Academia.eduAcademia.edu

Figure 1 – uploaded by Michelle N Huang

See full PDFdownloadDownload figure
ANH The collaborative nature of this article mirrors the complementary nature of our rescribed roles—if MK represents medical professionals and comics artists, I speak from a osition situated among familial caregivers and literary scholars. During my mother’s recovery rom a major stroke, I often observed the communication between medical professionals and ny family break down, despite best efforts on both sides. The role of the caregiver interests me recisely because of its peripheral nature. Neither patient nor doctor, the caregiver often finds erself in the position of a witness and translator. But telling someone else’s story is neither a imple nor straightforward task. Consequently, it is no surprise that the fraught ethics of epresenting illness and death are often explicitly mentioned in hospice comics, including all our discussed in this article. Each narrator includes reflection on the process of creating the arrative ac nart anf hic ar her evnerieance uith hacnire ceare

Figure 1 ANH The collaborative nature of this article mirrors the complementary nature of our rescribed roles—if MK represents medical professionals and comics artists, I speak from a osition situated among familial caregivers and literary scholars. During my mother’s recovery rom a major stroke, I often observed the communication between medical professionals and ny family break down, despite best efforts on both sides. The role of the caregiver interests me recisely because of its peripheral nature. Neither patient nor doctor, the caregiver often finds erself in the position of a witness and translator. But telling someone else’s story is neither a imple nor straightforward task. Consequently, it is no surprise that the fraught ethics of epresenting illness and death are often explicitly mentioned in hospice comics, including all our discussed in this article. Each narrator includes reflection on the process of creating the arrative ac nart anf hic ar her evnerieance uith hacnire ceare

Related Figures (20)

Fig. 2 “Creating Empathetic Bonds.” Williams, Ian. 2011. “Autography as Auto-Therapy: Psychic Pain and the Graphic Memoir.” Journal of Medical Humanities 32: 354 Furthermore, comics are uniquely suited to representing embodied experience. The practice of medicine is the practice of reading bodies—textbooks like Gray’s Anatomy are filled with diagrams. By using a language that deploys narrative and image dialogically, graphic pathographies are able to capture and juxtapose the multiple layers of a patient’s experience especially those that cannot be adequately captured by narrative alone. ed % as
Fig. 2 “Creating Empathetic Bonds.” Williams, Ian. 2011. “Autography as Auto-Therapy: Psychic Pain and the Graphic Memoir.” Journal of Medical Humanities 32: 354 Furthermore, comics are uniquely suited to representing embodied experience. The practice of medicine is the practice of reading bodies—textbooks like Gray’s Anatomy are filled with diagrams. By using a language that deploys narrative and image dialogically, graphic pathographies are able to capture and juxtapose the multiple layers of a patient’s experience especially those that cannot be adequately captured by narrative alone. ed % as
Fig. 3. “Kitty, The.” Leavitt, Sarah. 2010. Tangles. Calgary: Freehand: 66
Fig. 3. “Kitty, The.” Leavitt, Sarah. 2010. Tangles. Calgary: Freehand: 66
The interweaving of individual family member’s stories is especially pronounced in Joyce Farmer’s Special Exits, which was released in the U.S. in September 2010. Special Exits took Farmer, a veteran comics artist, 13 years to painstakingly draw and letter. R. Crumb has said that Special Exits is “a very powerful story... the patience to draw all that—you have no idea what that takes!” (Vankin 2010). Farmer suffers from macular degeneration, and in the book’s acknowledgements, she thanks her eye doctors for keeping her able to work. The book details the decline and death of each of her elderly parents. Farmer has said that Laura, the daughter character in Special Exits, is a very thinly veiled version of herself. This use of an alter ego, as comics scholar Jared Gardner (2008) has observed, allows Farmer to act as “both victim of the trauma and detached observer”: that is, to explore and represent experience without answering to the dividing and/or questions of truth and authenticity (12). In the book, Farmer begins by showing her parents as healthy people, before they began to
The interweaving of individual family member’s stories is especially pronounced in Joyce Farmer’s Special Exits, which was released in the U.S. in September 2010. Special Exits took Farmer, a veteran comics artist, 13 years to painstakingly draw and letter. R. Crumb has said that Special Exits is “a very powerful story... the patience to draw all that—you have no idea what that takes!” (Vankin 2010). Farmer suffers from macular degeneration, and in the book’s acknowledgements, she thanks her eye doctors for keeping her able to work. The book details the decline and death of each of her elderly parents. Farmer has said that Laura, the daughter character in Special Exits, is a very thinly veiled version of herself. This use of an alter ego, as comics scholar Jared Gardner (2008) has observed, allows Farmer to act as “both victim of the trauma and detached observer”: that is, to explore and represent experience without answering to the dividing and/or questions of truth and authenticity (12). In the book, Farmer begins by showing her parents as healthy people, before they began to
Despite her constant attention, Laura’s father passes away when she leaves to run a quick errand. She visits him immediately upon her return. Farmer generously shares their goodbye with us (Fig. 9), depicting Laura’s fulfilment of Lars’s final wish, a homage to his lifelong passion for coin collecting.
Despite her constant attention, Laura’s father passes away when she leaves to run a quick errand. She visits him immediately upon her return. Farmer generously shares their goodbye with us (Fig. 9), depicting Laura’s fulfilment of Lars’s final wish, a homage to his lifelong passion for coin collecting.
Dealing with the process of diagnosis and death form the organizing logic of Seeds. The text, released in March 2011, is the first graphic novel from British illustrator and designer Ross Mackintosh. Mackintosh presents an account of his father’s diagnosis and eventual death from metastatic cancer. The book opens with the doctor delivering the fatal diagnosis to Ross alone, leaving him to decide how to proceed with the information. Ross and the doctor stand face to face—while Ross looks concerned and still, the doctor is smiling and animated. The tonal gap in their affects show how differently information is handled and processed by medical profes- sionals and caregivers. In the final panel of the sequence (Fig. 10), the embodiment of death, a reaper, looms large over Ross and his father, showing the oppressive presence of death. Toward the end of the book, Mackintosh reveals the meaning of the book’s title (Fig. 11). Like Leavitt does with Tangles, Mackintosh takes a word from medical discourse and
Dealing with the process of diagnosis and death form the organizing logic of Seeds. The text, released in March 2011, is the first graphic novel from British illustrator and designer Ross Mackintosh. Mackintosh presents an account of his father’s diagnosis and eventual death from metastatic cancer. The book opens with the doctor delivering the fatal diagnosis to Ross alone, leaving him to decide how to proceed with the information. Ross and the doctor stand face to face—while Ross looks concerned and still, the doctor is smiling and animated. The tonal gap in their affects show how differently information is handled and processed by medical profes- sionals and caregivers. In the final panel of the sequence (Fig. 10), the embodiment of death, a reaper, looms large over Ross and his father, showing the oppressive presence of death. Toward the end of the book, Mackintosh reveals the meaning of the book’s title (Fig. 11). Like Leavitt does with Tangles, Mackintosh takes a word from medical discourse and
Fig. 12 “A Final Look.” Ibid. 55-56 Nine and Unemployed (2012). Wright describes the book as “a lesson in several parts put forth in the form of a comic (a unique combination of words & pictures) so as to expedite communication, education, & dramatic catharsis” (4). In 2002, Wright became the prima- ry, live-in, caregiver for his dying father, accomplished architect Neil Wright. Living together in the titular retirement home trailer park put an already fraught relationship in tighter quarters. Wright’s larger-than-life style with its out-sized characters represented as colorful animals enforces a claustrophobic sense of the forced spatial and emotional closeness between Nye and Neil.
Fig. 12 “A Final Look.” Ibid. 55-56 Nine and Unemployed (2012). Wright describes the book as “a lesson in several parts put forth in the form of a comic (a unique combination of words & pictures) so as to expedite communication, education, & dramatic catharsis” (4). In 2002, Wright became the prima- ry, live-in, caregiver for his dying father, accomplished architect Neil Wright. Living together in the titular retirement home trailer park put an already fraught relationship in tighter quarters. Wright’s larger-than-life style with its out-sized characters represented as colorful animals enforces a claustrophobic sense of the forced spatial and emotional closeness between Nye and Neil.
Fig. 13 “An Artefact.” Ibid. 62
Fig. 13 “An Artefact.” Ibid. 62
Manage to preserve INC€U'S Sense OF propriety in a potentially mortilying situation. Wright represents himself and his father in this text as animal avatars, and the scene of hi father’s death uses this convention in a powerful way. Sharing those images (pages 247-52) ii this article might spoil the experience of the text in ways the other examples do not, so as. courtesy to our readers they will not be presented. What can be said is that the moment o Neil’s death, as well as other key moments in this book, is made more powerful by Wrigk sharing some of the more complicated and emotionally charged relationship issues the emerged and were addressed as part of Nye’s caregiving and Neil’s dying. Part of the emotional charge that makes the text so ) compelling | is s Wright’ S refusal t as sonwsd er oe
Manage to preserve INC€U'S Sense OF propriety in a potentially mortilying situation. Wright represents himself and his father in this text as animal avatars, and the scene of hi father’s death uses this convention in a powerful way. Sharing those images (pages 247-52) ii this article might spoil the experience of the text in ways the other examples do not, so as. courtesy to our readers they will not be presented. What can be said is that the moment o Neil’s death, as well as other key moments in this book, is made more powerful by Wrigk sharing some of the more complicated and emotionally charged relationship issues the emerged and were addressed as part of Nye’s caregiving and Neil’s dying. Part of the emotional charge that makes the text so ) compelling | is s Wright’ S refusal t as sonwsd er oe
Fig. 17 “Activity 28: Void.” Ibid. 270-271
Fig. 17 “Activity 28: Void.” Ibid. 270-271
Cen ameter ong wo AREEE. FIRES REE TREE) CSTR eee ean em Mae Special Exits presents another example (Fig. 19) that shows how medical discourse can onvolute and frustrate communication. In this panel, while the doctor smiles coopera- vely as he answers Laura’s questions, he continually uses technical medical terminol- gy, failing to translate into colloquial and accommating language. His explanation of necrotic tissue” includes the even more esoteric “nosocomial excision,” a treatment .eant to counter a hospital-acquired illness—in this case, Rachel’s bedsores. Due to the ick of explanation given, Laura is forced to derive from the context clues to what he eans. The doctor’s lack of self-awareness about his obtuseness is not malicious but hows the frustrations that can accompany caregiver’s interactions with medical rofessionals.
Cen ameter ong wo AREEE. FIRES REE TREE) CSTR eee ean em Mae Special Exits presents another example (Fig. 19) that shows how medical discourse can onvolute and frustrate communication. In this panel, while the doctor smiles coopera- vely as he answers Laura’s questions, he continually uses technical medical terminol- gy, failing to translate into colloquial and accommating language. His explanation of necrotic tissue” includes the even more esoteric “nosocomial excision,” a treatment .eant to counter a hospital-acquired illness—in this case, Rachel’s bedsores. Due to the ick of explanation given, Laura is forced to derive from the context clues to what he eans. The doctor’s lack of self-awareness about his obtuseness is not malicious but hows the frustrations that can accompany caregiver’s interactions with medical rofessionals.
Fig. 19 “To The Bone.” Farmer, Joyce. 2010. Special Exits. Seattle: Fantagraphics, 149
Fig. 19 “To The Bone.” Farmer, Joyce. 2010. Special Exits. Seattle: Fantagraphics, 149
Fig. 20 “A Lesson in Tact.” Mackintosh, Ross. 2011. Seeds. London: Com.x: 61 this professional thougnhtlessness, as shown in Fig. 20. Ross’s derisively named “lesson in tact” is painfully echoed in Special Exits (Fig. 21). While Laura’s outburst may seem extreme out of the full context of the story, it is reflective of how quickly and indifferently the nursing home has undone all the years of care she devoted to her parents. The work of care, rarely acknowledged with prestige or monetary compensation, is most visible when it is absent. Consequently, the mirror held up to medical professionals in
Fig. 20 “A Lesson in Tact.” Mackintosh, Ross. 2011. Seeds. London: Com.x: 61 this professional thougnhtlessness, as shown in Fig. 20. Ross’s derisively named “lesson in tact” is painfully echoed in Special Exits (Fig. 21). While Laura’s outburst may seem extreme out of the full context of the story, it is reflective of how quickly and indifferently the nursing home has undone all the years of care she devoted to her parents. The work of care, rarely acknowledged with prestige or monetary compensation, is most visible when it is absent. Consequently, the mirror held up to medical professionals in
Fig. 21 “Your Mother’s Not Here.” Farmer, Joyce. 2010. Special Exits. Seattle: Fantagraphics, 150 these texts is instructive and can go a long way toward bridging the chasms that Charon discusses. These nonfiction memoir hospice comics allow medical professionals to see from the patient and family perspective what a large and lasting impact—both positive and negative—their interpersonal interactions can have on patients and caregivers. Attending to and learning from these stories may help medical professionals provide better care to patients and their families in moments of great need.
Fig. 21 “Your Mother’s Not Here.” Farmer, Joyce. 2010. Special Exits. Seattle: Fantagraphics, 150 these texts is instructive and can go a long way toward bridging the chasms that Charon discusses. These nonfiction memoir hospice comics allow medical professionals to see from the patient and family perspective what a large and lasting impact—both positive and negative—their interpersonal interactions can have on patients and caregivers. Attending to and learning from these stories may help medical professionals provide better care to patients and their families in moments of great need.
Related topics:
Comics and Graphic NovelsGraphic MedicineComics and Medicine
580 California St., Suite 400
San Francisco, CA, 94104
© 2025 Academia. All rights reserved