Ernst's "A Week of Kindness" Translation

Max Ernst’s A Week of Kindness roughly deals with subjects like fear, death and abuse. In each panel and section there is a repeating element, such as the rooster or the Easter Island head. He tackles darker subject matter while adding a touch of horror with the repeating element. The majority of the time, the men are the ones depicted as the repeating objects. For example, in several of the first panels, the man has the head or body of the chicken. The same goes for the final few panels with the Easter Island head. The repeating elements are never put in a good situation, they are always inflicting some point of pain or suffering.

The first day, the element is blackness and the example is the rooster. The term “blackness” can be a reference to death or lack of light. Many of the illustrations deal with some type of death or darkness. This can be translated into the meanings behind the work and what the author’s intent was.

The second part of the work deals with the regrets that man face. They are shown in situations where they are showing sorrow or self pity. It implies that the Easter Island head is them putting on a brave face to hide their sorrow as not to be perceived as weak or emotional.

Many deal with the subjectification and torture of women and how men are perceived as evil or cowardly. The fact that the men don’t have faces can speak to the hidden side to them that only their wives see. This can speak to the possible abuse that the author witnessed or was a part of in his life. It focuses on internal psychology and the taboos of the time.

"The Arrival" Reflection

The graphic novel, The Arrival by Shaun Tan is a work that communicates its message without the use of words. The use of sequential pictures that show emotion and expression give the reader a way to connect to the story without any immediate explanation. With a multitude of comics and novels out there, Tan had to find a way of expression without his work getting lost in the endless sea of work. His use of wordless panels gave the story originality and also helped the reader connect to the story. Since the story is about a group of immigrants making their way in a new country, everything is so strange to them and they find it hard to understand and communicate without the use of words.

His illustrations emphasize expression, mood and the surrealistic feeling that these immigrants are going through. Switching from larger scale illustrations to smaller panel pictures give a sense of scale. In several of the larger scale illustrations, they are often surrealistic landscapes with large amounts of detail. While the smaller illustrations are mainly for the characters and focusing on their expressions and experiences in the strange new world. His use of warm and cool grays in the work help resonate the mood of the present scene and give the illustrations more of a dramatic feel.  

Changing the point of view of several characters gives the reader more than one story to follow and creates interest through this. It makes the reader want to find out what happens next to a particular set of characters.

The Arrival is a prime example that an author doesn’t need words to communicate their message.