April 09th, 2021

TORDA'S SPRING 2021 TEACHING

April 09th, 2021

4/9/2021

OVERVIEW: I think it's been a long while since people wrote off graphic novels as just comics for kids, but it made news in the literary world when the graphic novel Sabrina was nominated for the Man Booker Prize in 2019. That was the graphic novel selection for 489 that year. You can read a synopsis of the novel here. You can read a review of the novel here.

One of the critical elements of the novel that many readers commented on was the way the images conveyed the bleak isolation that the various characters felt in Sabrina. And, of course, that is what makes the graphic novel unique as a genre: the role the visual plays in telling the story.

PROMPT: For today's ICRN, in roughly 300 words, discuss 1) what is the impact and role of the images in Paying the Land; 2) What would be lost or gained if this were a "traditional" novel; and 3) what challenges or joys does the graphic novel present to the reader? In your reply to these three questions, please don't generically talk about graphic novels generally. Please speak specifically about this text, Paying The Land, in ways that makes me know that you've read and thought about this particular text.

15 Comments

Kate Bazarsky

4/9/2021 10:44:38 am

I think this would have not been read the same had it been written as a work of prose. The images do a lot of the work. The first book I thought of was Persepolis which I read a couple of years back. The images don't only work on the page visually to give you eyes a break, but it changes how we read the physical words on the page.
During the book, there is a section where all the men are sitting around a campfire. There are word bubbles for the men and then 2 rectangular text boxes--the different box makes the reader know that it will be read separate from the bubbles. One of the scrolls said, "In the old days, he said, when elders discussed the land and the animals on it, they did so quietly, without children nearby or other distractions 'so that the creator might hear'". I cannot remember the name of the article I am thinking of, but I read it in a Native American and Writing Rhetoric class where we talked about people's relationship to the land. I think a lot of the time, people have a preconceived notion of things like this before they read which is why I find the comic helpful. The book was about capitalism, injustice and nature and all three of these things are hard to consider separate, never mind together. Having the comic layout was useful to help bring the reader in to the moment. It was also effective because I personally was given a big sense of place by the pictures because of how detailed they were.

Paige Couture

4/9/2021 10:45:31 am

The impact and role of the images play a part of daily lives for these characters. The impact and role that the images play in Paying the Land, is giving readers a good visual of what life was like living around the Mackenzie River. We get to see the characters struggle and what they have do to survive. In the beginning, one page demonstrates that they go out into the river to catch around 400 fish per day. There are also visuals of them performing physical labor and children playing together as a community. In part IV, we learn that: “Willard started an airline” (223). The picture provided demonstrates a similar image drawn to the one that Willard had created. Without this drawing, readers probably would not look up the airplane to see what it looked like. These graphics are good for the author to demonstrate information Sacco wants us to know. The next image provides us an example of what vehicles they would use if flying wasn’t an option because of pricing. Sacco wants to provide us of a visual of previously used vehicles. He also wants us to see descriptions of peoples clothing and the landscape itself.

One of the important parts in the graphic novel is also in part IV: “I see it having a great deal to do with the environment [in-which] children are raised from very early, early, early period of their lives” (229). Eugene describes having an experience where he was told that he had great potential and that he had a bright future ahead of him. Although Eugene did not see it in himself, he became involved in social justice work, specifically: self-harming and family abuse. The graphic on page 230 is important. The drawing is of Eugene standing in a crowded group. However, the way that he is standing says a lot. He is facing the reader. In a traditional novel, Eugene stating: “instead of seeing self-healing as a sign of weakness, it actually requires a lot of strength, integrity, and courage…” (230). If this were a traditional novel, readers would not get to see Eugene engaging with the audience. Everything that Eugene points out about pushing yourself to accomplish or goals or dreams would not stand out as important to the readers. He wants us to not only take his advice, but to pursue it. Readers would not get to see the emotional expressions that these characters experienced while trying to survive. We also would not get to see important points that the author wants us to take from reading the novel: facial expressions, landmarks of Canada Northwest Territories, and see these people struggling through mining, building, fishing, etc.

The joys that this graphic novel brings to readers is that they get to see specific landmarks in Canadian Territories. For example, we get to see them work for fish in the Mackenzie River. We get to see them row canoes and their facial expressions while they move across water. There are images of what they like to do in their spare time, like teenagers gathering around a fire holding a conversation. It’s also about the detail in these drawings: we see the wrinkles pop out of their forehead that show how hard they are pushing. The challenges that these images provide is the actual labor that needs to be completed. It would be hard to draw an image of these animals being skinned or fish being caught. The images also give us a good glimpse of step-by-step directions like how to skin buffalo or fish--important skills that are needed to know if anyone was ever lost on land.

Rebecca Monestime

4/9/2021 10:45:42 am

The impact of images in Paying the Land, gives the reader a visual of what is happening in the story. As important as words are, visuals and drawings puts everything into perspective and gives visual learners a chance to grasp on what is happening in the story. For example, at one point in the novel where they talked about Indian Residential schools, the drawings depicted kids getting hit, taken away from their parents, tears, and of course the joys of the children coming home to their parents. There is a choice on where the reader can pay attention to whether it be the words or the pictures. What would be gained is reading would become more enjoyable experience for people who do not enjoy reading as much. What would be lost is the traditional way of writing such as chapters, acknowledgements, paragraph form of story-telling or dialogue, etc. The joys of graphic novels is you can see how much work the artists put into the drawings. In Paying the Land, there are extreme details of the people, the background, cars, nature, buildings, and such. The people look hyper-realistic which is hard for many artists to portray without making them look weird or inherently racist which is one of the challenging parts of graphic novels. Another challenge is to choose your words carefully and making sure that you do the correct research so the readers can know and understand the story you are trying to convey. At the beginning of the novel, one of the men in the Dene people talked about their childhood and life on the res before waacking became a thing. He talks on his experience of being on the res living in harmony with nature, living with his family and working alongside the women and other children in the group. He gives us as inside scoop of what happens which is not an easy thing to do.

CJ Hall

4/9/2021 10:45:42 am

Paying the Land. I have so much to say about this and also: so little. Bottom line? You get less nuance and loads of flat representation, conjecture and opinion when you seek information about an issue from someone not living that reality. You get unintentional bias: like two pages glossing over the very real problem of sexual abuse of our babies by “well-meaning” clergy and THREE pages of Marie Wilson’s feelings about how so many people were forced to go to the convent by their parents. The drawings were more elaborate and the story more nuanced. I DON’T CARE about how the nuns felt at that moment. That is another book for another time and maybe then, I would welcome context and have sympathy. Wilson also attested to the schools being shut down as of the early 90’s - but as Natives know? They are still up and running and here in the US in addition to state sanctioned removal despite an act that is supposed to protect our children from entering the welfare/foster system if there is a native family ready and willing. Watch Dawnland. Both my father and my oldest aunt were children removed and taught that everything about their existence was “wrong, evil, pagan or destined them for an afterlife in Hell”. So, really, I have many thoughts about the adults who would harm a child psychologically, emotionally and physically - but not much sympathy for their parent’s sending them to a convent. Our elders were forced to give their children to a system that harmed them or risk government pushback. That is a very different thing.

I disagree with reading about the plight of the native from anyone who ISN’T native. A maltese american who did not grow up in our world or even parallel to our world; nevermind looking to analyze deep tribal issues of first nations struggle north of the border. That’s something I would never attempt to accomplish without partnering with an author from that region. I’ve asked my friends and family from tribes north of the border to weigh in on this and get back to me. Maybe it’s an American/lower turtle island thing, but I found this to be a caricature and insulting. I would rather have a green audience exposed to a native podcast, documentary, or book than this graphic novel where sometimes I wondered if he meant to draw elders to look like Kim Jong Un. (insert raised eyebrow here).

I also found this to be a very male centered focus and that is the opposite of our world. We are sometimes matriarchal and sometimes more equal in council positions and at the very least representative. When your grandmother or an elder speaks that has nurtured you along the way? You listen, unlike the author on page 109 when he sought to “get out of his cross-hairs”. Why downplay an elder’s insight? Because it isn’t what you want to focus on? This entire cartoon frustrated me. Maybe I took it too seriously and this is environmental humor that I am incapable of understanding…

The prompt: I found the images close at times and downright insulting at others (see above). Stereotypical and not nuanced. Never really hitting the mark for me. I don’t know if something would be gained if this were a traditional novel because the main problem I have with it is the author and the vignette portrayals: quick snapshots with the impossibility to give proper facets because the writer lacks that particular perspective entirely. I’ve written about the challenges above and this brought me no joy - other than some exposure to issues that were far better explained in “we were children”, “Dawnland”, “Sister’s Rising”, “We Still Here” and the podcast interview with Russel Diabo on Warrior Life. Many canadian first nations podcasts exist with more nuanced and REAL exposure to these very important topics. This simply wasn’t enough in some places and was far too much of the narrative we are trying to change in others. One step forward and two steps back for Paying the Land.

Emily Spagna

4/9/2021 10:46:34 am

"Paying The Land", being written as a graphic novel, draws a lot of attention to the First Nations' peoples traditions and ways of life. Instead of these things being described to us, they're shown, and often visual things make more of an impact. For example, on page 42, the drawings are very busy and a little overwhelming. But if you read the text, the drawings bring more meaning to it. They're talking about mining and "We will control resource extraction; it will not control us." But it is controlling us, especially the Dene. But the mess of pipelines on the top of page 42 expresses that frustration and confusion visually. A lot would be lost if this was written as a traditional novel. We would loose that visual representation of the native people and the struggles they face. That visual pushes the issue further than words ever could. An example of this is on the top of page 155. We see a man frozen to death and covered in snow. Reading the text, we find out this is a common occurrence due to alcohol. Alcoholism is widespread throughout indigenous communities, and the general public know this. But they don't see it. This makes us see it. We would loose the visual pain these people deal with if this were written as a traditional novel. The only thing we might gain is more text, and text that doesn't get so lost in some of the drawings. The text on some of these pages absolutely gets lost, or is easy to read out of order if you aren't used to reading graphic novels. But having the pictures is fun too. It brings me back to my childhood and picture books. I like looking at the little details in the drawings.

Derek Krysko

4/9/2021 10:48:36 am

Though true of most graphic novels, the images in Paying the Land are especially potent because of their ability to depict the gritty yet beautiful landscape. From snow-covered mountains lining the backgrounds, to pines and rocks filling the environment, these images really help to evoke a guttural, natural feeling present in much of the land in the Northwest Territories. Knowing that Joe Sacco is a journalist and reporter, in my opinion the images help add to the journalistic credibility of the piece, because they allow him to create as accurate a depiction as possible. A key tenet of indigenous beliefs is that the land should be cared for and treated with great respect, so being able see the lands for ourselves allows the audience to appreciate them in the way the Dene do. Sacco doesn’t have to rely on just words to paint a scene, rather he can painstakingly craft each and every face, which allows him to convey a greater range of emotions from more characters. That is honestly one of the biggest aspects of this piece for me, that being the ability to demonstrate emotions with facial expressions. Not only do we get accurate depictions of Indigenous peoples, but we also get a much clearer picture of their strife and can see plainly their struggles with the systematic erasure of their culture.

If this were a traditional novel, it would be far more challenging for Sacco to emphasize the specific emotions he can achieve with images. Though it wouldn’t be impossible, he would be forced to devote more time to individual character descriptions, and the story may become bogged down in the minutia. The environment plays such a huge role in this story, and the land is almost an entity in itself, and a novel simply couldn’t do that justice in a satisfying way. A traditional novel format would gut this piece in my opinion, and it would be virtually impossible for us to empathize with the Dene as strongly as we do in the graphic form.

In terms of challenges, I think graphic novels can be a bit imposing at first do to their unique structure, with the words being a bit all over the place. I am not used to reading comics or graphic novels, so it definitely took me a bit to get used to the words jumping around the page, and I would occasionally have to go back and reread a section to make sure I read it in the right order. The graphic novel can certainly offer a great amount of joy for readers as well, because the pictures do so much of the work. If there is a section that is confusing to read, than maybe an image will provide better context that will help us understand the significance of a scene. On top of that, seeing physical depictions of human beings on the page will simply improve our ability to connect with the characters involved, and in a story like this where empathizing with the Dene is critical to the experience, images are essential.

Amanda Guindon

4/9/2021 10:48:59 am

I think the biggest impact that the images in Paying the Land had on me was that it made me slow down my reading extensively, even though it ultimately took me a short amount of time to read the graphic novel. There were so many different people that Sacco interviewed and included the stories of, like all those who were affected by the assimilation schools and the generations that followed. By having the reader slow down their reading experience, he is able to talk about the generational impact the assimilation schools had on the natives without losing the reader with heavy facts and information. Another impact is that the images help to hit home the effects of the fracking and oil industry on the land and those who lived in the bush. I remember one section vividly towards the end of the discussion on the oil industry where Sacco was comparing himself to the industry as he himself was kind of acting as one (he talked about how he was going in to extract something which was similar to the oil industry on the land) and there was an image he had a fracking rig in his skull and he was drawing the comparison between him and the industry. This image impacted my thinking greatly, and it helped visualize what point he was trying to make about the extraction of something from those who could not avoid it.
I think all the different people that Sacco interviewed would be more generalized if this
was written as a traditional novel. I remember different sections where he would interject with something someone had said from an interview, and he kind of put them in a box in the middle of the page with their name and what they had to say, and he would weave these anecdotes into his larger story. If this was written in a traditional form, I don’t know if I would have been able to follow all the different people, places, and topics that he discussed. Obviously there was an extreme amount of information that Sacco had to put into this novel, and the form of a graphic novel gave him more freedom to include everything and not lose his readers as easily if they are not familiar with the subject.
While this book obviously had extremely heavy topics and a lot of it was really disheartening to read, like the cultural genocide that the Canadian government participated in with the assimilation schools and such, the images helped carry me through these hard topics. I found the opening section where Sacco talks about how the natives traditionally lived and how they would work with the land rather than take from it really benefited from the form of the graphic novel; it was more interesting actually seeing image depictions of what Sacco was talking about. The ability for him to have images showing what he was describing made the information hit harder I think.
One of the smaller things that I picked up on was that occasionally Sacco would have images of people and their eyes would be blank white and this was generally when he was talking about people who had drifted away from their culture (if I’m remembering correctly). There was a lot of discussion on how different members of the groups would either give in to the industry that was knocking at their door, demanding to be let in, and others refused to give up their traditions and fall victim to the colonizers. The blank eyes kind of show how eventually, people had to blindly follow what was put in front of them because there was no other choice.

Lynne Campbell

4/9/2021 10:49:27 am

I thought that Paying the Land was a very interesting way to get information across in a unique and engaging way. I have not read many graphic novels in the past and my attitude towards them was that they were largely for entertainment. It was interesting to read a graphic novel that wasn't for the purpose of entertainment and strictly for informational purposes. I felt engaged throughout my entire time of reading the book. I almost don't want to say that I "read" Paying The Land because there wasn't much to actually read on each page. I spent most of my time looking at the pictures that helped to move the story along. I thought the pictures of the various people that were interviewed on the subject of the Dene tribe. Something that I felt that I was missing was more description of what was happening to the tribe and the advancements that the oil companies. I felt that there was a bare minimum of descriptions for the sake of it being a graphic novel. I think the author got his points across and described the scene adequately; but obviously the artwork was the focal point of each page. There were some aspects of the story where I wondered why I needed to be looking at pictures of peoples faces when I could be reading more of what people had to say. I felt like I was more engaged when the book talked about the livelihoods and culture of the Dene tribe. I felt like the images helped solidify aspects of culture that I have not seen before. I lost interest during the second or third part in the book when it mostly focused on the oil companies and treaties that were made and broken over the years. I felt like the images were a little bland and I didn't look at them for as long as I probably should have.

Maddie Staples

4/9/2021 10:49:46 am

Were it not a graphic novel, I think that Paying the Land would be very dry and difficult to get through. I think that representing the people that were speaking did a lot ot bring the story to life. We were able to read the quotes but also see and feel the context, the emotion, the humanity behind the stories that Sacco was sharing. I think that the depiction of the Dene people, particularly the frustration and determination pictured in their faces, did a lot to contextualize the story beyond flat text. Especially given the degree to which Indigenous people are often stereotyped as being stoically tragic figures, imaging the realities of their struggles and triumphs was important.
I believe that page 236 really gets at what makes this story so affective as a graphic novel. "'I just put my notebook way and started working,'" Melaw says, "'the Dene way of learning is to observe and do.'" The author refers to this as a decolonization of learning, and I believe to some degree this was also the intention of the graphic novel format. Were Sacco to write this as a sort of ethnography, a first person account of his experience with the Dene people it would feel dry and didactic, "very Western" as one of the elders criticizes of Melaw. The graphic novel gives life to the words, which would most certainly be lost if Paying the Land were to be translated into a conventional novel. I cannot argue for what would be gained, because I feel that this presentation was the most effective.
The biggest challenge for me was not speeding through the story. I am not a graphic novel person either, and so there were times where I had to force myself not to speed past the pictures. There was a lot of exposition in the pictures, and they were important to take in, but they were difficult for me to focus on. However, there was also humor conveyed in the images, pictures of the author and narrator trying to keep up with the Arctic world he was traveling through. This characterization I also think was important, because Sacco humiliated himself in relation to the Dene--you definitely get the sense that he is helping to share their story rather than tell it for them. Again, it is the focus on the faces and places, the material realities of these people and their land, that I think made the graphic novel such an effective means of telling the stories of the Dene.
One of the smaller joys of reading the graphic novel, I believe, was navigating the unconventional (forme) format. The page was not always meant to be read left to right and top to bottom--there were times when the direction of the text even went in a circle around the speaker's face--but the images intuitively guided our reading in a way that was *fun*. I enjoyed the experience of reading this graphic novel much more than I thought I would, and I *may* have been inspired to pick up similar texts in the future.

Matt McGuirk

4/9/2021 10:51:11 am

I think my answers to the first two questions connect with each other. The images guide this story but they also serve as our way of walking in this world and seeing things from that perspective. On pages 20 and 21 the pictures on the bottom of each page show us how this group got together to catch up in July. If this were a traditional novel, I think readers could have struggled to place themselves in the setting and context of the story. It’s written on page 21 that “People got together to catch up…” and obviously, if this were a traditional novel that particular statement could have been described to us with great detail and imagery. Sometimes, however, it’s more impactful to literally show us the scene through art and images. Page 123 is another example, where the role of this image is to show us how she was crying. The following pages show us the fear the kids felt while being thrown onto this plane. It’s more powerful to visibly see it than be told or shown in a work of prose.

Obviously there are the general graphic novel and comic challenges like not knowing how to follow each page, panel, and dialogue bubble, etc. In Paying the Land, I think that challenge was evident early on, where the man repeatedly appears in a standalone panel walking us through these flashbacks or memories. Once you realize what is going on here I think the reading gets smoother. This genre isn’t really my thing so this was the first challenge I encountered.

Brittany Ann Oppenheimer

4/9/2021 10:51:30 am

If you look on pages 112 and 113, there are very good examples of how "Paying The Land" shows us the impact and the roles of these images. For example, on page 112, it is explained to us that one of the characters was tossed out of a window when he was three or four years old in order to escape his fathers abuse. When he got older, he decided to drink and learn these behaviors from other children when he was too young to understand. This, led him to fist fights due to all the drugs and the alcohol. In these pages, the images show us the pain the main suffered through his eyes (through images) and that as a child, he was trying to be protected. The way the characters are drawn here feel "shaded down" in a sense. It's hard to describe, but everything hear was meant to be shaded darker, as if to say this character has been through hard times. The same can be said for how the characters are positioned, how they are arched. Especially on page 112.
I feel what would be lost is the extra immersion that this novel offers because of it's drawings. Sure, you can sort of do that with any novel, but here, the fact that we can see it makes what is happening on the page more real. As if we are actually there in real time seeing this things happened in front of our eyes. We, as the reader, can see what they feel, and that is some of the advantages of this being a graphic novel.
One of the joys for me was the drawings itself. I love reading comics and manga, so seeing a new interpretation of drawings in a graphic novel is just really cool to me. Reading graphic novels isn't really a challenge per say (try reading a manga from right to left and tell me how you feel after that.) It's just pure fun for me. That's how I feel about it. Th drawings itself give me that joy.

Marissa Merlino

4/9/2021 10:51:41 am

It's interesting because before reading "Paying the Land", I hadn't read a graphic novel with such a copious amount of text/factual information before. The novel is text-heavy and explains a lot of specific processes, events, or ideas. For example, when the novel explained fracking, there were some great visuals to go along with the technical process that was being described. The visuals assist the reader in understanding whose perspective we are getting by inserting a box image with the speaker's face throughout images of the story they're telling or the topic they are discussing. The visuals of the characters are distinct from one another and show the diverse range of people Sacco spoke with. There is a stark difference if one juxtaposes the images we get in the beginning of the novel when we learn about Dene culture/living with the images throughout most of the rest of the book that depict the corporate destruction of both the environment and a group of people. Some of the images are heartbreaking, like the one we see on page 123 of the mother weeping as she realizes what has happened to her land/her people. The art also depicts how the characters interact with each other and what their emotions while they're speaking. For example, when the kids are bullying Eugene, we see the aggressive, angry look on their faces as they shout racial slurs.

John Walden

4/9/2021 10:52:09 am

In Paying the Land images are used to enhance the reader’s interaction with the story being told. The piece, excluding the images, is really an interview about the relationships between the Dene people, the Canadian government and the land that both these entities had to share. Through the images, the events and stories talked about in the piece are brought to life, giving the reader further insight into the plot. For example, much of the piece is told from the perspectives of different individuals as they struggled to maintain their identity as a people and the land they held as a birthright. Many of these people are shown in the present day telling these stories, as the backdrop shows their past selves actually participating in these events. Through this, readers are really able to separate the perspectives of past and present and form a more complete picture about the story as it unfolds.
Without these images, the reader would still get the same information given through the text. However, this information would be presented in dry way, such as saying “he said this” or “this is what we were doing” without much concrete detail. The images really serve to provide scene and sensory detail that would otherwise need to be incorporated in writing. Many of the scenes give great expressive detail on the faces of the characters and a sense of space and time to immerse the reader in the events that are transpiring.
The visuals presented in a graphic novel are really a double-edged sword. On the one hand, we get a massive amount of additional detail that otherwise may not have been important to include in a traditional writing format. For example, many scenes in Paying the Land include portraits of background individuals and characters which are unimportant to the overall plot, yet the details on their faces really enhance our sense of personality and community. On the other hand, these visuals can be distracting from the actual writing, which could be detrimental to the reader’s overall engagement with the story.

Ron Corbett

4/9/2021 10:52:40 am

Paying the Land, I felt had great historical significance. By making the story into a graphic novel is a stroke of genius. The illustrations show how the Dene lived and survived. If an sixth grade history student was having trouble reading a textbook or having trouble reading. The graphic novel could help them understand what they are reading.
When I was growing up in the early 1980's, we had graphic novels of classic literature. This was the first time I read books such as Treasure Island and Moby Dick. Granted the books was cut down for size and audience.
Many people think that graphic novels and comic books are just for young children. What they don't realize is that the authors represent the current world. Such as the X-Men. Charles Xavier (Professor X) and Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) was based on Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X perspectly during the civil rights in the 1960's.

Michael Wood

4/9/2021 12:23:50 pm

I find that the inclusion of images in the graphic novel is appreciated but not necessary. I do think that books are a superior form of storytelling but the use of images helps give the audience an idea of the setting and the characters as descriptions can only do so much. Of course nothing will be lost without them as it all attributes to the ability of the author. For joys, it can be refreshing to actually see something other than text as it helps break up the pace somewhat in a way to not become boring or monotonous. That would be a benefit to including these images although it would not be detrimental to the reader to not have them as their retention would not be effected.

April 09th, 2021

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