By Rachel Johnson
On page 58, fourth panel in, is the scene I have chosen to discuss. In this panel, Pedro’s best friend and roommate, Alex Escarano, is introduced. Pedro has told Alex that he had to cancel his AIDs speech in Arizona. Alex seems both surprised and maybe a little suspicious about why Pedro canceled his speech. The expression on Alex’s face shows that he is uncertain, and Pedro looks like he is trying to play cool. Pedro’s response is simply, “Yeah”. The first panel on page 58 explains that Pedro has been doing many speeches lately. Then in the third panel, the text says that Pedro was tired. It is implied that he is tried because of the HIV. Another way that I know what is going on in this panel is the boxed in words at the top. It directly says where Pedro is and who he is talking to.
This panel does not fit in some ways in with the rest in the story. Most of the other panels in the book are closer up, and the character’s eyes are large. However, in this panel the character are further away and their eyes are small. Shading and darkness are used to color in the background. For example, the couch is black, the floorboards are shaded in, there are pictures on the wall, and a table in the background. This scene has little white space compared to some other panels in the book- it is further away and darker. The words in this panel just like the others throughout the story- capital letters and the same font. Speech balloons represent what the characters are saying, and boxed in words are used for narration. The word “canceled” is in bold. This seems to be important because Pedro was doing well with giving speeches, and Alex seems surprised that Pedro has canceled one.
The fact that this panel is more distant is symbolic. I think that this represents the distance Pedro is feeling within himself. The words in the rectangle say, “Home was not in Miami…” Throughout the story, it is very obvious that family is important to Pedro, and although he is friends with Alex, it is not the same as home with his family. In addition, Pedro is starting to feel tired because of his HIV. Winick used a busy and dark background, but left the characters with little detail. The lack of detail on the character’s faces shows the kind of blankness Pedro must be feeling.
This panel is important and stuck out to me because it is a turning point where Pedro is starting to feel the effects of his illness and they are starting to show.
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I think your group did a really good job and your paragraph is extremely detailed. I can tell that you guys really liked this panel because you went so in-depth with everything you talked about. I can start to picture what the panels look like in my head just by reading what you wrote and I believe that if somebody who has not read this book, read your paragraph they would see the picture too. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI think you did a great job writing this paragraph and getting your point across. Even without looking at the specific panel I could picture exactly which one it was and what the picture was depicting. I really liked how you thought the distance was symbolic. I thought that was an interesting way to look at it and never thought about it that way. I think that how the panel is drawn and the way the people in the panel look can pont out what the characters may be going through or how they are feeling. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI really liked your analysis. The part that really struck me was how you analyzed the background details in comparison to the lack of detail on Pedro. I think you also analyzed the text well including the word cancelled. In addition I thought the reason why you chose the panel was perfect. I honestly had forgotten this panel and didn't see its importance; however, the way that you analyzed and broke it up made it more significant.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed your analysis of the panel. It was an interesting panel to choose. I hadn’t realized the impacts of it before now. It is the first to explain more about the first time Pedro is being slowed down from aids. It seems to me that Winick uses size of his drawings to emphasize importance. Since the premise of this panel is to show Pedro at home in Miami with Alex conversing, the subjects are more distant. Therefore, it is drawn as a vantage point of an onlooker.
ReplyDeleteGreat job, Rachel. Like the others who have commented before me, I hadn't really given much thought to this panel at all. It just seemed to blend into the story. Your blog post inspired me to pick up the book again and give more attention to this scene. You are right - this seems to be the turning point - the first moment in the book where we see Pedro slow down and realize that he was indeed fighing a seriious disease. You can definitely see that his friend, Alex, was really surprised that Pedro was cancelling his speech. Alex must not have seen a change in Pedro, but Pedro sure must have been feeling different inside.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your group because Pedro was doing well with the speeches, and he decides to cancel the one in Arizona. You can tell by Alex's face that he was shocked that Pedro wanted to cancel his speech. I do not think Alex thought it was taking a lot for Pedro to be doing the speeches. In the drawings, you can tell that Pedro was feeling tired and he looks a little weak, as well.
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ReplyDeleteI am wondering if some of the darkness is not supposed to represent the tiredness that Pedro is feeling. The darkness is symbolic in itself, for example when people are overly tired it is hard to get up the energy to do anything, and the world around us does seem a little darker than usual.
I like your observation about the panel being more distant. This makes sense to me because of how Pedro probably feeling a bit of distance from his goals to educate people about AIDS. He’s worn out from his travels and coping with his disease. Also you noted he is away from his family. This seems to have an effect on Pedro in this panel. It does seem like he is really feeling dragged down by all that he is doing and the difficulty of living with HIV, and being away from his family is another thing that is getting to him in a negative way.
ReplyDeleteI like that you choose this panel, and you did pull a lot out to say about it. It is important to bring up that Miami is his home now. At that point it seems like his misses Cuba and that he is just realizing that Miami is his home, later on in the book we see him say how he is now going to miss Miami, his home when he needs to move to San Francisco. This scene or panel also portrays things we will continuously see with Pedro and how he can’t do the speech because you never know when something will happen.
ReplyDeleteI think that your group did an excellent job describing the panel that you have chosen. The opening paragraph jumped around somewhat but once you began you second paragraph the rest of your post flowed wonderfully. I was able to picture the panel you were talking about without even looking it up. I think that your observation of canceled being in bold was good. I definitely thought that it showed some foreshadowing of Pedro's health. I think you guys chose an excellent panel.
ReplyDeleteGood pick of panels for your group. It is a changing point in Pedro's life and illness. I like how you took notice of the bold print of the words also. I also agree about he expressions on their faces. Being Pedro is away from the family, the body language of the dark couch and Pedro sitting to one side, shoulders and body kind of sinking. I think the group did a great job with this panel and good visual on their work. Kathy
ReplyDeleteI think that this was an interesting panel to choose! I mean, it's not one of the major full page panels or anything, but it really is a big piece of the story. It's basically the turning point in Pedro's life and how he made his decision to go on the real world - with his friend's encouragement. In such a small panel, you really came up with a lot of symbolism and detail. I never would have thought of that much. Good choice and very interesting stuff!
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