Toca Lynch Anthony Borrero English 1101 21 September 2011 Graphic Novel All through high school we were

taught to analyze literacy because, apparently, there is no such thing as straight forward writing. I have read countless numbers of literary pieces in which there was an underlying theme, symbol, or motif of some sort. Honestly, I think that this is the most ridiculous thing Ive ever heard of. If an author wants someone to read their work, wouldnt they want them to understand it without difficulty? And even if the audience did understand the piece of work despite the ambiguity, whos to say that everyone will interpret it the same way? Like, seriously. If I read a poem about an old guy walking in the desert for 100 years, I don't automatically assume that the "real" message is an epic journey to "find his lifes purpose. That makes no senseat all. In my opinion, if the author is going to state something about the characters, there should be an explanation as to why. As a kid, I read a number of comic books, and in every scene of the comic book the characters emotions, actions, and thoughts were explained; this is why I decided to do a comic book for my final literacy project. I appreciate graphic novels because they tend to be straight forward and everything is laid out...no surprises. The pictures convey the emotion and thought that are not otherwise obviously presented in the text. I am a fan of Marvel comic books, especially X-Men; in these series, ambiguity is not a common device used. Everyone always knew when Strom was upset because you saw her eyes turn white and the sky start to form thick clouds. Everyone knew when Wolverine meant business because his indestructible claws came jutting out of his knuckles to
Comment [T6]: Combined sentences to make them flow together. Clarity. Comment [T7]: Italicized instead of capitalized. Comment [T5]: Revised to fit the transitions that I just changed in the last paragraph. Comment [T4]: Revised transition into my explanation for choosing a comic book as a genre. Comment [T1]: Remove words to make sentences flow Comment [T2]: Add comma Comment [T3]: Delete word.

cause major pain. It was plain for everyone to see. It can be argued that the there is a hint of mystery in the X-Men; for example, why Magnito was evil, and why he was the villain in the series. His origins are only a mystery if the audience is not familiar with the older comics. Prior knowledge is required for any series of books to be completely understood. With that being said, it is obvious that he is, indeed, the villain; the reasons why, though, may not be as apparent. Everything that the author is trying to convey is always clear which is why the only books I elected to read were, in fact, comic books. I want my literacy account to be simple to understand. If I showed it to anyone, regardless of age or culture, I want them to be able to comprehend the messages that I am trying to deliver. In the past, so many books I have read were considered world renowned, but I was never able to decipher the complexity of the writing. For example, I read Heart of Darkness written by Joseph Conrad in 1988 when I was a senior in high school, as depicted in my comic book. For the life of me I could not figure out what the novel was really saying. To me, the book was about a man who traveled up and down the Congo River in search of Ivory tusks taken from elephants. That was it. There was no way I would have identified the themes of the hypocrisy of imperialism or the absurdity of evil had it not been for Spark Notes. How can something as simple as fog symbolize sort of corollary to darkness? And since when did a sepulcher imply death and confinement? Its absolutely absurd. After reading those books I realize that I am capable of comprehending those novels, I was just not looking for the deeper meaning. It is just like when I listen to music and pick through the lyrics to identify the entendres and implications. Music is a lot like literature in that sense. Most lyrics that are simplistic are my most favorite, but the music that is rich in lyric content are the ones that make me think and stimulate my mind. I wonder if I had the same mind set back then would it have impacted my views on reading.
Comment [T9]: I added a reflection to sum up the purpose of this paragraph. Before it was just a rant, so I look the time to reflect on what I learned through this experience. It also goes back to the topic of this essay. Comment [T8]: I took into consideration what you said about the ambiguity of Magnito, so I explained my opinion on how it is not confusing if you have background information on the charactersNow that I think of it, this is the same for any book. For example, in a Tale of Two Cities it helps if you know about the setting (the French revolutionary period). Great insight.

I drew pictures with thought bubbles and simple subtext to explain the important parts of my literacy lifetime. I played out my story told in the third person point of view, someone what of a recollection of my literary triumphs of downs falls. The short stories began in my adolescent years of literacy experience, and ended when at the end of senior year on high school, with flashbacks of various significant events. As described in my graphic novel, I was sitting in the classroom while having an in class discussion on Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe and had a flashback about when I was in the 7th grade. I was remembering when we were in the classroom and the kids were picking on me for struggling and stuttering while reading out loud, which consequently made me reluctant to read in front of the class. This was made apparent though my drawings. In any other case in literacy, that would not have been done so easily. There would have been some long winded motif that, subsequently, would have confusing the dickens out of me. My book was drawn out in black and white to assert simplicity. I drew my inspiration from Quentin Tarantinos Kill Bill series, in which he implemented flashbacks that had no color and used subtitles. There were scenes in the movie that served as a preface to the entire series that set up the events that were to follow using no words at all. Ironically, these were the most informational and interesting moments of the movie. This demonstrates the way the use visuals contributed to my overall literacy experience. My first book was a picture book Bible that mother gave me when I was a child. In this book, there were simplified stories of the Bible and pictures that corresponded. When my mother was not reading the book to me I would look at the pictures and make my own story based off of what I saw. For a five year old, I came dangerously close to what the real story was. In particular, I remember interpreting the story of baby Jesus in the manger to be about a newborn baby that had family from another palace that came to bring
Comment [T16]: Word choice Comment [T15]: Edited for clarity Comment [T14]: Edited sentence and added new word choices. Comment [T13]: New word choice. Comment [T10]: Corrected grammatical error. Comment [T11]: New word choice. Comment [T12]: New word choice.

him Christmas gifts. This proves that anyone in any stroke of life can interpret a picture based off the details it shows. I wanted the same idea in my comic book. Even though there is a complex way to convey my story, like the adult version of the Bible, I chose to clarify my story with simple subtext and pictures, like my childrens Bible book. Another part of my comic book was a segment where I flashed back to my youth between the fifth and eighth grades highlighting the progression of complexity of the materials we read. As I progressed I noticed that the older I got, the fewer pictures there were in the books, and in my drawings I portrayed my gradual hostility toward literacy. It appeared that I had begun to lose interest as the novels became more mature in nature, and as an effect, I lost the ability to look deeper into what was being communicated, and it was not due to anyones flaw but my own. I honestly believe that I didnt like reading because I didnt want to. It seems like I want things to come easy without effort. Had I actually applied myself I probably would have liked English a lot more. Adolescent novels are less complex and do not require analytical thought. I showed the difference between the two types of genres, one that was a childrens book, and how it was to be simply interpreted, and of an advanced novel and how it was interpreted cryptically. Les Miserables composed by Victor Hugo was book that took the cake. It was official, I hated reading. Okay I get it, the story was about redemption, fine. Even the themes and motifs were straight forward. But why on earth was the language so hard to comprehend? I understand that the book was written a trillion years ago, and it had to be translated, but was Oxfords English too much to ask for? I cant even be upset with Mr. Hugo; I blame it on the horned woman that forced us to read this Da Vinci code of a novel. This is why I used simple text in my comic book. When I was younger I never had to Google the controversial themes of X-Men or Captain Underpants. I think that my teacher exposed us to Les Miserables to expose us to
Comment [T19]: No, I do not blame my instructors. I know that I could have put forth a lot more effort. Comment [T20]: Comma Comment [T18]: Word choice. Comment [T17]: I took note to what you said about the difference between a graphic novel and a comic book.

different types of literature. Every book was not going to be in old mans English, so what better way to break us from that theory than to give us a complicated read. Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet was also a complicated read, and by complicated, I mean almost impossible to understand, but coincidentally it is my favorite play. It wasnt stress-free, but after reading Les Miserables, it didnt seem so bad. Being complex is not always a bad thing, I just wish I had the state of mind back then that I do now, because if I had, I probably would have took the time try a little harder. I have had some up, downs, and moments of uncertainty concerning my literacy throughout the years. There have been times where I have done excessively well, and there are also times when I thought I was flat out stupid. In my literacy final product I felt that a comic book would express my account the best. Honestly, not all books I have read have been unbearable, but the books that I enjoyed had the same element in common; room for interpretation. When I was a child comic books were the only thing that I would look up while visiting the library. They were so simple, so interesting, and most importantly, effortless to understand. This is ultimately why I decided to chose this genre to convey my literacy account. Im not implying that all literacy should be easy, I mean, I am in college. I am just arguing that there should just be one way to interpret a novel; it should be left up to the individual to decide. The reader should not be judged on their opinion, but on whether they can defend their opinion effectively; and if there are generic themes, motifs, and symbols, the text should be less challenging to comprehend. In a comic book the authors mean what they say to present their ideas.
Comment [T23]: Word choice Comment [T22]: Grammatical error correction Comment [T21]: Here I tried to made my essay a little more personal. This is also a new transition.

Bibliography
"SparkNotes: Heart of Darkness: Themes, Motifs & Symbols." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Web. 22 Sept. 2011. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/heart/themes.html>.

SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on Les Misrables. SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2002. Web. 22 Sept. 2011. <http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/lesmis/themes.html>