really just there to help relay information.

An interesting thing I noticed was how the book opened and closed with the same images, the only difference being which way the trucks were facing. The first page shows us a convoy headed down the Blue Road, surrounded by rubble and the remains of buildings. The last page shows a convoy in the same spot, with the trucks headed towards us. I really liked this visual aspect, the repition of the imagery helped close out the book.

I really enjoyed reading Safe Area Gorazde, I liked its depiction of the Bosnian War (a war I had not previously heard much about) and really liked the art style. Sacco’s choice to draw himself without eyes separates his character from the rest of the people, and ultimately makes the book focus more on the other characters and makes Sacco the narrator.

Hello Everyone!

In class as of late, we have been reading scholarly essays covering different texts. The general theme surrounding the texts is memory, our most recent reading solely having to do with memory. We began by reading Hillary Chute’s essay on Persepolis, where she detailed the book’s depiction of trauma and how no retelling can ever show the true horror that people faced in Iran. Next, we read Matthew Bolton’s essay on Running in the Family. His essay spoke on Linda Hutcheon’s concept of Historiographic Metafiction and how Running isn’t a true memoir. Most recently, we have read the introduction to Marita Sturken’s book on memory.

While in class we have been covering the themes and the author’s message for writing these pieces, what I have learned most from these is purely stylistic. Entering university, I didn’t know much about how a scholarly essay should look. I assumed that it would be written with a much more formal tone than my own writings, but I was unaware of how drastic of a difference that the two styles have.

One of the biggest transitions for me was the change in format. In high school whenever we were given the task of writing an essay, we had to use the 5 paragraph format. For those who don’t know what this is, it’s a very simple essay format where you begin with an introductory paragraph that usually ends in your thesis statement, then three body paragraphs where you give your main argument, and finished by an summary paragraph (some people like to start their summary paragraph by restating their thesis statement). However, this is not how scholars choose write their papers. From what I’ve observed, they tend to spend a lot more time on their introduction which will usually last a few pages. They then move into their analysis, which sometimes will begin with a critique on other scholars thoughts on the same subject. They do this because there may already a lot of other published pieces on the subject they’re writing about and they want theirs to stand out. They may go about this by taking a new stance or, in the case of Matthew Bolton, will use another scholar’s work/concept and apply that to the text.

Another thing about scholarly writing that we’ve been discussing in class is proper citation. Something I learned was how to give authority to the people you’re citing. This can be done in a few ways. For example let’s say I’m writing a psychology paper and I want to cite the psychologist John Doe, instead of just simply saying something like, “John Doe argues ________” I should give the person I’m citing a title to show their authority like, “Psychologist John Doe argues ________”.

These in class discussions on scholarly writing are really helping me to become a stronger writer. They are showing me better ways to communicate my argument, and how to do it in a more professional manner. I feel more confident in my ability to write a properly formatted essay, and defend my points.

Hello everyone!

For our class’ required reading, we have all been reading Persepolis. Persepolis is a graphic narrative by Marjane Satrapi, who tells her own story of growing up in Iran during the 1980’s. I’ve read this book twice before for other subjects . One aspect that has always stuck out to me is the art style. Satrapi’s drawings are all very minimalist, simply black ink on white paper. The art style is what I feel truly sets the tone of the book and helps tell the story and communicate the emotions Satrapi was feeling at the time.

Firstly, the black and white style very closely resembles that of a newspaper. The front cover of the paper may have a color photo for the headlining article, but the text and the vast majority of content is in black and white. The news is seen by many as the truth. It’s where they get their knowledge of what is going on in the world. Satrapi’s choice to utilize this art style makes her work feel more factual. Most comic books (or really any book with illustration for that matter) are full of bright colors which make them fun to read, but you don’t feel the same attachment to the story. What makes a narrative good and what makes a story compelling is the author’s ability to make things feel real.and nothing is more real than the truth.

the simple art style is very reminiscent of other comic books I read while I was growing up like Calvin and Hobbes and Peanuts. These books also tell stories of growing up, but Persepolis has a very different tone to it. While the former told stories of childhood innocence, Persepolis shows innocence lost. Satrapi’s simple art style gives almost a nostalgic feeling to her book. I found myself relating more to her character because of this. It made it easier to put myself in Marji’s shoes and try to imagine what the world was like for her as a kid, just like I used to with Calvin and Charlie Brown.

In conclusion, the art style is executed very well. The illustrations grip the reader. The black and white coloration mimics the newspapers, giving this story a true to life feel, and the simplistic drawing helps the reader relate with the protagonist, Marji.

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