The Esoteric Eplileptic

What is the significance of David B's affinity for historical warriors and battles as a child, as shown in Epileptic?

In Epileptic, we see David's appreciation for historical battles and warriors grow and evolve. Introduced to the stories at an early age in life, David appears to first be fascinated with the fighting that always accompanied the stories he was told by his parents (pg 4). As he learns more about the battles, he draws them getting an early start on animation skills that he obviously used to understand Epilepsy better through this graphic novel. What could have been dismissed as boyish "warrior fantasies" (pg 19) really presented an early opportunity for him to bond with his brother (pg 13). Furthermore, when dealing with the confusion and drama that surrounded his brother's epileptic seizures, the stories gained importance because David could see a "reality that wears the face of regularity" (White 21), something that would appeal to any kid in his situation. In fact, at different times in the novel all 3 children identify with historical figures from Joan of Arc (Florence) to Hitler (Jean) to Tamerlane (David).

Why would David be looking for regularity in light of his brother's struggle with Epilepsy?

When he read historical battles and learned of his relatives varying exposure to battle, David was able to immerse himself in a world that had clear-cut heroes and villians. When he looked at his own reality, watching his brother being shipped from one doctor to another and his parents preyed upon by opportunistic losers, he surely envied the victorious generals he read about. He saw battles he could draw in their adventures, battles he could control the outcome of to make clear-cut winners and losers. He doesn't see that in his own life (pg 133), or that of his brother. David's desire for regularity is evident in the way he draws Jean's seizures, often turning Jean upside down or crooked in the panels to indicate the complications Epilepsy placed on his family life in addition to the convulsions that came with the seizures.

How does David benefit from his attention to historic victories?

David as able to gain insight from his attention to historical battles. He is able to compare and contrast what he has read about wars with the things his grandparents tell him about what day-to-day life was like during the war. The disparity between the glory depicted in the books on WWII he read and the dreary conditions illustrated in his grandfathers' experiences during the war help David understand that there is always more to the story.

As White states, "every narrative...is constructed on the basis of a set of events that might have been included but were left out" (10), and it is clear that David utilizes his understanding of narrativization through his depictions and descriptions of the many battles his family trying to cure Jean's Epilepsy. David was clearly confused and eventually jaded by his mother's continual search for a cure for Jean, the "moralizing judgements" (White 24) David makes about this search are clear in in his illustrations of the "endless round of doctors" (pg 11) that they visit and of the varying "guru"s his family falls prey to (pg 217). The doctors and practitioners wear evil grins or expectant expressions, a clear depiction of what David felt were their attitudes about his family.

Mind in the Gutter

Observation: Ware uses the gutters in Jimmy Corrigan to play with the passage of time, in order to evoke emotional responses from the readers.

Question: What kind of emotional responses?

Answer/Observation: Since Jimmy Corrigan deals with the awkwardness the title character feels in most social situations and reflects the overall sadness, Ware packs most of the pages with several panels to make the reader feel the akwardness themselves. As we read the novel, we are pulled into the tension of a moment by Ware's use of panel-to-panel (McCloud 70) transitions. These are on display throughout the book, but I felt the tension and slow pace most when little Jimmy was left with his dying grandmother and when Jimmy and Amy are sitting in the hospital in shock after seeing their injured dad. That both panels place characters in proximity to a dying loved one only highlights the tension for the reader.

In contrast, Ware speeds time up using subject-to-subject and scene-to-scene panels (McCloud 71) to illustrate some of Jimmy's fantasies and the kids playing hide and seek. The subject-to-subject and scene-to-scene panels of Jimmy's fantasies highlight the disjointed-ness of Jimmy's thoughts while fantasizing and help the reader realize they are seeing his fantasy and not part of the story (although sometimes it's hard to catch at first). For the kids playing hide and seek, the scene-to-scene nature of the panels gives the reader the feeling of freedom and the quickness with which children move while playing. This was an interesting juxtaposition with the general slow pace of Jimmy Corrigan.

Q: Where does Ware change this use of the gutter?

A/O: A unique and shocking use of the gutter is when Ware depicts Chicago pre- & post-fire. By using the whole page to create a Chicago cityscape with great detail, Ware is able to shock the reader on the following page with the wreckage of the city. By using the turning of the page as a scene-to-scene transition gutter, Ware passes time quickly and jars the reader with the carnage of burned-out Chi-town, making the reader's emotional response that much stronger.

In addition, Ware uses aspect-to-aspect (McCloud 72) to illustrate Jimmy's world through a series of postcard-like snapshots of places in town. While not specifically stated as part of the city, the images show up through out as settings for activity in the novel. Through the aspect-to-aspect gutter transition on this page, Ware is able to create a pretty complete picture of the town without really showing any homes. Although they are absent from the pictures, because we know from experience people would live in close proximity to gas stations, restaraunts, and grocery stores, we are able to complete our picture of the town. As McCloud says, we assume they are there, even though they are not (61) on this particular page. These places could be in any town.

A Vendetta against Women?

Observation: In V for Vendetta, we are introduced to Evey Hammond during her failed debut as a prostitute.

Question: Why did she fail?

Answer/Observation: In her desperation, she was naive and solicited an undercover cop.

Q: Why was her first attempt an undercover officer?

A/O: With Evey's miserable start at prostitution, the author is able to set the tone for the story on a variety of levels. The reader is given a sense of the style of government in the story through the actions of law enforcement and a sense of the plight of the people through Evey's desparate act. Formatically, the authors depict the fingermen in off-kilter and skewed panels to give the reader the sense that the government is off-track.

In addition, by Evey failing, her purity (read: morals) is unsoiled, leaving her a perfect replacement for V once he dies. In this manner she represents the bright and unspoiled future ahead of England, post-V. This is in stark contrast to most of the other women in the story, who are degraded one way or another. In fact, that Evey is so desparate for money she is willing to sell her body clues the reader in very quickly that there is something wrong with the Britain in V. The shadowy nature of the police force reinforces that message.

The juxtaposition of at least 6 panels of Evey's obvious anxiety (ppg 9-11) with the cheery evening newscast at the start of the novel contributes to this feeling. As McCloud discusses in Chapter 5, the authors are able to bring in all the senses using a collection of images (121), and invokes feelings of apprehension and worry in readers.

Q: Why are the women so degraded in V?

A/O: By degrading women characters in V, the authors reinforce their vision of post-war England on the reader. Through their living situations, we are made to see the totalitarian government is raping society. The women characters are desparate for forgiveness (Dr. Surridge - 73), acceptance (Valerie - 159), power (Mrs Heyer - 228), revenge (Mrs Almond - 205), and guidance (Evey - 25), indicating their status as second-class citizens in the novel. Even Lady Justice is called out as a whore by V (40).
Combining Evey's prostitution attempt, Mrs Almond's sexual debasement by being made to work as a stripper, and Mrs Heyer's use of the bedroom to make underhanded deals further cements the collective poor image of women in the book. In fact, until Evey's transformation in the story's climax, the only woman character that exhibits any kind of stones is the little girl that puts graffiti on the party poster (189).
To further illustrate the second-class status of women in the book, the leader of Britain, Adam Susan, is without female companionship despite the society's apparent preference for blatant heterosexuality. Indeed, he seems to have an unhealthy cyber-relationship with fate (38 & 229) that chills the reader and lends to the Orwellian flavor of the story.

Q: What is the signifigance of the Orwellian atmosphere of V?

A/O: By depicting the society of Britain in V as one of paranoia, fear, and desparation, the authors are able to highlight a couple ideas using the reader's own emotional responses. In V, the government and by extension Britain, is seen as one body, and this is reinforced by naming the branches of the government after body parts. The police are called Fingermen, detectives the Nose, surveillance done by the Ear and Eye, media the Mouth; this connection the five senses disorients the reader and seems to say that under totalitarian leaders the government stifles (censors) your sensors. The Fascist government's job in V is to "purify" the body of unsavory elements, often with violent and cruel measures (127). This functions to make the reader wonder about who defines what is "unsavory" (good/bad) for a society.

Maus & White

I really like Maus. Art Spiegelman has blown me away with the characters and made the H0locaust more personal for me. In terms of thinking about Nazis and WWII, Maus has made me think about the plight of the Jews then in terms of what I saw visiting the National Holocaust Memorial in Washington DC.

Question - What is the signifigance of using the animals to depict humans in Maus?

Answer - The use of cartoonish animals is to exaggerate the steretypical way humans look at other races while at the same time allowing the reader to place themselves inside the story. As McCloud indicates in Understanding Comics, "when you enter the world of comics, you see yourself". That makes me think of the years I spent reading Spider Man and Daredevil comics, engrossed in the action, but also caught up in the character flaws that allowed me to relate to the protagonists. Even something as simple as the Family Circus or Love Is... single panel comics in daily newspapers connect to me in the same fashion.

In terms of the stereotype, in class we discussed how different animals are almost culturally relevant to use for a nation, for example the French have often been called "frogs" and the Jewish were hard for the Germans to exterminate (like mice). In addition to a cultural reference, the use of animals allows the author to offer criticism at stereotyping in general. Spiegelman seems to play with the fact that dominant groups will often view the minority with a "they all look alike" attitude, which the iconic characters eliminate and magnify at the same time.

Question - How does being pulled into the story, especially a historical account like Maus, help the author create a message of universality of human experience?

Answer - By using the cartoon/icon instead of human forms, Spiegelman eliminates the ability to let the reader consider the events as something that "happened" to the Jews in Europe. Since the reader is drawn into the story, they cannot help but consider their own responses to the historical events in a more real way. When reading historical novelizations like The Diary of Anne Frank, the reader is drawn into the story, but is able to remain detatched. In Maus the names are connected to faces, albeit anthropomorphic ones, the ability to detach oneself from the story is lessened.
This lessening allows White's theory to ring true: "real events assesed for signifigance as elements of a moral drama". By taking a much-serialized and dramatized subject like the Holocaust and adding his personal perspective, Spiegelman freshens the story we all know well, one that is not yet finished, and puts it on a narrative arc. He gives his reality a "mask of meaning", as White says, one that expresses the reality he feels in dealing with his father as a concentration camp survivor but also the readers' own real connection to WWII as well (my own grandfather fought in the war and landed on Normandy beach).