Culture in Graphic Novels -

Alright so everyone has heard of Cote d’Ivoire, right? Just kidding, I definitely hadn’t until I read the amazing graphic novel, Aya: Life in Yop City. This book, written by Marguerite Abouet and illustrated by Clement Oubrerie, follows the lives of the inhabitants of a small town in Africa. It mainly follows the lives of Aya, Adjoua, and Bintu, three young adult females as they traverse life, boys, family, and parties. The girls get into all kinds of situations and have to deal with real-life drama around them. Like in one part of the book, Aya’s dad reveals that he has an entire second family, including another woman and two small children. Or when Adjoua gets pregnant and says the baby belongs to Moussa, the heir to his father’s lucrative company and large fortune, but in reality, the baby belongs to a simple playboy in town. So really, you should look into reading this book it’s got something for everyone. Yes, even you.

This book is very clearly intended to be read by people from outside of Cote d’Ivorie. The authors wanted to draw attention to what was going on in the city. There is a foreword that describes the culture of the town written in the book that gives a little bit of background as to why the people that are depicted in the story are the way are. Additionally, there is an entire section at the back of the book to help readers decipher the slang terms that are used in the Ivorian culture, learn a little more about the background of Ivorian culture, and even learn how to dress and cook like they do. These ancillary elements really add to the fact that this book is written for the non-Ivorian citizens to understand a little about their culture.

Writers have this responsibility to readers to help them understand what is being said. It’s not enough to just say something and let it be done with. If I had picked up this book and the forward was not there, nor the glossary, I would have been so lost! I probably would have put the book down in frustration, but because that information was provided, I was able to open my eyes to a world that I didn’t even know existed, and that’s our job as readers. We have to keep an open mind when reading about a culture that may not be familiar to us. It’s our job to take each piece of information as just that, NEW information. Everything may not always black and white in literature, but it is something that we can learn from and that we can use to keep our minds from slamming shut when someone offers a different way of living through their writing.