Aya: Life in Yop City gives readers a view of life in Yopougon, which is a working-class neighborhood in Abidjan during 1978 (Abouet and Oubrerie 2017, 13-15). According to the beginning of the graphic novel, Aya states that her city is in Ivory Coast, which is on the west coast of Africa. Throughout the graphic novel, readers are given into a glimpse of what happens on the daily in the working-class neighborhood, from dances to weddings, teenagers having babies to finding out who the daddy is. Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie made the graphic easy for readers, especially western readers, to see what daily life was like for citizens in a working-class neighborhood in Ivory Coast during the ’70s. Not only do the readers see from a viewpoint of teenagers, they see from a diversity of perspectives like from a wealthy spoiled brat who flaunts his father’s money to a hard-working girl who is trying to become a doctor to males who believe that women should stay at home to be married and have children.
Before analyzing the graphic novel deeper, something to note for those who have not read it is that it is translated from French. The country of Ivory Coast was original “a French colony for nearly eighty years” which meant the graphic novel was originally written in French but later translated to English (Abouet and Oubrerie 2017, Preface). Now some might be thinking, well what does that have to do with anything? Since this graphic novel was translated, it gives readers, most western, a chance of understanding the context of a new language being used while looking at the artwork. To give an example, the is a word that is used often which was “TonTon” such as when Ignace calls for the teenagers to take care of Akissi while he deals with the situation (Abouet and Oubrerie 2017,238). From a western perspective (like mine), I did not understand what the word could mean as I read other examples of the word “TonTon” being used. Now the artwork did help a bit as they used the word in the presence of older males, but there is an element that is not common in western novels. In the back of the novel, Abouet and Oubrerie provide the readers with a guide that has each French word and their translation. According to the glossary, “TonTon” is an informal way of saying uncle to older males (Abouet and Oubrerie 2017). Western readers would probably never have known the true translation without the glossary being provided.
Source: Oubrerie, Clement. Aya: Life in Yop City. Drawn and Quarterly, 2017. Print. (238)
The use of combining both English and French makes readers have a more formal understanding of how Abouet and Oubrerie wanted readers not from their culture to understand. This gives Western readers a formal way of understanding a culture and lifestyle that does not have common features like in western culture. I thought this use of combined language was a way to have a formal narrative element to the graphic novel, especially for western readers like me. There could be “talking” in English but then would add a French word in there, making western readers focus on looking closely at the context of the word and the artwork in the panel that has the text bubble containing the French word. Another way of understanding the situations that happen in the graphic novel is to understand from an outer western view. There is one situation in which the discussion of taking a second wife comes into play, which is very uncommon in western countries. Although this is uncommon in western countries, this is not uncommon in countries like Ivory Coast as it is sometimes common in the culture. Reading the context of the situation while looking at the artwork helps western readers understand how the thought of the second wife was brought into play.
Source: Oubrerie, Clement. Aya: Life in Yop City. Drawn and Quarterly, 2017. Print. (249)
In understanding that this graphic novel was translated for western readers, I think that Abouet and Oubrerie kept up with their responsibilities of proving much more. They were able to provide contextual evidence of a lifestyle different from the western lifestyle and made it easier for readers to view and understand the difference. Such as the beauty contest in the neighborhood, the outcome was very different compared to what would have been for Western beauty contests. In Aya, instead of one of her friends winning, a girl who would be considered very different in western standards won (Abouet and Oubrerie 2017, 267). Abouet and Oubrerie were able to show the difference of understanding beauty in an African culture like in the Ivory Coast compared to what the readers could have thought in a western contest. Now the readers have responsibilities as well to the author. The responsibilities of readers are to make sure that they are understanding the context of the graphic novels, even if it is significantly different from their culture. Instead of putting their own culture into the reading, they need to focus on the main culture of the graphic novel and then make a comparison to their own once they finish reading and understanding the graphic novel.
Source: Oubrerie, Clement. Aya: Life in Yop City. Drawn and Quarterly, 2017. Print. (267)
Work Cited
Abouet, Marguerite and Oubrerie, Clement. Aya: Life in Yop City. Drawn and Quarterly, 2017. Print.
Before analyzing the graphic novel deeper, something to note for those who have not read it is that it is translated from French. The country of Ivory Coast was original “a French colony for nearly eighty years” which meant the graphic novel was originally written in French but later translated to English (Abouet and Oubrerie 2017, Preface). Now some might be thinking, well what does that have to do with anything? Since this graphic novel was translated, it gives readers, most western, a chance of understanding the context of a new language being used while looking at the artwork. To give an example, the is a word that is used often which was “TonTon” such as when Ignace calls for the teenagers to take care of Akissi while he deals with the situation (Abouet and Oubrerie 2017,238). From a western perspective (like mine), I did not understand what the word could mean as I read other examples of the word “TonTon” being used. Now the artwork did help a bit as they used the word in the presence of older males, but there is an element that is not common in western novels. In the back of the novel, Abouet and Oubrerie provide the readers with a guide that has each French word and their translation. According to the glossary, “TonTon” is an informal way of saying uncle to older males (Abouet and Oubrerie 2017). Western readers would probably never have known the true translation without the glossary being provided.
Source: Oubrerie, Clement. Aya: Life in Yop City. Drawn and Quarterly, 2017. Print. (238)
The use of combining both English and French makes readers have a more formal understanding of how Abouet and Oubrerie wanted readers not from their culture to understand. This gives Western readers a formal way of understanding a culture and lifestyle that does not have common features like in western culture. I thought this use of combined language was a way to have a formal narrative element to the graphic novel, especially for western readers like me. There could be “talking” in English but then would add a French word in there, making western readers focus on looking closely at the context of the word and the artwork in the panel that has the text bubble containing the French word. Another way of understanding the situations that happen in the graphic novel is to understand from an outer western view. There is one situation in which the discussion of taking a second wife comes into play, which is very uncommon in western countries. Although this is uncommon in western countries, this is not uncommon in countries like Ivory Coast as it is sometimes common in the culture. Reading the context of the situation while looking at the artwork helps western readers understand how the thought of the second wife was brought into play.
Source: Oubrerie, Clement. Aya: Life in Yop City. Drawn and Quarterly, 2017. Print. (249)
In understanding that this graphic novel was translated for western readers, I think that Abouet and Oubrerie kept up with their responsibilities of proving much more. They were able to provide contextual evidence of a lifestyle different from the western lifestyle and made it easier for readers to view and understand the difference. Such as the beauty contest in the neighborhood, the outcome was very different compared to what would have been for Western beauty contests. In Aya, instead of one of her friends winning, a girl who would be considered very different in western standards won (Abouet and Oubrerie 2017, 267). Abouet and Oubrerie were able to show the difference of understanding beauty in an African culture like in the Ivory Coast compared to what the readers could have thought in a western contest. Now the readers have responsibilities as well to the author. The responsibilities of readers are to make sure that they are understanding the context of the graphic novels, even if it is significantly different from their culture. Instead of putting their own culture into the reading, they need to focus on the main culture of the graphic novel and then make a comparison to their own once they finish reading and understanding the graphic novel.
Source: Oubrerie, Clement. Aya: Life in Yop City. Drawn and Quarterly, 2017. Print. (267)
Work Cited
Abouet, Marguerite and Oubrerie, Clement. Aya: Life in Yop City. Drawn and Quarterly, 2017. Print.
Comments
Post a Comment