Arab In America Analysis

In Arab in America and Monster what it means to be American is defined by race, in The Walking Dead racial biased is less of an issue. When Tyrcee and his daughter and her boyfriend come upon Rick and there group, Rick is immediately welcoming to the outsiders and even says “we could make some room in the RV for you if you and your kids want to stick around”(13) as though he were inviting neighbors over. Rick is as welcoming to the strangers as Glenn and the rest of the group was to him when he joined the community. Although race is not a prominent issue in The Walking Dead, Lori does not think they should invite Tyreece and his family to come into the RV with them, she questions Rick for “inviting a stranger to sleep in the same room as
[them]” (13). Lori does not share the welcoming nature that Rick possess. Rick as the last outsider, is welcoming to others because of the invite he received to the community.
In Monster, Steve is on trial for felony murder. Steve’s lawyer, O’Brian, bases his defense on portraying the image that Steve is a young American kid that was in the wrong place, while the prosecutor Petrocelli is trying to dehumanize Steve and make him out to be a “Monster” in front of the jury. The prosecution tries to separate James King and Steve as criminals and not as Americans, in the eyes of the Jury by associating them with known criminals. The jury is supposed to look at the defendant without biased judgment, but instead some of the jury have already made their decision on the case, as evidenced by one juror’s comment “I don’t know why were wasting time. He’s as guilty as when I first laid eyes on him”(52). The jurors see him as a black African American male even though throughout the book he is depicted with childish features and is a minor, Steven and his lawyer not only have to win against the prosecution but also win against the racial bias of the jury.
In Arab in America, Toufic becomes an American citizen after he passes the test.
Around him he sees other immigrants that have passed the citizenship test and are celebrating with their families and taking pictures. Unfortunately, Toufic has experienced society’s racial bias and does not share in the celebration because he does not see how him becoming a citizen is going to change the way he is treated. The people that are prejudice towards him never know if he is a citizen or not. They just know what his skin color is and that is as far as they can see. The same pre-judgment and prejudice occurs in Steve in Monster. Even though every citizen is supposed to have basic rights, Steve has some of those rights violated because of his age and race. When Steve is taken into custody he is not treated as citizen should be. Steven’s mother questions his treatment by asking “why are you handcuffing my son if you just want to ask him a few questions”(72). His mother is not given any answers to the police barging into her house to arrest her son that is a minor. Everyone that Steve encounters in the judicial system ignores the fact that American citizens are free until proven guilty, but instead treat him as guilty until proven innocent because of
race.
The Zombie outbreak in The Walking Dead caused small communities of survivors to be created. Each community has its own group of members that are citizens of that communities as long as their civic duty is met. Whereas today in America civic duties include paying taxes and jury duty, civic duties in The Walking Dead consist of pulling your own weight and trying to better the community towards a future. While out hunting Carl is shot by a stranger who thought he was a zombie, the stranger Otis had no intention of shooting a kid but his fear for anything approaching his community lead him to shoot before knowing what he was shooting at. Although this is more extreme than people in America taking action against outsiders without knowledge first, it shows that being prejudice against something can lead to rights as a citizen to be taken away whether it is a TSA search, being taken into custody without cause or the right to survival.
In retrospect, Arab in America, Monster, and The Walking Dead all show how societies are affected by the changing definition of American and Citizen. Monster and Arab In America show how people can be divided between the normalized definition of American and the outsiders that are differentiated by their appearance. The Walking dead shows how this way of normalization, the survivors do not know much about what the walkers are, they just see a threat to their community. In Arab in America Toufic fears for his safety after never being identified as an American. In Monster a black teens trail is depicted to show race playing heavily on the juries decisions. When there are changes in society there are changes to social definitions, in The Walking Dead the survivors create new communities and roles for citizens. These graphic novels depict how race can affect social meanings while using Artwork to give further meaning and depth to the text it is representing.