gold can stay

With such a broad range in subject matter found in YAL, it is compelling to see something that strays away from the standard novel. American Born Chinese does this well and with purpose. The story line isn’t extensive, and reads quickly from beginning to end, but as a story with no images it wouldn’t have near the impact. An example of this is the emergence of Chin-Kee, where we can see that no description without an image would substitute the stereotypical lens he is projected through. Along with this, the running text along the bottom of this portion treats the content like a sitcom, injecting ready-made laughs into a situation whether or not the situation is actually funny. Other than the story being somewhat image dependant, the story line and make up of the plot makes more sense in a visual sense.

With the story presented in the form of a graphic novel, the seemingly disjointed story line becomes cohesive because of the visual language developed throughout. The complicated nature of the story lines being split up, interwoven and then merging together at the end is successfully done as a graphic novel or comic because as a written novel with no imagery the story would seem much more confusing. Along with the story line, the nature of a serious subject being rendered in cartoon form has it’s own purpose. This story focuses on serious subject matter, and it would be hard for someone outside of that reality to understand the seriousness of the story. The inviting format of a graphic novel along with the colorful imagery disguises the story in a way that lest the seriousness seep in after a first glance. Along with this, the story becomes fun to read.

Finally the imagery lends itself well to the story. Without the images of Jin changing his hair, and changing into a white boy, the impact wouldn’t be the same. Without the images of Chin-Kee, the impact wouldn’t be the same, without the ‘stereotypical’ Chinese aesthetic, the impact wouldn’t be the same. Between the imagery and the format, the message of the story is achieved, and the friendly disguise of such serious subject matter leaves a lasting impression that wouldn’t be achieved through a traditional novel.

By Leemur

In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, Arnold aka Junior, a Native American teenager living on a Reservation, decides to leave behind the life he knows in hopes of finding opportunity elsewhere. This opportunity comes in the form of attending a different high school, as suggested by a teacher at his old school. Junior’s new school, “Reardan,” resides in another town, 20 miles away and consists predominantly of middle-class Caucasians. Being poor and Indian instantly makes Junior the minority and a target for bigotry.

As expected, Junior experiences racism from the students at Reardan. He is first called “chief,” “squaw,” and other such racial slurs for the first few days at Reardan. The teasing is something he can take since he was used to it at his old school on the Rez. Junior snaps one day, when a basketball jock named Roger exclaims, “Indians are living proof that n*****s fuck buffalo.” In turn, he punches Roger in the face and Roger doesn’t do anything in retaliation. Because of this, Junior discovers a major difference between the two schools, which is that one solves problems through words and the other solves them through fighting. This allows Junior to relax a little bit, since he knows he has experienced the worst.

The day afterwards, Junior is respected by people in his school, including the jock that he punched. According to his grandmother, through intimidating them he gained his respect. After that, Junior becomes friends with the jock, eventually gets on the varsity squad of the basketball team, and dates an attractive white girl. His attendance at the school becomes completely beneficial to him and a completely opposite experience from the school on the Rez.

This is where the “Part-Time Indian” phrase works appropriately in the title of the novel. While Junior does in fact become a social butterfly at Rearden, he still lives on the Reservation. Everyday he must travel 20 miles (often times on foot) to the school, and he does all he can to hide the fact that he comes from a lower-income family. At heart, Junior will always be Indian. I think that the phrase “Part-Time Indian” does refer to Junior’s ancestry, but also plays to the fact that Junior is making something for himself, instead of wasting his time on the Reservation. All the kids on the Reservation chastise him for abandoning the tribe (before the series of family deaths come into view), but he works hard and makes sacrifices for himself instead of drinking and wasting his life away. I believe the phrase can be interpreted in a variety of ways, but it definitely refers to Junior’s double-life that he lives.

By Robert McNall

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, is a graphic novel telling of three stories involving either Chinese Folklore or the differences between being foreign (Asian, in particular) in a dominantly-Caucasian setting. Eventually the three stories end up intertwining into a fantasy, young-adult narrative. The common theme that the three stories share, and the one that ends up being the message behind the entire graphic novel, is to not deny where your roots are. In all three stories , a character tries to break all ties to a a certain affiliation. Eventually, the character must come to terms and accept where they stand in order to overcome a given obstacle.

The graphic novel format fits the writing suitably. For one, the complexity of the stories and blending together of them would be confusing without using pictures as guides. Another thing that is good about the format, is that pacing can be directly controlled. Rather than reading something like “there was a pause,” it can be indicated by the frames. Ultimately, using pictures means using less text.

The pictures in the novel add another dimension to the narrative. Like I stated before, it requires less descriptive text, which leads to a more personal portrayal of what its author intended. A pitfall for this though, is that some people enjoy the element of being able to form what a character looks like based on their imagination. One instance where having pictures really helps though, is when the character Chin-Kee is introduced. While there are several characters that are of similar Chinese descent, the Chin-Kee stereotyped persona is represented perfectly through pictures. I don’t think it would have done it justice through text.

If the novel was written in a traditional format, I don’t think it’s story would have held up very well. It would have felt jumbled and unorganized. This is due to the blending of the stories as I mentioned before. Another reason is that scenes that involved comedy would just be different if they were text. For example, the scene where Jin is on a date at the movies. His armpits smell and he is hesitant to make the make during the movie. He rubs powdered soap on his armpits which then creates bubbles on his date’s arm. If this were text, it would really seem like irrelevant information. It’s just better with pictures. One obvious thing is that expressions from characters would lose their dimension in written format.

By Robert McNall

In Cures for Heartbreak, by Margo Rabb, a family tries to cope with the loss of their wife and mother. The novel is told through the lens of Mia, the younger sister of the family. The passing of her mother comes swiftly and at the most surprising and inconvenient time – when Mia is coming into womanhood. Her family’s life completely changes, as her father sells his business and becomes a couch hermit, and her sister becomes brash and judgmental. I guess these are just the individual ways that Mia’s family copes with the loss.

Mia’s way of coping is different. Her methods of dealing with grief are to finding methods of distracting herself from her mother. Seeing her father suffering doesn’t help her situation, so she spends as much time as possible away from him. While Mia’s personality and zest for life changes into a more pessimistic outlook, she still attempts to relax a little bit and have some fun through the novel. In the first chapter, Mia says “’You know, in Kenya they have huge parties after someones dies,’ I said. ‘One big fucking party’” (18). This quote comes after she is invited to a concert with a boy whom all the girls in her school are attracted to. This is after the funeral service for her mother.

At the concert though, things turn out differently than she had hoped, and beer is spilled on a nice outfit that she was wearing. Her night is ruined and she misses her mother’s love and guidance as she exclaims, “I just want someone to tell me what to do” (23).

Every time Mia attempts to have fun, she is pulled back to flashbacks and a longing for her mother. Since her father isn’t playing a large part in influencing her decisions, she feels lost, and this longing for her completes the vicious circle. She misses her mother, tries to cope, ends up screwing something up, and the cycle repeats itself. Every time this happens, she remembers her mother and a particular scene and message is reminisced. The point is made in the middle of the story, when Mia talks about her first period during a dance performance. She felt confusion as to what was going on, and her mother provided support and love in that time. The novel points out that Mia no longer has this pillar of support in her life, and that she must find ways to cope with her loss and live her life on her own. I haven’t read the entire novel, and while I think it’s unfortunate that Mia must live life without the support of her mother, I think that readers in similar situations might find guidance by reading the novel.

By Robert McNall

The Underdog

Through out the book The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins uses many devices in order to create a book that has appeal to every type of person. Katniss Everdeen is a strong independent character that has both male attributes and female attributes, which allow to male or female readers to relate to her. Collins uses the plot device of Katniss having to provide for her own family in order for their survival to happen. Right away the reader has to deal with a main character that unless she can continue to hunt, will die in the book. This creates a character that is strong enough to take care of her family, however she is also human in the fact that she is dealing with real world problems such as hunger, her family being destitute, and then the impending doom of the Hunger Games. Every odd is stacked against our main character Katniss, which makes her into the under dog. Collins offsets that with the physical ability and personality of Katniss.

Katniss’s personality is one where she is very realistic and down to earth about her problems. She knows that unless she is able to survive the games her family wouldn’t make it, she also knows that the likely hood that of her surviving is very slim. “I can’t win. Prim must know that in her heart. The competition will be far beyond my abilities” (Collins, 36). This creates the opening in which readers relate to the character, because everyone has had a time when they feel like the odds are stacked against them. Although perhaps not as extreme as if they fail they will die. Collins also created Katniss into a character that has a strong personality when it comes to what she believes in. You see this when she shoots the apple out of the pig’s mouth when the Gammakers are analysis their skills. This causes her to have an edge over the rest of the competition, however this also allows us to see her angry and human side. We felt the frustration when the Gammakers weren’t paying attention to her, and we felt the sadness when she felt that by doing that ruined her chances.

The last trick that I want to point out that Collins uses, is the flashback technique. Collins has Katniss flashback to parts of her life, the major parts that shaped her into the person she is today. By doing this Collins allows for us to see the inner workings of Katniss’s brain and why she does what she does. Katniss feels a debt towards Peeta because he helped out her starving family in the past. Katniss has flashbacks of her sister and Gale. These flashbacks allow the reader to relate to her on a personal level because Prim becomes our sister that we are trying to fight to get back to. Katniss’s dad becomes our dad that died in a mining accident. This device really helps to make Katniss into a real human, which means that our main character isn’t perfect. Since perfection is lacking it ties us into her endeavors and we root for her until the very end. Collins creates a character that we the reader relates to on so many different levels that we can’t help but want to root for her to win, even when the odds are stacked against her.

By Kathleen Pape

Poverty is dealt with in the very first chapter of the book “the absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian” when it is apparent they don’t have enough money to keep the dog alive. There is a haunting last sentence in the first chapter where the boy recounts that it costs maybe hundreds or thousands of dollars to help save the dog and only two cents for bullets.

My dog recently died. I spent the money from selling my car in 1 day on 3 different medications and an X-ray for the doctor to tell me what he thought was a stomach bug was actually internal bleeding and she still died a minute before I rushed into the Vet’s.

I wasn’t angry (I was, extremely, later.) I was just incomphrehesivly sad. I got my dog when I was ten from a cardboard box behind the line of port-a-potties during our small towns “old home days” which is basically a country fair. She was malnourished, dehydrated and only a week old. the box was marked “ take’ em or I’ll dround’em ” and there were three other in there as well. my friend and i took two and i ran to get my mom, on the way, I gave one of them to a couple who commented on how tiny they were. I begged and pleaded with my mom when I got to her and held out the limp puppy to her with tears in my eyes.

I wasn’t allowed to keep her, but my mother couldn’t tear me away. I was allowed to take it home, but it slept in the basement. That night, she whined, and my mom woke up the next morning to find me asleep in the basement( the creepiest place in my house!) with a sleeping puppy clutched to my chest.

My friend named her Wookader. Be cause she Kept saying “awwwwwww wook at hur!” and squishing her face. The name stuck, but She was known as Wookie. Wookie slept with me in my bed every night.

My mother and father were in the middle of a divorce, and times were tough athome. My dad was unemployed, my mom worked part time, and all of the money we had in savings was going to lawyer bills, because my dad thought he could control my mom with money but overestimated her grasp of finances. Wookie was a friend and grief counselor to me and my brothers, a silent companion who knew and would curl up beside me when the arguments boomed through the walls of my bedroom like artillery. She made sure I was never alone.

But she died alone. She had a seizure alone in a metal cage at the veterinary clinic. I had slept down stairs with her the three nights previous as she laid, unable to move upstairs, hyperventilating on the floor. I had worked all summer and sold my car to get some more money for college but, as they say in the Funeral business, “Something came up.”

I don’t regret for a second spending that money on her. I would do it again in a second. I know what it feels like to be poor. I know what it feels like to have a dog as a best friend. And When i read that first chapter i knew EXACTLY how he felt.

By Colleen  McMahon

The seven stages of mourning are: shock/denial, pain/guilt, anger/bargaining, depression/ loneliness, the upward turn, reconstruction/working through and finally acceptance and hope. the main character, Mia, goes through each of them accompanied by her faithful cynicism, sarcasm and wit, which both keeps her from healing and is the only light in this truly dark story.

The beginning story was about Mia, her sister Alex, and her father making arrangements at the funeral home. her shopping for the funeral, the funeral and the night after the funeral when she went on a date with the hot guy at school. this stage dealt with the first three stages, Mia was in shock, and often would ….

You know what? Can I not do a response ?

This story is probably one of the most true and touching stories I have read in forever! My Step father owns a funeral home, I deal with people mourning allot, and I have recently lost a very close family member. I KNOW the way Mia feels. its not stages, not really, its more fluctuating. Like a tide slowly rising; you know you’ll get there, but you inch your way up and recede so many times its pretty much invisible to the naked eye, and especially you. this book is not a how to deal book, this book does not teach lessons, it’s power lies in being exactly what you want when you are mourning. a silent companion who truly knows what your going through. This book does not judge, it does not try to prove itself, it just is. After reading this, I cried. I cried like a little girl. It was cleansing and I felt a little better after. The under lying theme in this book is strength, Mia has it, the reader has it, you don’t have to say your strong in a mirror or read the word printed in this book, it is just there, not being told, but being shown, and that is what makes this truly great litterateur.

By  Colleen McMahon

The story American born Chinese deals with culture and acceptance, adult themes that children are forced to deal with. In a beautiful incorporation of Chinese and American art and heritage, the author chose to use a medium that would not only translate well with both cultures, but also speak directly to the target audience in no uncertain terms.

The pictures are very much a conscious decision on Gene Yang’s part. The book focuses creating a self-image of yourself, loving who you are. These can be felt as visual differences for young Chinese immigrants and their families. Also, the graphic novel format is a very personal one, and can touch any heart no matter the reading ability of the viewer.

The subjects of rejecting your culture or tying to assimilate into a different one, are extremely dark, but when approached in a light colored format, and intricately weaved with humor, the overall uplifting story of this tale can been accepted.

By Colleen McMahon

How does the author tackle the subjects of both grief and love within her stories?

The stories in Cures for Heartbreak all touched me deeply. I related keenly to the relationship that Mia had with her sister Alex. The description of her father’s reaction to becoming a widower was deeply sad and lonely, and felt so real.

There was so much grief in these stories. There was much more to the grief than grief over Greta’s death. There was the grief that Greta died not only of cancer but also because her life was poisoned by the wounds suffered by her family and her people. This is explored in some detail.

In My Mother’s First Love, we are told of Rolf’s search for his parents in Europe, which ended with his ceasing to send Greta postcards ambiguously.  When Rolf kills himself, Fanny explains to Mia that she has seen the same scenario repeatedly. It is heartbreaking.

Love is explored in the stories that we read mainly through Mia making a friend, which was wonderful to read, and through descriptions of Greta’s passionate, protective love of Mia. When I read these scenes I was reminded strongly of the relationship that my best friend has with her mother; both are conservative Jewish. Margo Rabb is very tender in her approach, but it is clear that one of the strongest messages of these stories is that the effects of the Holocaust did not end with the Holocaust. Most Americans have not had to be seriously afraid of being separated from their families the way that Jews were in Europe during the Holocaust.

This wild, familial love is incredibly strong. It is heartbreaking to read, but it is imperative, and I was grateful for the entirety of the experience of Cures for Heartbreak. I would like to read more Margo Rabb, particularly the rest of the book.

By Allison Hummel