Author: Dan

Hillary Chute states that “[comics], in fact, is a medium that involves a substantial degree of reader participation to stitch together narrative meaning” (Chute 22).  At the start of the second chapter in the second volume of Maus,  Spiegelman makes a point of explaining his depression despite the success of the first volume.  He later explains that his father has passes and, since then, has not been able to appropriately use his time to continue to write the second volume.  In addition, he has little motivation to commercialize his work.  It is later revealed that he has been visiting a therapist to help walk him through his melancholy.  In relation to Chute’s sentiments, this stitches the narrative of Maus together.   This happens directly after the chapter which Vladek, Art’s father, is interned in Auschwitz.  It ties together the entire tone of both volumes: the fact that Art has guilt.  Though he concedes this to his therapist, it is only understood through this long depiction of   the present day, within the comic, that truly allow us to understand his guilt.  Hence, the audience stitches together the pieces that Art gives that ultimately enables the audience to recognize Spiegelman’s withered relationship with his father and how he reacts to his father’s narratives as well as his withered relationship with his father.

The rectangular panel takes up about a quarter of the page and shows Vladek being visited by his grandfather while he is sleeping.  It depicts his grandfather exclaiming that Vladek will be freed on the day of Parshas Truma.   Vladek was captured by the Nazis and put into a work camp.  Eventually, on Parshas Truma, Vladek was brought to a significantly nicer facility and ultimately allowed to stay with his friends thereafter.  This is important because his grandfather visiting him gave him a beacon of hope.  At the work camp, Vladek had very little; all he could hold onto was hope.  This is so salient, as this got him through the ordeal and hardships.  Surely, the concept of hope got Vladek, and many others, to keep faith throughout the Holocaust.

While completing this assignment, I realized how useful of a tool that this method can. be.  I took my notes in class, then I created the note taking sketch.  This enabled me to easily summarize the main points of the lecture and put them into a sketch.  This was extremely salient because I now understand what I learned in philosophy to a greater extent.  Though theres is less text on the page, the amount of key information to know is retained.

I learned that I am more of a visual learner than I previously thought.  Prior to this assignment, I was always very keen on learning form the text.  However, now I understand that I too, in fact, can learn from my own drawings and visuals.  The aspect of this assignment I found interesting was the start.  I was interested on whether I would focus on information or pictures first.  Previously I would have thought information, but, in this assignment, I opted to draw first.  Then, I placed my information where I deemed appropriate.

My narrative essentially focuses on my development as a reader and a writer in my early years.  I realized that this was important because those years laid the foundation to how I became a reader today.  In further thought, I have realized that many of my previous reading habits, albeit elementary, are similar, however, they are significantly more refined.

Initially, I was not very keen on the idea of any writing exercises before I wrote my essay.  Though, I decided to follow Professor Morgen’s idea to start doodling before I wrote my essay.  This concept seemed intriguing to me because I guess I enjoy doodling.  Initially, I thought that it may not be helpful for me, but I became significantly more relaxed when I continued.  Since I was relaxed, I was not as stressed. Subsequently, it made it notably easier to write.  In fact, I anticipated to only write half of the base of the essay in one sitting.  I wound up writing nearly the whole thing because it seemed easier to do so.  I also tried to jot down ideas in order to try to structure my essay better.  However, this did not seem to work very well.

While writing this essay, it allowed for a great deal of introspection.  I realized that reading and writing have had a large impact on my life.  Specifically, though I did not write about it, I contemplated the tasks I complete everyday that involves reading and writing.  My experiences as a child clearly made these tasks second nature.  I found it surprising that I vividly remembered some of these moments.  One in particular was a nightmare that I had when I was reading a book before bed.

This essay was quite enjoyable to write.  Perhaps it is because I was able to write about myself rather than a history or philosophy paper.  I understand that writing about myself is much more enjoyable because I hold all the information; in order to unlock, I do some reflection.