Information

Name: Mitchell Springborn

Major: Biomedical Engineering

E-mail: mspringbo@ltu.edu

Journals:

Journal One:

The three works I am considering to use for my paper are Maus I and II and A Grain of Wheat.

Maus I:

http://www.shmoop.com/maus/summary.html

Maus II:

http://www.shmoop.com/maus/book-2-chapter-1-summary.html

A Grain of Wheat:

http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-a-grain-of-wheat/

Journal Two:

http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/the-drummer-boy-33985

     The Drummer Boy is a painting by William Morris Hunt. Created in 1862, this painting was created to develop support for the Civil War, which was a divisive issue at the time. The painting depicts a boy drumming who is standing on a pedestal inscribed with "U.S. Volunteers!" This has the effect of encouraging people to join the war effort. However, the background of the painting is dark and gloomy, which could be foreshadowing how the war effort is not going to be easy. The gloomy background also is in stark contrast to the ideas at the time. Both sides of the war expected it to be short, while William Morris Hunt, by painting a gloomy background, expects the war to be long and grueling. 

Journal Three:

     William Morris Hunt in the painting The Drummer Boy is attempting to gather support for a hard-fought, semi-unpopular war. There are many parts of this painting that attempt to gather support. First, the Drummer Boy is a child, which attempts to motivate people to serve as it shows what they need to protect. Also, the child motivates people to volunteer as the child is a volunteer for the Union, which motivates people to volunteer as if they don't volunteer, the child in the painting will have to fight instead. However, Hunt also seems to be disillusioned by the prospect of war, as his use of color and the boy's face show that Hunt has a few reservations about the idea of a Civil War, and undermine the drive for volunteers. Also, the boy's shorts are missing on one of his legs, which could suggest that Hunt is concerned with the number of injuries in the war and is using the clothing of the boy to show that.

Journal Four:

     The topic that I am considering for the paper is the effect of nationalism and war on the general population of society. A Grain of Wheat and Maus I and II both deal heavily with the effect of war and nationalism on the lives of the main characters. Through the characters being effected by these issues, the authors of the works are making many different statements about nationalism and war. The piece of art that I am pairing with these works of literature is The Drummer Boy, by William Morris Hunt (See above.) This piece of art applies to the topic of the paper as Hunt uses The Drummer Boy to make statements on what he perceives nationalism and war to be about, which is similar to the statements of Maus I and II and A Grain of Wheat. A secondary document that I can tie into my paper in order to help analyze the primary documents is the Nuremberg Trials. The Nuremberg Trials will offer a different view of nationalism and war than Maus I and II and help to understand the motivation behind Maus I and II.

Journal Five:

Young, James E. The texture of memory: Holocaust memorials and meaning. Yale University Press, 1993.

Young, James E. "The Holocaust as Vicarious Past: Art Spiegelman's" Maus" and the Afterimages of History." Critical Inquiry (1998): 666-699.

Linderman, Gerald. Embattled courage: The experience of combat in the American Civil War. Simon and Schuster, 2008.

Journal Six:

Every culture deals with the traumatic events of war in three ways: nationalism, historical understanding and cultural adaptation. Through the experience of war, people redefine and understand what it means to be a part of their culture. 

Journal Seven:

     The Maus series is a graphic novel series by Art Spiegelman about his father's experiences during the Holocaust. Spiegelman uses two methods in order to separate his father's story from other Holocaust stories: his depiction of his father's story in a graphic novel form and his use of animals instead of humans. Through these two methods, Spiegelman personalizes his father's story and makes it more accessible to the reader.

     The first method Spiegelman uses in order to personalize his father's story is his depiction of his father's experiences in graphic novel form. This allows his father's story to separate from other Holocaust stories as it is packaged in a unique form which isn't often used to depict somber, realistic events. Graphic novel form also gives his story more weight, as it is unlike any other Holocaust story. It also allows for the events to be depicted in a manner where it isn't too hard on the reader's mental state when it describes traumatic events. The last two sentences seem to contradict each other. Does the graphic novel genre make the topic heavier (more serious) or less traumatic? And can you support these assertions with specific examples from the text and outside research? What do scholars say about the graphic novel genre? Is it traditionally used for serious subjects? What is the traditional audience for a graphic novel?

     Spiegelman also uses animals instead of humans to lessen the effect of traumatic events on the reader. When the Jewish businessmen were hanging on the street, drawing the Jewish businessmen as rats (are they rats or mice?) instead of humans lessens the traumatic events. This serves in order to allow the reader to be able to comprehend the event without having to stop reading due to the image being too morbid. However, this still allows for the reality of the situation to be understood by the reader as the animals have faces that share similar emotions to humans, allowing the reader to understand the emotions that exist in that situation. Scholarship here to back up your claims (about how people react to pain on animals rather than people...) would be great. 

These are a really good start. As you revise, make sure paragraphs have a combination of evidence (from text/scholarship... and analysis).

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1344086?uid=2134&uid=2486446333&uid=3739728&uid=16787128&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=67&uid=2486446323&uid=16750952&uid=62&uid=3739256&uid=60&sid=21105258036553

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