Thursday, February 12, 2015
Speigelman Vs O' Brien
The one of the main differences int he way these two authors choose to write their stories is the tone they give. Often Speigelman gives a more lighthearted tone, shown not only through panels in his graphic novel but also through the way he tells his stories. Spiegelman often chooses to keep light hearted events along with negative events to give his world a more human feel to his fathers holocaust story. In contrast, O' Brien often latches onto the negative events more than the positive ones, giving a more negative feel overall of war. This could be evidence of PTSD bleeding into his writing but it could also just be an anti-war tone he is trying to get across to the audience.
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I find the assertion that O'Brien is more concerned with communicating an anti-war theme to his audience than Spiegelman an interesting argument to consider. On a surface level - at least taking into account that we've yet to complete the graphic novel in class - it would appear to be true. However, there is something about Spiegelman's work which is inherently less subjective than O'Brien's, and I feel it has something to do with the medium through which the stories are communicated. A piece of art which focuses itself entirely on words will always give the reader a clearer indication of exactly what the writer's thoughts are than a story based around pictures, wherein the illustrator does not often share his opinions. However, this may well change as the story of Maus progresses; I'll certainly make a point of keeping it in mind as I read.
ReplyDeleteA big difference in O'Brien work is the fact that he was in a war, while Spiegelman was not. O'Brien laces his story with anti-war descriptions and shame while Spiegelman tells a story about human behavior. Spiegelman lacks the first hand experience of war while O'Brien lacks a certain detachment.
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