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11 October, 2015
Graphical Novels: American Born Chinese
The differences between novels and graphical novels are not just limited in the mode of presentation but also on the factors beyond the literature. The text novels present information and content in plain text, without any graphics. On the other hand, the graphic novels have a higher advantage of using graphics in the presentation of the contents. While there are many other differences than the obvious, one stands out as the most influential and determinant. The difference is that the graphic novels have a rhetorical appeal to the reader, which may be lacking in the on the ordinary text novels. By taking the graphic novel “American Born Chinese,” the discussion on this difference will illustrate how the book has a higher rhetorical appeal than the other novels.
In literature, rhetorical appeals are the aspects of image and graphics where the author uses elements of persuasion to the reader. This is done by having good graphics that are designed to invoke the aspects of persuasion. Such aspects persuasion includes ethos, pathos and logos. By using graphics in the novel, the “American Born Chinese,” presents a unique appeal to the reader to not only understand the storyline but also identify with the story. This is done by using graphics that invoke the motions of the reader. For instance, to show love for Chin-Kee, Yang states, “Everyone Ruvs Chin-Kee” (Yang 43). Below on the picture, Yang puts another emotional appeal of claps, “clap clap clap clap…..” (Yang 43). The graphics invoke the emotions of the reader (pathos) in understanding the changes of the moods in the storyline.
The use of graphics makes it different from other novels because it gives the credibility of the storyline. If Morison had used graphics in the novel “Home,” he would make more meaning by sentences by using pictures. For instance, he would use graphics of a house and light in sentences like “Whose house is this? Whose night keeps out the light In here? Say” (Morison 2). Unlike in Morrison, the “American Born Chinese,” uses graphics appeal to credibility aspect of persuasion. Unlike the other novels, this is achieved by embedding small Chinese symbols in each section of the book. These symbols play significant role of giving the novel the contextual appeal of the book. The reader will definitely know that the book is about a Chinese storyline of context, even before reading each section. This facilitates the logos aspect of the appeal as the book gives credibility to its content, especially in relation to the Chinese context.
Unlike other novels, the “American Born Chinese,” is able to provide more content through the use of graphics. The rhetorical aspects of the graphical communicate the extra content by the author. This is achieved through the inclusion of certain appeal that cannot be described through text. For other novels the text can only create a description that forces the reader to form a mental picture of the plot, context or the situation. For instance, Henry James struggled to express a lonely moment, when he could have used an image in “We were alone with the quiet day, and his little heart, dispossessed and stopped” (James 113). However, the “American Born Chinese,” just presents all the elements of the message that the author intends to provide to the reader. This makes the novel more appealing and authoritative to the reader by allowing the audience to view more of the contents of the novels.
Another aspect of the rhetorical appeal difference between the graphic novel and other novels is that the former has the power to switch between stories without losing the appeal to the reader. In the novel “American Born Chinese,” the author successfully switches between the three stories without losing the appeal or the context of the story. This perhaps is because the appeal is created by the graphics and not textual descriptions. This way, the author switches from Monkey King, the Jin Wang, and Chin-Kee stories. The storyline is created by pictures that still align themselves to the main story of finding identity. The author still keeps the reader attracted to the three storylines, by changing the contexts, the plot, characters, but still maintaining the rhetorical appeals.
In addition, the use of the graphics makes the rhetorical appeals consistent with all the main characters of the stories. Unlike other novels where the author has to make deliberate textual descriptions, Gene Yang uses graphics to maintain the appeal by maintaining it among the three main characters. This is different from Abbot who struggles to show “Upward, not Northward” (Abbot 21). He could have used graphics showing up and down. Unlike Abbot, represents Monkey King, a legendary character who rules over the Flower-Fruit Mountain. The author even describes the type of rule by stating, “The Monkey King ruled with a firm but a gentle hand” (Yang 10). Yang then shifts to Jing Wang, an American of Chinese descent struggling to fit into the American culture. Yang also introduces Danny, an American who is interacting with his Chinese cousin. In all these characters, the author maintains the attention of the reader through the rhetorical appeal in the graphics.
While there are different aspects where the graphic novels differ with the text novels, the most obvious is the use of graphics to pass content. However, the use of rhetorical appeals is the other determinant difference that is not obviously observed by most readers. However, the difference makes all the significance as the attention of the reader is captured by the rhetorical appeals of persuading the emotions of the reader, and creating credibility of the literature. By using graphics, Gene Yang creates a consistent appeal that transits the three stories and the three different main characters to merge the storylines. This way, the novel emerges as a unique work of literature compared with the other novels.
Works Cited
Abbott, Edwin A, and Lila M. Harper. Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions. Peterborough, Ont: Broadview Editions, 2010. Print
Morison, Toni. Home, New York: Knopf Publishing, 2012, Print
James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw. New York: W.W. Norton & Company 1999, Print
Yang, Gene. American Born Chinese New York: First Second Books, 2006, Print