Analyzing Chapter Two of Thompson's Habibi: Veils Of Darkenss

In transitioning from chapter one, I believe Thompson begins to explore the idea of motherly connection and female identity in the presented culture/society in chapter 2.

I need to first mention that women in harems, slavery and bondage is pushed a little further forward in this chapter. While the arranged marriage as monetary supplement is introduced in chapter one, this chapter places Dodola, the female protagonist (who has been presented in narrative age from nine to mid twenties , but more on that later), in a more developed plight of being owned in a harem. Her options as a person are just as limited as before, as Thompson has, without explicitly stating it, been able to establish the diminished role of women within this space. To open the window a bit further on Dodola and her situation, Thompson decides to lay out for the reader the story in a non-linear fashion, which at times is head scratching and others stunning. While it caused me to be a bit crossed up in figuring out a flow in the introductory chapter, it begins to make more sense in this second chapter, which may or may not be due to the problems presented( woman as objects/property, women as subservient, women as sexual currency) becoming clearer to me as I read/viewed.

Is this chapter about establishing a woman finding her independent, inner/spiritual strength?

Women as property/slaves; Women as objectified; The form of woman is shown as a vessel in which body, mind, and spirit is being examined in "Veils of Darkness". Dodola's options are presented as limited outside of having a choice of being a traditional caregiver as defined by a patriarchal ideology. Specifically, we are given a broader story about how she first, at the age of nine, is compelled to take the babe she deems Zam with her out into the world and ultimately in seclusion for many years. That relationship with Zam seemingly influences her judgement in choosing to keep the baby (more on that in a moment) she has become impregnated with as a member of a harem.

Dodola has yet to say "this is wrong", or "our treatement is unfair" or to really speak out at all as the ethical evils of prostitution, slavery, and rape are presented as just being and a natural way of life, and the reader is not given any antithesis of any kind. It is plausible for me to assume Thompson is expecting the reader to come to deeming something as unacceptable on their own based on the idea that we all aim for equality for all persons. There is another assumption I believe, however, of some sort of blanketed idea that strength and determination exist within a spiritual framework which Thompson is alluding to through the examples of allegory via religion (although that has some problems at this point as well). I am most certainly not naive, and I am aware these normed patriarchal dominant attitudes about women as secondary citizens or lesser beings than men do exist in the world and proliferate heavily through using cultural relativism as a dominant view of how to handle the delicate politics of people. This is the stickiness of ethics and morality in examining cultural attitudes and actions, but that does not let artists and authors off the hook in addressing the many sides of such issues through the characters in the work they produce (and it does always exist, as natural binaries exist). I know Thompson was thinking about the slave trade and women as slaves in his research for the book, as he discussed a bit in his interview with inkstuds in September of 2011, so I am not suggesting he is making choices in a flippant manner, rather, at this point in the text (and it could change as I read on) I believe he is showing the state of the way life goes in the world he is presenting. Perhaps this is his way of making a politically neutral position in the name of art, although the choice to be pro-life in the chapter may negate that.

A large question that persisted for me at this point in the narrative is: Why does Dodola have the choice to have the child? She is encouraged of course to abort it by the female African caregiver Nadidah, and is even walked through a medicating process to do so, but ultimately she decides not to, attempting to fill the gap she seems to need of giving care to another in this world. In thinking about this reasoning, of someone wishing to bring a child into a world of violence as has been presented, Thompson is aligning Dodola with what I believe is the only sane recourse of, as described by Nel Noddings, a feminine ethic of care. This ethic is one that is a "basic ethic [...] of caring, which involves receptivity, relatedness, and responsiveness" (Gregory & Giancola, 2003, p.338). The caregiver looks not to the dread (of existential existence, one of the individual), but instead towards the love of connection with another, specifically one that you project care and love onto and who reciprocates it back (e.g. mother and child dynamics). We have , in the span of two chapters, seen our main character exhibiting this ethic of care twice in life, from a shockingly young age of nine when she runs and hides with the one she deems Zam through the choice of accepting the trials of giving birth as a young woman. This giving seems to be rooted also in some sort of extension of the spiritual, which Thompson continues to slowly dole out in passages from the QUR'AN and symbolical imagery.

But that still doesn't change the fact that she is given the choice about the child, and this troubles me from a narrative perspective. This seems strange to me as this world that is established in which men who buy, sell and rape women, and will kill children and babies (e.g. the men debating on killing Zam in the marketplace on pages 58-59), are suddenly letting her come to term with child. I will need to investigate this more, and hopefully Thompson clears this up in coming chapters.

How does the art hold up? 

The art of chapter two spends much more time in moving away from a plethora of big splashy panels and pages to more sequential narrative action. Specifically, the sequence that stands out in the chapter is when Thompson creates an action chase sequence on pages 66-71and 75-80. Thompson decides to use a dark black for the background page effectively for this sequence, keeping the readers eye on the action in the panel rather than exploring the intricate designs that he is using elsewhere on the fringes and in the negative spaces. The chase culminates with a return to the question of nature and the debris of culture as our protagonist and babe Zam are washed up upon a giant majestic tree (the tree being used in this chapter in many metaphorical/symbolic ways) shooting up through a sewer. It really is a sequence that demands further appreciation and study by those smarter than I in such matters as sequential art!

Thompson is also very bold in choosing to explore the female body in this chapter. This is where I get  a bit tough about the decision making progress of the artist. I do not believe he is objectifying the female form, but I do raise flags about how often he chooses to draw Dodola and others nude. Yes, nudity is apart of life, and possibly historically/culturally accurate in the context of this story, but is nudity necessary in telling certain parts of the story? I have no answer, but the question does need to be raised, and I hope those who read this provide response in the comments section.

Artists of any visual medium should be asked at least the reasons for why they make the decisions about showing the naked female and male form. Alan Moore has been one person in the comics medium that has at least justified his use of sexuality as a way to explore his definition of pornography (and to debunk others), and while I don't always agree with such declarations, I do think artists should engage in such transparency with those who are exposed to the works. Again, I am not attacking Thompson, nor am I defending his choices, I am merely raising a question.

Overall chapter two provides beauty and moments of head scratching, but ultimately nothing that would not make me want to push on. Thompson is bold in narrative, sequential design and themes, and this is turning out to be indeed an ambitious work that requires the close reading I am giving each chapter! I look forward to the next chapter, and await those surprises.

Analyzing Thompson's Habibi One Chapter At A Time

Recently, various critics, writers, academics and artists have been weighing in on Craig Thompson's latest graphic narrative Habibi. While I have enjoyed and been confused by the seemingly polarizing commentaries on the book, I thought it would be good to, instead of trying to evaluate the whole book all at once (which many reviews have done, but, in fairness, that is what most reviews do), examine the individual chapters of the book. It took Craig Thompson a long time to create this work, the least I can do is take my time in looking at it and investigate questions that come through examining Habibi through a variety of lenses (sociological, feminist, historical, etc. ).

Chapter One (River Map)

There is no date given for the story, but rather a sort of parallel waking dream is alluded to through the visuals created of the old (less modernized/technocentric) world and the new (globalized/industrialized) world: The brief village scenes; garbage and debris in the waters and on the mound the angels stand upon; the use of a motorcycle; candlelight; the engine of a boat. It is also fascinating thinking about this mix of old and new in the metaphor of the water washing away and/or comprised of human made garbage just on the inside of the cover. Is universality being attempted? Perhaps, but I tend to think of it more from the idea that a sense of real and fantasy is attempting to be made here rather than something homogenous for mass consumption. In creating a place that is real and imaginary, many visual artists ( e.g. film makers, painters, comics artists ) all share this common need to blend the real and the almost real, that step just outside of our waking reality that has/is/or will exist. 

There are overly male-centric values being presented within this space. If there are religious and cultural reasons for this, it is left unspoken directly by Thompson and rather it is up to the reader to infer things initially, but hopefully investigate further out of curiosity, about the culture and space. For instance, how much do I need to infer about how women are treated in this space by seeing a father sell his pre-pubescent nine year old daughter to a older male? Quite a bit, but on the other hand, working from my own nascent Westerner cultural knowledge, it is unfair of me to judge, as I can only make decisions based on my own ignorance about such subjects. Am I horrified that a father would sell his daughter for money? Yes, but the other factors influencing that decision (environmental, cultural) need to be considered by me. I think this is an early challenge in the story, as it is for most stories that are derived from other cultures or cultural viewpoints, however, this seriously beings into question how much research Thompson has done in regards to understanding the cultural practices he is trying to depict. 

As this is a graphic narrative, the power of represented symbols is of course a given ( some which I have touched on a bit earlier). There are two in particular that stick out to me (and feel free to comment on others in the comment section): 

1. In a two page spread, we are presented with the visual representation of how the name of Bismillah , can be, in Thompson's words, "tangled up in many forms" (p.39). This is the strength/power of language manifested into literally anything---Bismillah is in and can be apart of anything and everything. 

2. In teaching her child about Bismillah (p.32-41) our now older female protagonist uses Bismillah in telling a longer allegory to proved a comfort for her child. The security of a childhood totem is played out here in a lovely way (I can't help but think about Linus and that security blanket), and perhaps shadows something for further down the road narratively. 

The opening chapter of Habibi is at times strong and at times dis-orieinting. Thompson has put the reader in the position of having to fill in a lot of expository and background informational gaps about a culture, but gives enough narrative intrigue for the reader to feel comfortable pushing forward. Is Thompson critiquing that which he is describing or even taking a ideological stance? No, I don't believe so, however, he is, by approaching a story with religious subtext (nothing new for him), dancing on the line of possible cultural stereotypes created in the west to emerge based on cultural mis-understandings or lack of full-rounded knowledge about the subject matter. 

Visually speaking, it is striking. Thompson's dark lines, use of negative space, emotive faces, gorgeous double- page spreads (the boat in the sand is a favorite) ,and very detailed single page splashes ( p.16-19) simulating being a page from another type of text makes the first chapter some of the best work I have seen recently.