Albert Rayle
Ms. Hara
10/22/07
#3 reading response to Lakoff
The power of words in war time was primarily about language in war. It discussed a lot of interesting points about the language that people use in war in an effort to justify their murders. Mr. Lakoff clearly states that “once language draws that line (in relation to viewing the enemies as inhuman) all kind of mistreatment becomes imaginable.” He is clearly stating that the use of language in war is what allows people to do the awful things that they do. Most people can not kill another human being unless they feel like they are more important or better than them, and that is why language is an important aspect of any war.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
McCloud reading response 1
Albert Rayle
Reading response to McCloud
Ms. Hara
10/22/07
Scott McCloud completely changed my way of viewing comics. I have never actually sat down and read one in my whole life but after reading his and discovering how much of a factual easy read they can be I have a strong urge to go and read one. Mr. McCloud managed to give an uninterested reader like me a thorough understanding and a new interest for comics.
Some of my favorite parts were when he explained his search to find comics in history. He first talked about the one that Cortez discovered in 1519. This one was about 8-Deer “Tiger’s Claw” and was written in 1049 AD. He told us the story of the kidnappings and murder and then went on to tell us another ancient comic that he discovered. The second one was an Egyptian comic made 32 centuries ago and written in the tomb of Menna. This one was about the process of producing wheat and paying taxes on it. I found the whole idea of comics in the past very interesting because I am somewhat of a history buff and I love learning about interesting random things.
McCloud also defined a comic as a “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/ or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.” I though that his reasoning to make this definition was interesting because he was using people in a crowd to make the needed corrections and act as his conscious.
In the end McCloud comes to the conclusion that Rodolphe Toffer was the father of modern comics and he started them in the mid 1800’s. I felt like the author did a great job of story telling and made me have a different outlook on comics and what they stand for. Like I said earlier I now really want to go out and buy a comic book.
Reading response to McCloud
Ms. Hara
10/22/07
Scott McCloud completely changed my way of viewing comics. I have never actually sat down and read one in my whole life but after reading his and discovering how much of a factual easy read they can be I have a strong urge to go and read one. Mr. McCloud managed to give an uninterested reader like me a thorough understanding and a new interest for comics.
Some of my favorite parts were when he explained his search to find comics in history. He first talked about the one that Cortez discovered in 1519. This one was about 8-Deer “Tiger’s Claw” and was written in 1049 AD. He told us the story of the kidnappings and murder and then went on to tell us another ancient comic that he discovered. The second one was an Egyptian comic made 32 centuries ago and written in the tomb of Menna. This one was about the process of producing wheat and paying taxes on it. I found the whole idea of comics in the past very interesting because I am somewhat of a history buff and I love learning about interesting random things.
McCloud also defined a comic as a “juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/ or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.” I though that his reasoning to make this definition was interesting because he was using people in a crowd to make the needed corrections and act as his conscious.
In the end McCloud comes to the conclusion that Rodolphe Toffer was the father of modern comics and he started them in the mid 1800’s. I felt like the author did a great job of story telling and made me have a different outlook on comics and what they stand for. Like I said earlier I now really want to go out and buy a comic book.
vocabulary of comics
Albert Rayle
Ms. Hara
English reading response
I have come to the conclusion that Scott McCloud can make any topic somewhat interesting with his unique way of explaining it. This last comic that I read was about icons and how they are used in our society and in comics. He explained how we can visualize just about anything just by looking at it on a sheet of paper. McCloud also stated that it is not a cow on the paper, but a picture of a cow and that makes us visualize the cow.
It is those weird analogies that make McCloud such an interesting author/ artist to me. He takes an ordinary idea and will bend it into a unique way that I have never thought about. I never took the time of day to actually stop and think about how I am not looking at a cow but a drawing of one. I mean who honestly thinks about that. He took the time out of his day to sit day and think about all of the icons out in the world and he was able to put them into three categories. They are symbols, pictures, and the last is language, science, and communication. Then he went even further and showed us two different symbols that meant the same thing. He drew a face on the page and wrote the word “eye” in place of the right eye. This was a form of the icon of language.
Come to think of it Mr. McCloud thinks of a lot of weird things. One really weird thing that he brought up was the idea that cartoons are poorly drawn so we could imagine ourselves as the cartoon characters. I don’t really agree with this statement to much because I think that people want to be a hero because the hero is always right and always does the right thing in the end, not because the face is bland and kids can easily imagine themselves in place of the cartoon. Another thing that I didn’t completely agree with was when he said “but if who I am matters less, maybe what I say matters more.” I felt like this statement not true because not many people pay attention to people that the do not know or respect. People, in general, only listen to people they respect and therefore matter to them.
I feel like I sat here bashing McCloud the whole time but I just felt like there were a couple of little things that I didn’t agree with and these little points are just sticking me like the thorns on a rose. I felt like it was an interesting story overall and I hope I get to read more from Mr. McCloud in the future.
Ms. Hara
English reading response
I have come to the conclusion that Scott McCloud can make any topic somewhat interesting with his unique way of explaining it. This last comic that I read was about icons and how they are used in our society and in comics. He explained how we can visualize just about anything just by looking at it on a sheet of paper. McCloud also stated that it is not a cow on the paper, but a picture of a cow and that makes us visualize the cow.
It is those weird analogies that make McCloud such an interesting author/ artist to me. He takes an ordinary idea and will bend it into a unique way that I have never thought about. I never took the time of day to actually stop and think about how I am not looking at a cow but a drawing of one. I mean who honestly thinks about that. He took the time out of his day to sit day and think about all of the icons out in the world and he was able to put them into three categories. They are symbols, pictures, and the last is language, science, and communication. Then he went even further and showed us two different symbols that meant the same thing. He drew a face on the page and wrote the word “eye” in place of the right eye. This was a form of the icon of language.
Come to think of it Mr. McCloud thinks of a lot of weird things. One really weird thing that he brought up was the idea that cartoons are poorly drawn so we could imagine ourselves as the cartoon characters. I don’t really agree with this statement to much because I think that people want to be a hero because the hero is always right and always does the right thing in the end, not because the face is bland and kids can easily imagine themselves in place of the cartoon. Another thing that I didn’t completely agree with was when he said “but if who I am matters less, maybe what I say matters more.” I felt like this statement not true because not many people pay attention to people that the do not know or respect. People, in general, only listen to people they respect and therefore matter to them.
I feel like I sat here bashing McCloud the whole time but I just felt like there were a couple of little things that I didn’t agree with and these little points are just sticking me like the thorns on a rose. I felt like it was an interesting story overall and I hope I get to read more from Mr. McCloud in the future.
Conveying Atrocity in image
Albert Rayle
Ms. Hara
10/29/07
Conveying Atrocity in image
This article on the use of imagery was an extremely depressing one. It was all about how people used pictures to depict the terrible crimes that were performed in concentration camps. We have all seen the photos that were captured during this time and they still hurt to look at no matter how many times you have seen them. The picture of the starved prisoners staring at the camera man makes me cringe every time I see it.
This article did not only show a couple of the pictures that it was describing but it also told us what it took to take one of these strong images. It said that to get a good image the photographer had to have good placement, number, and gaze. The placement is where the central image is located in the picture and what is around it. The author showed the reader a picture of a bunch of dead corpses and General Eisenhower standing there looking at them. The number is simply the number of people inside the picture. The author stated that group images tended to be less graphic because you could not focus in on one person’s pain or suffering. And the last one was gaze. Gaze was simply the way the subject in the photographs stared. It sounds like a simple thing but the stare of any survivor of the Holocaust is enough to make most people want to cry.
The Holocaust is one of the worst periods in modern history. I can not believe that people were that mean to each other and that inhumane. I am thankful though that these images were taken because they help remind us of the past and that we should never let anything like that happen again.
Ms. Hara
10/29/07
Conveying Atrocity in image
This article on the use of imagery was an extremely depressing one. It was all about how people used pictures to depict the terrible crimes that were performed in concentration camps. We have all seen the photos that were captured during this time and they still hurt to look at no matter how many times you have seen them. The picture of the starved prisoners staring at the camera man makes me cringe every time I see it.
This article did not only show a couple of the pictures that it was describing but it also told us what it took to take one of these strong images. It said that to get a good image the photographer had to have good placement, number, and gaze. The placement is where the central image is located in the picture and what is around it. The author showed the reader a picture of a bunch of dead corpses and General Eisenhower standing there looking at them. The number is simply the number of people inside the picture. The author stated that group images tended to be less graphic because you could not focus in on one person’s pain or suffering. And the last one was gaze. Gaze was simply the way the subject in the photographs stared. It sounds like a simple thing but the stare of any survivor of the Holocaust is enough to make most people want to cry.
The Holocaust is one of the worst periods in modern history. I can not believe that people were that mean to each other and that inhumane. I am thankful though that these images were taken because they help remind us of the past and that we should never let anything like that happen again.
maus 3
Albert Rayle
Ms. Hara
Maus reading response 3
11/05/07
This last reading assignment could be the worst one that we have had to read yet. Vladek is now in Auschwitz and is struggling every day just to find enough food to survive. Also on top of the written images that are being placed in my head I am forced to see Artie’s drawings of the terrible things that happened. It just seems so unbelievable that something like this was happening and it took us so long to stop it. I would imagine that everyone in the world would be against Hitler and his army, and all the countries would unite to bring him down. Instead he somehow had a huge following and had very strong alliances.
I found it very interesting how Vladek was able to stay alive in Auschwitz. I always assumed that they people who survived Auschwitz were the ones that knew had to hide in the numbers and avoid all of the lineups and gas chambers. Vladek did the opposite, he would make friend with his kapo and his job site supervisors. Vladek realized that he could never survive on his own with the small amounts of food he was given so he branched out and tried to make “friends”. I say “friends” because no one really cared about each other during this time. All anyone cared about was saving themselves and their love ones. Also to get these people to like Vladek he always had to do something for them. For his kapo Vladek had to teach him to speak English and in returned the kapo saved him from going to the gas chambers by telling him which side of the line to stand. Vladek also bribed Anja’s kapo by fixing her boots and making them look like they were new.
Vladek used all of his intelligence and skill to survive the camp. He knew that skilled workers would be kept around longer so he always did what ever he could to get a job. Since he was in hiding for so long and always was pretending to do different jobs he learned little bits and pieces of trade skills that he was then later able to use in the camps. Vladek would always pretend to know what he was doing and then go and learn how to do it in order to keep his job. When Vladek was being a shoe smith in the concentration camp he knew how to do basic repairs but then one day a guard came in and told him to fix a bad tear and make the boot look brand new. The guard said that he would kill him if it wasn’t a good repair. Vladek rushed back to the barracks and got someone to fix it and make it look perfect. In doing so he had to give up a day’s supply of bread because that was how things worked there, nothing was free. The guard thought that Vladek did a great job and actually gave him a whole sausage link, so in the end it worked out better for him. Vladek seemed to always get a little lucky like this. He sacrificed his day’s worth of sawdust filled bread but in the end he got some desperately needed protein.
These last two chapters were very sad and interesting at the same time. It is sad to think about all of the trouble that everyone went through but it is interesting to learn about. Art seemed to have a lot of trouble starting up the second book because he tells us that he is seeing a shrink and his drawing actually show him as a human with a mouse mask on. I am fairly certain that this is the first time that he has done this in his series so far. Maybe he is trying to tell us that he is worn out being in the past world that he is describing.
Ms. Hara
Maus reading response 3
11/05/07
This last reading assignment could be the worst one that we have had to read yet. Vladek is now in Auschwitz and is struggling every day just to find enough food to survive. Also on top of the written images that are being placed in my head I am forced to see Artie’s drawings of the terrible things that happened. It just seems so unbelievable that something like this was happening and it took us so long to stop it. I would imagine that everyone in the world would be against Hitler and his army, and all the countries would unite to bring him down. Instead he somehow had a huge following and had very strong alliances.
I found it very interesting how Vladek was able to stay alive in Auschwitz. I always assumed that they people who survived Auschwitz were the ones that knew had to hide in the numbers and avoid all of the lineups and gas chambers. Vladek did the opposite, he would make friend with his kapo and his job site supervisors. Vladek realized that he could never survive on his own with the small amounts of food he was given so he branched out and tried to make “friends”. I say “friends” because no one really cared about each other during this time. All anyone cared about was saving themselves and their love ones. Also to get these people to like Vladek he always had to do something for them. For his kapo Vladek had to teach him to speak English and in returned the kapo saved him from going to the gas chambers by telling him which side of the line to stand. Vladek also bribed Anja’s kapo by fixing her boots and making them look like they were new.
Vladek used all of his intelligence and skill to survive the camp. He knew that skilled workers would be kept around longer so he always did what ever he could to get a job. Since he was in hiding for so long and always was pretending to do different jobs he learned little bits and pieces of trade skills that he was then later able to use in the camps. Vladek would always pretend to know what he was doing and then go and learn how to do it in order to keep his job. When Vladek was being a shoe smith in the concentration camp he knew how to do basic repairs but then one day a guard came in and told him to fix a bad tear and make the boot look brand new. The guard said that he would kill him if it wasn’t a good repair. Vladek rushed back to the barracks and got someone to fix it and make it look perfect. In doing so he had to give up a day’s supply of bread because that was how things worked there, nothing was free. The guard thought that Vladek did a great job and actually gave him a whole sausage link, so in the end it worked out better for him. Vladek seemed to always get a little lucky like this. He sacrificed his day’s worth of sawdust filled bread but in the end he got some desperately needed protein.
These last two chapters were very sad and interesting at the same time. It is sad to think about all of the trouble that everyone went through but it is interesting to learn about. Art seemed to have a lot of trouble starting up the second book because he tells us that he is seeing a shrink and his drawing actually show him as a human with a mouse mask on. I am fairly certain that this is the first time that he has done this in his series so far. Maybe he is trying to tell us that he is worn out being in the past world that he is describing.
maus 2
Albert Rayle
Maus reading response
Ms. Hara
10/31/07
These last couple of chapters that I read in Maus was very sad and emotional. It talks about the Nazi’s gaining a serious amount of power and how they were really beginning to hurt and restrict the Jewish community. The Nazi’s have just begun hauling people into concentration camps and are requiring Jewish families to move into concentration camps. I felt a nauseas feeling overcome me in some parts of the reading too.
I think one of the worst stories that was told in the book so far was the one about the grandparents. Vladek’s grandparents’ in-law were ordered to go to a concentration camp but decided to hide instead. They were successful in hiding for a while but the Nazi’s continuously came over asking for them. Then one day they came and took Mr. Zylberberg instead. The Nazi’s threatened that they would take his wife and children too if he didn’t tell them where his parents were so he write home telling them to come out of hiding. They did and were then taken to Auschwitz to be put in the gas chambers. I cant even imagine having to give up my grandparents to a certain death in order to protect the rest of my family.
Another terrible story that I read was when Mr. Spiegelman was separated from his daughter Fela in the stadium. The Nazi’s required the Jewish community to go to a stadium to get a stamp on their passport. The Nazi’s had two lines and only one of the lines got a stamp. If someone did not get a stamp they were then put on a train and sent to a concentration camp. When Mr. Spiegelman discovered that his daughter did not get a stamp he climbed over the fence and joined her on the train. Art goes on to sat that they were never seen again after that.
This whole time period is extremely disturbing and is full of terrible stories even worse that what I have heard so far. I can not even imagine being alive in this time period and having to wake up every morning worrying about whether this would be the day that I die. It is scary that a human can be as mean as the Nazi’s were, because in the end that’s all they were, a human.
Maus reading response
Ms. Hara
10/31/07
These last couple of chapters that I read in Maus was very sad and emotional. It talks about the Nazi’s gaining a serious amount of power and how they were really beginning to hurt and restrict the Jewish community. The Nazi’s have just begun hauling people into concentration camps and are requiring Jewish families to move into concentration camps. I felt a nauseas feeling overcome me in some parts of the reading too.
I think one of the worst stories that was told in the book so far was the one about the grandparents. Vladek’s grandparents’ in-law were ordered to go to a concentration camp but decided to hide instead. They were successful in hiding for a while but the Nazi’s continuously came over asking for them. Then one day they came and took Mr. Zylberberg instead. The Nazi’s threatened that they would take his wife and children too if he didn’t tell them where his parents were so he write home telling them to come out of hiding. They did and were then taken to Auschwitz to be put in the gas chambers. I cant even imagine having to give up my grandparents to a certain death in order to protect the rest of my family.
Another terrible story that I read was when Mr. Spiegelman was separated from his daughter Fela in the stadium. The Nazi’s required the Jewish community to go to a stadium to get a stamp on their passport. The Nazi’s had two lines and only one of the lines got a stamp. If someone did not get a stamp they were then put on a train and sent to a concentration camp. When Mr. Spiegelman discovered that his daughter did not get a stamp he climbed over the fence and joined her on the train. Art goes on to sat that they were never seen again after that.
This whole time period is extremely disturbing and is full of terrible stories even worse that what I have heard so far. I can not even imagine being alive in this time period and having to wake up every morning worrying about whether this would be the day that I die. It is scary that a human can be as mean as the Nazi’s were, because in the end that’s all they were, a human.
maus 1
Albert Rayle
10/29/07
Ms. Hara
Maus response 1
As I sat in the library reading the Maus cartoon I have had countless students coming up to me and informing me about how it is a great story and how they loved to read it. And every time that happened I felt like they were pulling my hair out because all I wanted to do was read the amazing story that sat in my lap. Art Spiegelman is performing a hard task of telling two stories simultaneously and is doing a surprisingly good job at it. As if the story of a concentration camp is not interesting enough the author also talks about his father in present day and how he is struggling with his health.
The story is written in an interesting way because Artie Spiegelman is the son of Vladek, and Vladek is now an old man recalling his memories. The two of them did not have a great relationship while Artie was growing up but the reader can already notice that there relationship is improving as they sit and talk about the war. Also Vladek will be in the middle of telling a story and stop suddenly to do something regarding his poor health. In the first chapter he told the story about meeting his wife while he was on a stationary bike, it is suppose to be good for his heart. Then in the next chapter Artie continuously brings the reader back into the reality that the story being told is in the past by making Vladek spill his pills all over the table. Then Vladek starts ranting about how the doctors give him a bunch of random pills and how he self medicates from the directions he finds in his prevention magazines. I found this somewhat humorous because my grandfather is the same way.
My grandfather served in World War 2 and he has the same mentality as Vladek when it comes to his health. I know a couple of other survivors of the war and they all seem to have the same general mentality that they can do it better themselves. I think that this might be because they had to completely rely on themselves during the war in order to survive and it has never really left them. I am not sure if my grandfather ever killed a man but Vladek told Artie that he did. He told the story about the moving tree and how he shot it and then later inspected the body. He looked at the dog tags and found out that the guys name was Jan and he then said “well at least I did something”. The only reason that Vladek got out of a lot of his sticky situations was because of his own intelligence. He was smart enough to out think some guards and smart enough to pick his battles.
One interesting thing that Art Spiegelman is doing in this story is his choice of character for everyone. He makes all of the good guys be mice and the Nazis are cats. I think that he is trying to show how helpless the Jewish community was in this time by making them be mice. It is like Art is saying that this was all a big game of cat and mouse and the cats have the mice trapped in a corner. Another interesting thing that Art did was that he made everyone else, including the police, be pigs. When I think of a pig I think of an animal that does not care for anything other than itself so I think that Art is trying to show that a lot of people were not taking any action against the Nazis.
I thought that this is going to be a very interesting read and I am hoping that the action continues to go the way it is. And just to reiterate on what I said earlier, I kept a tally of how many times someone stopped me from reading or writing this paper to express how good it was and the grand total is nine. I had nine people come and express their love and every time I have to shoo them away and tell them that I completely agree. In fact the story is so good I found myself reading a head a little bit.
10/29/07
Ms. Hara
Maus response 1
As I sat in the library reading the Maus cartoon I have had countless students coming up to me and informing me about how it is a great story and how they loved to read it. And every time that happened I felt like they were pulling my hair out because all I wanted to do was read the amazing story that sat in my lap. Art Spiegelman is performing a hard task of telling two stories simultaneously and is doing a surprisingly good job at it. As if the story of a concentration camp is not interesting enough the author also talks about his father in present day and how he is struggling with his health.
The story is written in an interesting way because Artie Spiegelman is the son of Vladek, and Vladek is now an old man recalling his memories. The two of them did not have a great relationship while Artie was growing up but the reader can already notice that there relationship is improving as they sit and talk about the war. Also Vladek will be in the middle of telling a story and stop suddenly to do something regarding his poor health. In the first chapter he told the story about meeting his wife while he was on a stationary bike, it is suppose to be good for his heart. Then in the next chapter Artie continuously brings the reader back into the reality that the story being told is in the past by making Vladek spill his pills all over the table. Then Vladek starts ranting about how the doctors give him a bunch of random pills and how he self medicates from the directions he finds in his prevention magazines. I found this somewhat humorous because my grandfather is the same way.
My grandfather served in World War 2 and he has the same mentality as Vladek when it comes to his health. I know a couple of other survivors of the war and they all seem to have the same general mentality that they can do it better themselves. I think that this might be because they had to completely rely on themselves during the war in order to survive and it has never really left them. I am not sure if my grandfather ever killed a man but Vladek told Artie that he did. He told the story about the moving tree and how he shot it and then later inspected the body. He looked at the dog tags and found out that the guys name was Jan and he then said “well at least I did something”. The only reason that Vladek got out of a lot of his sticky situations was because of his own intelligence. He was smart enough to out think some guards and smart enough to pick his battles.
One interesting thing that Art Spiegelman is doing in this story is his choice of character for everyone. He makes all of the good guys be mice and the Nazis are cats. I think that he is trying to show how helpless the Jewish community was in this time by making them be mice. It is like Art is saying that this was all a big game of cat and mouse and the cats have the mice trapped in a corner. Another interesting thing that Art did was that he made everyone else, including the police, be pigs. When I think of a pig I think of an animal that does not care for anything other than itself so I think that Art is trying to show that a lot of people were not taking any action against the Nazis.
I thought that this is going to be a very interesting read and I am hoping that the action continues to go the way it is. And just to reiterate on what I said earlier, I kept a tally of how many times someone stopped me from reading or writing this paper to express how good it was and the grand total is nine. I had nine people come and express their love and every time I have to shoo them away and tell them that I completely agree. In fact the story is so good I found myself reading a head a little bit.
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