What Are Graphic Novels: Are They Worthy Of Being Taught?
Graphic Novels: Are They Worthy of Being Taught?
Since the dawn of man to present day, illustrations have always been an effective way of storytelling. From cave paintings to graphic novels, this form of literature has always been able to tell stories the same way more traditional works have done. In Art Spiegelman’s graphic novels Maus I and Maus II, he looks into the horrid events of the Holocaust by interviewing his father, Vladek Spiegelman, who was a Jew living in Auschwitz, Poland at the time. Through interviewing his father, Spiegelman learns of the vile events that his father has gone through. He retells his father’s experiences through his detailed works of art. Although many are against graphic novels and call them unorthodox, graphic …show more content…
novels like Maus I and Maus II which educates the reader with the same qualities a novel offers deserve to be taught in an English classroom because they help audiences understand the author’s words.
Graphic novels help readers accurately visualise what the author intends for them to see. In the Maus series, where the truth of the situation is hidden from many people the artwork can help unveil the horror that was in fact a reality. With the extra element of pictures on top of descriptions, the graphic novel can be interpreted fully. This was the case in Maus II when Vladek came down with typhus and declares that“...Now it’s my time. Now I will be laying like this ones and somebody will step on me!” (Spiegelman 95), while the text already gives off a feeling of dreadfulness, the illustration provides the reader with the odious experience Vladek had to overcome. Vladek describes the gassing process as “...everybody crowded inside into the shower room, the door closed...and the lights turned dark…between 3 and 30 minutes...it depended on how much gas they put...soon..nobody [was]...alive” (Spiegelman 71). When Vladek verbally describes the gas chamber and furnace room used to burn the bodies of the Jews after gassing, Art has a difficult time imagining it but he spares us from the same fate by illustrating Vladek’s words. If this particular scene was written about in a standard novel, the readers would not have been able to accurately picture what the gas chamber and ovens would look like.
Graphic novels not only entertain readers, but they also educate and allow readers to reflect upon the story.
This is shown in Spiegelman's Maus I when Vladek talks about how the Jews children were treated. He says, "Some kids were screaming and screaming. They couldn’t stop. So the Germans swinged them by the legs against the wall…and they never anymore screamed" (Spiegelman 108). Vladek’s witness to these gruesome executions show us what victims of the Holocaust endured. It educates the audience and it puts the readers in the shoes of the victims and what they underwent. Graphic novels also serve a purpose of educating readers through the use of short texts in the panels. When Art was driving with his wife he tells her of his conflicting feelings by stating, “I guess it’s some kind of guilt about having an easier life than they did… I feel so inadequate trying to reconstruct a reality that was worse than my darkest dream” (Spiegelman 16). Since his father went through the Holocaust while he didn't, it makes him think about his father’s perspective and it educates him about what his father endured. Just as Art analysed the Holocaust from interviewing his father, through his art, his graphic novels also allows the reader to look into the events of the Holocaust. There may be a lot of lessons students are missing out on just because graphic novels are not used very often within an English
classroom.
While some people criticise the use of graphic novels in the classroom, they can be very useful as they are universal. The images speak for themselves and the readers can often infer what is going on without reading any text. In short, graphic novels can educate people who may not speak the language of the graphic novel itself or those with conditions that hinders their understanding of words. In both of the Maus books, the story and characters are drawn with such detail that even a young child could understand what is going on. The scenes found in the graphic novel such as the gas chamber scene where victims of the Holocaust are gassed to death by the Nazis are very expressive through the the facial expressions and body postures. These scenes can be interpreted without reading the text and it also triggers the reader’s response of sympathy towards when characters are drawn as being affected negatively in the panels. The images that Spiegelman creates are very expressive and powerful as they capture the feelings of despair and hopelessness through the character’s gestures and actions. The Maus series truly makes the reader visualise themselves in the character’s place and the grisly things that they go through. These feelings are harder to achieve when reading novels since they do not contain illustrations and the reader are limited to only roughly visualise a scene with the text provided on the pages.
Graphic novels should be taught in English classrooms because the drawings help readers to fully picture the story that is being taught. These illustrated works of art have authenticated their benefits and worth by helping readers correctly comprehend the message that the author is trying to send. While others may disregard the value of graphic novels, they can be easily understood by people who do not speak the language of the graphic novel as they can connect what is going on based on the images. The illustrations in graphic novels not only compensate for the lack of text but they also display the character’s emotions clearly which makes it very easy to interpret. Graphic novels are a useful and effective teaching material that English classes could benefit from if it is incorporated as a part of the curriculum.
Since the dawn of man to present day, illustrations have always been an effective way of storytelling. From cave paintings to graphic novels, this form of literature has always been able to tell stories the same way more traditional works have done. In Art Spiegelman’s graphic novels Maus I and Maus II, he looks into the horrid events of the Holocaust by interviewing his father, Vladek Spiegelman, who was a Jew living in Auschwitz, Poland at the time. Through interviewing his father, Spiegelman learns of the vile events that his father has gone through. He retells his father’s experiences through his detailed works of art. Although many are against graphic novels and call them unorthodox, graphic …show more content…
novels like Maus I and Maus II which educates the reader with the same qualities a novel offers deserve to be taught in an English classroom because they help audiences understand the author’s words.
Graphic novels help readers accurately visualise what the author intends for them to see. In the Maus series, where the truth of the situation is hidden from many people the artwork can help unveil the horror that was in fact a reality. With the extra element of pictures on top of descriptions, the graphic novel can be interpreted fully. This was the case in Maus II when Vladek came down with typhus and declares that“...Now it’s my time. Now I will be laying like this ones and somebody will step on me!” (Spiegelman 95), while the text already gives off a feeling of dreadfulness, the illustration provides the reader with the odious experience Vladek had to overcome. Vladek describes the gassing process as “...everybody crowded inside into the shower room, the door closed...and the lights turned dark…between 3 and 30 minutes...it depended on how much gas they put...soon..nobody [was]...alive” (Spiegelman 71). When Vladek verbally describes the gas chamber and furnace room used to burn the bodies of the Jews after gassing, Art has a difficult time imagining it but he spares us from the same fate by illustrating Vladek’s words. If this particular scene was written about in a standard novel, the readers would not have been able to accurately picture what the gas chamber and ovens would look like.
Graphic novels not only entertain readers, but they also educate and allow readers to reflect upon the story.
This is shown in Spiegelman's Maus I when Vladek talks about how the Jews children were treated. He says, "Some kids were screaming and screaming. They couldn’t stop. So the Germans swinged them by the legs against the wall…and they never anymore screamed" (Spiegelman 108). Vladek’s witness to these gruesome executions show us what victims of the Holocaust endured. It educates the audience and it puts the readers in the shoes of the victims and what they underwent. Graphic novels also serve a purpose of educating readers through the use of short texts in the panels. When Art was driving with his wife he tells her of his conflicting feelings by stating, “I guess it’s some kind of guilt about having an easier life than they did… I feel so inadequate trying to reconstruct a reality that was worse than my darkest dream” (Spiegelman 16). Since his father went through the Holocaust while he didn't, it makes him think about his father’s perspective and it educates him about what his father endured. Just as Art analysed the Holocaust from interviewing his father, through his art, his graphic novels also allows the reader to look into the events of the Holocaust. There may be a lot of lessons students are missing out on just because graphic novels are not used very often within an English
classroom.
While some people criticise the use of graphic novels in the classroom, they can be very useful as they are universal. The images speak for themselves and the readers can often infer what is going on without reading any text. In short, graphic novels can educate people who may not speak the language of the graphic novel itself or those with conditions that hinders their understanding of words. In both of the Maus books, the story and characters are drawn with such detail that even a young child could understand what is going on. The scenes found in the graphic novel such as the gas chamber scene where victims of the Holocaust are gassed to death by the Nazis are very expressive through the the facial expressions and body postures. These scenes can be interpreted without reading the text and it also triggers the reader’s response of sympathy towards when characters are drawn as being affected negatively in the panels. The images that Spiegelman creates are very expressive and powerful as they capture the feelings of despair and hopelessness through the character’s gestures and actions. The Maus series truly makes the reader visualise themselves in the character’s place and the grisly things that they go through. These feelings are harder to achieve when reading novels since they do not contain illustrations and the reader are limited to only roughly visualise a scene with the text provided on the pages.
Graphic novels should be taught in English classrooms because the drawings help readers to fully picture the story that is being taught. These illustrated works of art have authenticated their benefits and worth by helping readers correctly comprehend the message that the author is trying to send. While others may disregard the value of graphic novels, they can be easily understood by people who do not speak the language of the graphic novel as they can connect what is going on based on the images. The illustrations in graphic novels not only compensate for the lack of text but they also display the character’s emotions clearly which makes it very easy to interpret. Graphic novels are a useful and effective teaching material that English classes could benefit from if it is incorporated as a part of the curriculum.