Sample Answer: Analyse the Graphic novel’s excerpt for its stylistic features
and language to highlight the issue presented.
For the past couple of decades there has been a conflict in Palestine
between the population and the neighboring countries. Text 1 is an extract
from a graphic novel about this conflict, written by Joe Sacco in 2001. It
portrays a car riding though the poor and destroyed Palestine as if it were a
guided tour, which would seem like an unnatural thing to do in such
circumstances. The author uses stylistic features from graphic novels, such
as symbolism, narration, imagery, and language in order to show readers the
poor circumstances of the people in the Palestine camp. These features will
be further explored in this essay.
Firstly, Joe Sacco uses Symbolism in order to show how bad the
circumstances in these camps are. The first image shows some children
standing next to a fire outside, suggesting that they have no house to get
back to and get warmed up in. These children don’t look happy in the
slightest, which means that the further conditions in the camp are not to be
happy about either.
Furthermore, in the first image, you can see a brand new car approaching
through the camp while the people on the road get out of the way for the
car. In the second picture, this car is now completely visible, and when you
compare it to the surrounding area, the clean car really stands out. Take the
cars in the gully for example. They have been lying there for quite a while,
since they are all dented and dirty. This shows the decay of wealth in the
camps, while the people who are supposed to help have spent money on
brand new cars instead of spending the money to help the people in need of
it. Lastly, the garbage and the graffiti in the camps are a clear additional
example of the poor maintenance of the camp, and therefor also the poor
conditions, since these camps never seem to be cleaned. With the use of
these examples of symbolism, Joe Sacco shows the readers that the people
living in this camp do not have proper living conditions, while the rich are
barging though the camp with brand new and expensive cars.
The jarring reality of the class divide is not only depicted through the use of
symbolism but also through the use of the language which favours the
narrative style/ The second stylistic feature that is important in graphic
novels is the use of language /diction. In this case, the author uses the
narration in order to show the reader that the camp is not really taken
seriously by the big organization UNRWA that is supposed to take care of
them. The narrator tells about “one of the world’s blackest holes” where
“you can tour a Palestinian refugee camp in the Gaza Strip…”. This way of
talking is mostly only used in advertisements where they try to sell holidays
or parks. In this visual novel, this is also the case. The narrator tells about
how you can visit the park as if it were an attraction or tour. This is very
cynical, since the people in the camps are merely seen as an interesting
attraction, and not as refugees. By writing it like this, the writer effectively
shows that the people are being disregarded by the UNRWA, or are not
getting the treatment they should be receiving.
This sentiment of disregard is profusely highlighted through the use of
‘perspective’/Another interesting feature that the author has used is
perspective. By giving two different points of view the reader gets a full
image of the camp. In the first picture, you have a look at the camp from eye
level, which really gives the reader the feeling of how it must be to walk
around in such a camp. In the second picture, the perspective changes to a
top down view, making the reader able to see the entire picture, which just
gives that extra bit of information in order to be able to imagine how it
would be to be in such a camp. By giving this complete picture the reader
can see all the bad things in the camp, and makes the reader imagine how it
is in there.
In conclusion, this page from the visual novel stresses the fact that people in
these camps are being disregarded and are therefore living under poor
conditions. Through the use of symbolism and narration, he effectively gives
a full image of how the people in these camps live, so that the UNRWA
might be moved into improving the conditions in these kinds of camps.
Key:
Yellow – Linking statements and transition words
Each colour – Paragraph main idea and supporting details
