Why Study Graphic Novels?

Graphic novels are great for getting reluctant teens to read, but do they really have any literary value? Below are 5 reasons as to why graphic novels can be beneficial when taught in a English classroom.

1. Graphic Novels take different cognitive skills to read.

Because of their format, graphic novels take different cognitive skills to read and study than text-only literature. Many argue that this provides a new deeper level for teens - something that isn't reached in reading traditional texts. These new cognitive skills are something teens today are developing through social media and other means. They are learning how to interact with a world that is mixed-media. Teaching graphic novels in a classroom setting allows for students to broaden those skills and apply them to literature and not just other media. This helps them to see that literature isn't boring and useless, like so many believe. Rather, as teachers help students truly interact with literature in a positive way, they can walk away from it seeing more value in it.

2. Graphic novels have a simpler plot-line.

When a text has a simple plotline such as this one it is easy to read and follow the action!

One of the most important aspects of discussing literature is to be able to discuss themes and ideas that the book presents. Many themes in "classic" literature are often disguised under complex plot-lines and layers of character development. This leads to frustration in the student as they are trying to find what the teacher is looking for. Teachers often teach the themes of these novels before their students even fully understand what is going on.

Graphic novels are not presented this way. Often it is obvious what the story is, especially as the reader gets to see it played out while reading what is happening. Because teens don't have to struggle with understanding the basic outline of the book, they can move past it and begin to look for themes and ideas.

3. Makes it easier to learn certain literary techniques.

Since we see that graphic novels can help teens recognize themes in literature, is it any surprise that they can also focus on other literary techniques as well?! Once again, the simpler plot-lines allow the students to move past the basic story and into the more complex ideas behind it.

Dialogue, which is a key literary technique to understand in any form of literature, is readily available to be discussed through study of a graphic novel. Think about it - the words that are often on the page of a graphic novel are some form of dialogue. There is some other text, but dialogue mainly runs the show. Not only is dialogue in the text of the graphic novel, but it's in the pictures! That's right, body language is often a crucial aspect of dialogue that teachers often overlook when teaching text-only literature. But, how often do we interact with others and body language is used to help interpret what they say and mean? It is crucial to be able to interpret and understand dialogue in all it's forms in order to understand a text as a whole.

4. They have a more relatable plot-lines, which aids in rich class discussions.

So, not only are the plot-lines simple, but they are relatable to teens. They discuss issues and ideas that a high school student could come across at some point in their life. Because of this, teachers can see more rich class discussions! Think about it - we all like to talk about things that we can connect with, and teenagers are no different. Give them a classic that they are struggling to understand and relate to, and most clam up, not wanting to say the wrong thing. But, hand them a graphic novel that has themes and plots that are relatable to their lives, and teachers can see successful class discussions open up before them. Students can discuss the themes in relation to their lives and then take the ideas and apply them. Now, any good teacher would have to agree this is the reason to study literature in the first place - to help students apply lessons from the texts into their lives.

5. They can bridge the gap between our visual world and the text-only aspects of classic literature.

Through all the points above we can see that graphic novels can ultimately prepare teens for reading "classic" literature. The cognitive skills they learn and the literary techniques they understand better can be transferred over to the study of traditional texts. They learn how to find these by reading and studying the simpler and more relatable plot-lines of graphic novels. Then, having that basic understanding, they can read a "classic" and apply what they have learned.

One of the best ways to see this reality is to pair a graphic novel and a "classic" text that have similar themes and literary techniques. An article describes a classroom ran by Mrs. Scott. In the fall she taught her students The Odyssey and Romeo and Juliet. Throughout the discussions she found that her students weren't any better off for having read the texts. So, she decided to try a new tactic for the following semester. She first taught the graphic novel New York: The Big City, and then moved on to The Scarlet Letter. She found that the graphic novel was able to reach her students and they began to interact with the text in the way she hoped. When they moved on to The Scarlet Letter, the class made references back to the graphic novel and what they had learned from it.

This teacher saw the gap in her students education and knew she needed a way to bridge that gap. She wanted to help her students understand the "classic" texts she was teaching and branched out to make this happen. As she taught the graphic novel her students began to see what a true literary conversation could be like. They were then able to apply what they learned when reading The Scarlet Letter. She bridged that gap, and by doing so gave her students a foundation for understanding, and even enjoying, this traditional text.

The Rise of the Graphic Novel

We live in a world that is bombarded with visual stimulation in everything we do. And perhaps the biggest group of people this affects is high school students. A study done in 2010 showed that teens spend an average of about 7.5 hours a day interacting with different forms of media such as watching TV, listening to music, surfing the Web, social networking, and playing video games. 7.5 hours a day! That is more time than is usually devoted to sleep! All of these activities use visuals, at least to some extent. Teens today have access to visual stimulation at their fingertips - especially because most carry a smartphone with them everywhere!

This abundance of stimulation has pushed traditional text-only literature to the back burner. Teens today have lost interest in reading these books because they are "boring" or "hard to understand." They are not part of the genre that high schoolers are so used to being around, and therefore, they lose interest. Most teens express the idea "why bother with reading if we can find the information quickly and it is in a format I am more used to?"

So, is it any surprise that there has been a rise in popularity of graphic novels among this age group? It gives them a visual representation while reading text. It is in a format that they are used to, which makes the themes and ideas more available to them. It isn't "boring" or "hard to understand" in the same way that traditional text-only books are.

But, sadly, the study of literature has not caught on to this idea! In a high school English classroom we rarely see the accommodation for this new craze that is hitting teens today. Many teachers fear the idea that teens are loosing interest in literature, but so many of them still teach only the "classic" literature. Teachers need a way to remind students of the value of great books. They need a way to capture the attention of their students and show them the value of literature at the same time. This is where graphic novels come into play. Graphic novels provide a way for students to gain the visual stimulation they crave while incorporating themes and plots found in more traditional literature. By bringing these texts into a classroom, teachers are able to bridge the gap between a visually stimulated world and the text-only books that are often taught in today.

What is a Graphic Novel?

In my next few posts, I'm going to discuss the idea of using graphic novels in the English classroom today. So, to make sure we are all on the same page, let's discuss what a graphic novel is.

Cover of Eisner's work.

The term "graphic novel" was used first by Will Eisner when he published his book A Contract with God. Eisner wanted to show that comic strips could be used for a deeper and more mature literary experience. His book accomplished this through his discussion of God and man's relationship to Him, but it did not gain the fame or popularity that was expected.

Cover of Spiegelman's work

 Graphic Novels did not gain popularity with the general public until closer to the 1980's. The rise in popularity came with Art Spiegelman's work Maus. He too discussed deeper and more complex ideas. His book, which he later wrote a sequel to, is biographical, telling the story of his father as a Polish Jew during the Holocaust. Spiegelman took a more mature theme and placed it within a format that was more informal and immature. Through his illustrations and his text, Spiegelman was able to accomplish the goal that Eisner had tried to so many years before. In 1992, Maus was the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize.

With the fame of graphic novels increasing, a debate has broken out about if the term "graphic novel" is really necessary. Isn't it the same thing as a comic book? Graphic novels and comic books do have a lot of similarities, but they are also very different. A graphic novel is defined as a fictional story that is presented in comic-strip format and published as a book by the Merriam-Webster dictionary. While its origin came from the comic book, it is longer, and usually focuses on a single theme or plot that finishes by the end of the book. Comic books, on the other hand, usually have many editions and the story continues through them.

One of the biggest differences between these two texts gives the graphic novel value to study in today's English classrooms. Josh Allen, a professor of English at Brigham Young University-Idaho explains that "comic books focus on the plot while graphic novels focus on the characters." Because graphic novels focus on the characters rather than the plot, they present more developed and well rounded characters that are perfect for studying. The characters drive the plot, rather than the plot driving the characters. This creates a depth to the text that is worth studying in a classroom setting.

Both comic books and graphic novels have begun to rise in popularity over the last few years. However, graphic novels need to be separated from the comic book genre - especially in regards to literature - because they have value in studying in the English classroom today.