Sean Osterman
Dr.Johns
10/22/08
When I think of a comic strip, I usually imagine some sort of super hero defeating the villan after a series of tedious, yet entertaining battles. Chris Ware, author of Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth, uses a unique method through comics to get his main idea across to the reader. Ware doesn’t use any sort of superhero. In fact he uses a socially awkard character named Jimmy Corrigan. Jimmy is depressed due to many reasons, mostly due to never having a father figure in his life. Without the use of comics, Ware would not have been able to show the reader how poor Jimmy’s life is.
Throughout the course of the story, there is a constant theme of dark, ugly colors that give the book a depressed feel. By using pictures, the reader can constantly see how depressed Jimmy is and how depressing the environment is. It would be difficult and almost impossible to have this effect on the reader through text. The author would have to constantly remind the reader of setting and the color(s) involved in the setting. Not only would this be tedious, it would also be extremly annoying for the reader.
Ware incorporates dreams, flashbacks and thoughts in the story as if these events were actually happening. At times I would become confused and wonder if that actually happened. For example, towards the beginning of the story Jimmy meets his father. When he meets his father, Jimmy has a thought of killing his father with a glass cup. Jimmy didn’t actually kill his father; he had an extremly violent vision. Ware does this to show the reader how mentally sick Jimmy is. Without the use of pictures, the reader would be perplexed thinking that Jimmy actually killed his dad. Ware uses a change in background color to show the viewer that it is a possible dream. The scene changes from the airport bar to a room with a bed and a window with green background. This was a big hint that Jimmy was thinking this instead of it actually happening.
For most of us, when we were young our parents took us to theme parks and fairs. Towards the end portion of the story, Ware is showing us events that occur in Jimmy’s grandfather’s life. Jimmy’s grandfather, James, is taken to the Worlds Columbian Exposition by his neglecting father. This is a very surprising move because his father hates James and would never take him anywhere especially. James is almost in a dream like daze throughout this whole scene. Ware constantly shows James in a night gown because he feels that this is actually is a dream. At the end of the scene James finally realizes why his father actually let him tag along. His father abandoned him at the Worlds Columbian Exposition. Without uses pictures, the reader cannot realize how awful James’ father is. Pictures were the best way to give the reader an idea of James’ father. This also leads to the reader making connections of why Jimmy is depressed today.
Ware does a very good job of giving the background to why Jimmys is so depressed and how his condition isnt completely his fault. Without the illustration, Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth would have been boring and very difficult to follow.
3 comments:
Sean, I liked your opening paragraph. The use of 1st person in the 1st sentence was a nice attention grabber. Also, you had a strong thesis. In the second paragraph, you mention how the dreams illustrate how mentally sick Jimmy is. Here I think you should elaborate on how he is mentally sick, and possibly show how he lacks an entertaining social life, and struggles mightily with talking to women. It is a big statement to call someone mentally sick, so I think you should back it up a little bit more. You do a good job of supporting your thesis in this paragraph though. The third paragraph could use a better transition, as you change topics pretty abruptly. In this paragraph, you mention how bad James’s father is. You could expand on this a bit more by using other examples other than the dream in which his father leaves him at the exposition. I would use some examples that really occurred, to explain why he had this type of dream. The conclusion is pretty short, and pretty much reiterates your thesis, I would add on to this. Overall it was a good first draft, and a pretty solid thesis.
Sean Osterman
Dr.Johns
10/22/08
When I think of a comic strip, I usually imagine some sort of super hero defeating the villan after a series of tedious, yet entertaining battles. Chris Ware, author of Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth, uses a unique method through comics to get his main idea across to the reader. Ware doesn’t use any sort of superhero. In fact he uses a socially awkard character named Jimmy Corrigan. Jimmy is depressed due to many reasons, mostly due to never having a father figure in his life. Without the use of comics, Ware would not have been able to show the reader how poor Jimmy’s life is.
Throughout the course of the story, there is a constant theme of dark, ugly colors that give the book a depressed feel. By using pictures, the reader can constantly see how depressed Jimmy is and how depressing the environment is. It would be difficult and almost impossible to have this effect on the reader through text. The author would have to constantly remind the reader of setting and the color(s) involved in the setting. Not only would this be tedious, it would also be extremly annoying for the reader.
Ware incorporates dreams, flashbacks and thoughts in the story as if these events were actually happening. At times I would become confused and wonder if that actually happened. For example, towards the beginning of the story Jimmy meets his father. When he meets his father, Jimmy has a thought of killing his father with a glass cup. Jimmy didn’t actually kill his father; he had an extremly violent vision. Ware does this to show the reader how mentally sick Jimmy is. Without the use of pictures, the reader would be perplexed thinking that Jimmy actually killed his dad. Ware uses a change in background color to show the viewer that it is a possible dream. The scene changes from the airport bar to a room with a bed and a window with green background. This was a big hint that Jimmy was thinking this instead of it actually happening. Also, Ware shows the reader how socially out of place Jimmy is. He is especially antisocial with women which leads him to feeling terribly awful about himself as well as the world around him. This is shown in the beginning when Jimmy is at his workplace. Ware shows the reader that Jimmy eats alone at lunchtime, he works alone in a cubicle and he hardly ever interacts with any of his coworkers. When Jimmy is working, the only person he talks to consistantly is his mom over the phone.
For most of us, when we were young our parents took us to theme parks and fairs. Towards the end portion of the story, Ware is showing us events that occur in Jimmy’s grandfather’s life. Jimmy’s grandfather, James, is taken to the Worlds Columbian Exposition by his neglecting father. This is a very surprising move because his father hates James and would never take him anywhere especially. James is almost in a dream like daze throughout this whole scene. Ware constantly shows James in a night gown because he feels that this is actually is a dream. At the end of the scene James finally realizes why his father actually let him tag along. His father abandoned him at the Worlds Columbian Exposition. Without uses pictures, the reader cannot realize how awful James’ father is.
Ware does a very good job of giving the background to why Jimmys is so depressed and how his condition isnt completely his own fault. I think that Ware tries to impose some aspects of his life into the story. He compares himself to Jimmy with some depressing aspects of their lives. With these aspects Ware was able to create a more powerful story. Without the illustration, Jimmy Corrigan, The Smartest Kid on Earth would have been boring and very difficult to follow.
Jim - Some nice, detailed points, although they could have been better organized.
Sean - I like the initial focus on colors - I'm not sure how superheroes relate, though. You could have compressed this intro greatly.
Your conclusion, about Ware's life, is almost completely disconnected from the rest of the paper.
Now, are you writing about Ware's use of color or about Jimmy's possible mental illness? While the two topics might connect, you don't *demonstrate* that they do - you just assume it. Had you been able to explore these two ideas in a more *connected* way, and had you gone more beyond things we talked about in class, this would have been more impressive. But as it stands, you're covering at least two topics, and you lean heavily on things we talked about in class.
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