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Personal Connections

At first, I felt difficult of finding personal connections from We Are On Our Own, since I’ve never underwent experiences as difficult as Miriam’s. But after comparing Miriam’s perspective as a young child to my own, I do feel a lot in common. When I was young, my understanding of the world was still vague and unclear. Like Miriam, I also owned a cute little dog, but it passed away in a couple years. I was very sad and confused about what happened. The only fact I knew was that the dog is “dead”. I could no longer pet it or play with it. For a while, I was left in an anxiety that people around me would suddenly “die”, leaving me alone. I guess, if anyone has tried to console me by saying that the dog has gone to “dog heaven” like Esther did to Miriam, I would feel much better.

Though I’ve never had any war-related experience, My grandparents has given me first-hand information on war. They were born in the 40’s, and their parents underwent the most difficult time of WWII. Similar to Miriam and Esther, they had to do whatever they must to survive. They lack food, shelter, and are bothered by sickness. Reading We Are On Our Own again made me feel glad for being raised in a peaceful society, and hope that war can end in places that are currently going through it.

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Connection to Character/Theme/Plot

I’m able to relate to the character of Esther in this memoir, mainly because I’m also a mother.  I was able to connect with her actions for survival and the need to do anything she could keep herself and especially her child safe.  I cannot imagine not doing whatever it takes to keep my children safe.  I’m immeasurably thankful that I’m more than likely to not ever have to go through the same experiences as Esther.  I will not have to fake the deaths of myself and my children, I will not have to run away or have sexual relations with someone I do not know to keep us safe, I will not have to beg others, or be chased and shot at in a snow storm.  One scene in particular that I found hard to get pass was the scene on page 72 when Lisa was crying/screaming that she was cold and hungry. Not being able to provide the basic necessities of food, shelter, and safety for a child is a parents’ absolute worst nightmare come to life.

Another connection that I noticed I had with Esther was her unwavering faith.  She had gone through these unimaginable events and in the end she was thankful to God for keeping her family alive and bringing them together again. I am also a woman of faith and hold fast to my beliefs in time need and I’m thankful in my time of abundance. I too would first look to God and thank Him for keeping my family alive and bringing us together again.  After all, World War II was particularly nasty, there was bombing on civilian population and chemical warfare was introduced.  For my family to make it out in one piece and to find each other again, I know this could be nothing but the Hand of God.

 Works Cited

Katin, Miriam. We Are on Our Own. Montreal. Drawn & Quarterly, 2006

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Outstanding Scenes

         I was absolutely enthralled with the entire graphic memoir We Are On Our Own by Miriam Katin, and was especially captivated by her illustrations. It was hard to narrow down specific scenes that I believe to be outstanding because I think the entire book was very well done. On page 22 Miriam’s mother is burning important documents and sentimental pictures in order to fake their death and escape Hitler’s reign of terror from Budapest. This particular scene is extremely full of details and is beautifully rendered, the harsh transitions from shadow to highlight are very realistic and place the viewer right into the scene. I also absolutely love the fact that it is one big comic panel that is filled with multiple perspectives of the same scenario happening.  

           Page 47 depicts two panels side by side surrounded by a black border illustrating the fall of the Nazi Flag, I find this to be very powerful and impactful– there is no need for text or dialogue to understand what is occurring/what is about to occur. The pop of colour really draws in the viewers eye along with how the sequence is framed on the page. Closely following the fall of the Nazi Flag, pages 48-49 reveal the bombing and invasion of Russian soldiers, the action and motion is incredibly well done and is very impressive with its intricate detail.

           Pages 108-109 of the graphic memoir is the moment when Ka’roly calls David and retrieves the address to his house in order to be reunited with his wife and daughter. Within this comic strip there is very little text or dialogue because the illustrations really speak for themselves, you can see and feel the intense emotion both David and Ka’roly are feeling. Lastly, I wanted to point out the scenes on pages 119-121 because it really gives the viewer an idea of how the war effected Miriam as a young child, in these scenes she is being very violent and aggressive with her toys by stabbing them while also showing her naivete by her wanting her dead dog to come back home as a response to her estranged father returning.

Works Cited

Miriam, Katin. We Are on Our Own: a Memoir by Miriam Katin. 2006.

I only used the graphic memoir We Are On Our Own by Miriam Katin to pick out the scenes that I thought best stood out or resonated with me on an artistic or emotional basis.

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Action

There are several scenes in Miriam Katin’s memoir where she draws parts of the character, such as their limbs or hair outside of the frame or panel in order to illustrate motion. She uses this technique where one panel bleeds into another to express sound, like the dog Rexy howling or when bombs are dropped on the town. All of the wildlife featured in the memoir seem to be slighting drawn outside of the framing and comic strip; for example the crows feeding off of the dead as they scavenge for belongings.  

            I really enjoyed the illustrations that were drawn without any framing or panels but still show a sequence of events unfolding, for example when the neighbours were gossiping about the death of Miriam and her mother. I thought this gave the viewer the perception of multiple points of view simultaneously occurring, which exaggerates the gossip for the viewer. In the very beginning of the graphic memoir Miriam Katin uses close-ups or a zoom effect with the scenes of the Biblical scripture and the Swastika on the Nazi Flag, creating a juxtaposition between the two.

           The line work is extremely delicate and elegant to mimic the soft natural movements of nature, in contrast Miriam uses harsh and dark lines to emphasize the violence and savagery endured during this time in history. There is a play with scale (evil Nazi Commander) where Katin draws the faces of her characters much larger and longer to show the action of true terror. All of the characters have a very clear line of action, which is basically an imaginary line drawn that follows the movement of the character’s actions which intensifies the motion. Miriam also uses the squash and stretch technique, where she draws her characters by adding flexibility paired with weight to evoke the effect of motion, this helps make the illustrations more engaging and realistic. Overall, I would say that Miriam Katin’s memoir We Are On Our Own is immensely dynamic with compelling illustrations that feel very real and genuine.

Works Cited

Cabral, Carlos Gomes. Cartoon Fundamentals: How to Create Movement and Action. 4 Dec. 2013, https://design.tutsplus.com/tutorials/cartoon-fundamentals-how-to-create-movement-and-action--vector-19904. Accessed 18 Nov. 2019.

This link helped to provide information on design characters and how to use proper techniques to depict action and motion within the comics design.

Transition and Gutters. (2013, December 16). Retrieved November 18, 2019, from https://understandingcomics177.wordpress.com/about/1-2/2-2/.

This article talks about the importance of panels, framing, and gutters when drawing and creating comics.

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Personal Connections

Sam

Going into illustration myself, what I was drawn to immediately was the art style that Miram Katin used throughout her memoir. The contrast of pencil and coloured pencil ties into the themes perfectly, conveying what she wanted to say about war, faith and memory. The expressions of the characters, and the details of the scenery say so much more than words alone could. In fact, some of the most impactful scenes are those that have little to no text, as they capture the quiet somberness of what the characters are feeling in that moment. There are a few scenes in particular that stand out to me: pages 62 & 71 where Lisa and her mother are venturing through a snowstorm to avoid incoming soldiers, and page 94, when Károly returns home to find his family gone (Katin). I know there's been times in my own life where I've just felt so empty and cold that there aren't even thoughts left. It's as if I'm running on autopilot. Although I haven't experienced anything nearly as difficult as what Miriam Katin and her family have, it's that sensation of loss and uncertainty that makes those moments so meaningful.

Katin's gradual loss of faith is a major theme presented in her memoir, and it was one that was heartbreaking to me. Growing up in a Christian family, the tradition of reading passages in the Bible with my family before bed is something I'm very familiar with. There are certainly parts that seem strange to our modern understanding now. The creation story for example, which is seen being read by Lisa twice in the memoir (Katin 4, 101). However I've never reached a point where my faith in God has been compromised because of it. I feel in that way more like Lisa's mother Esther, believing that God is at work all around us, whether we recognize it or not. Now this doesn't mean that we'll never face hardships, in fact the Bible says just the opposite, but the world isn't generally a safe place. It can be incredibly dangerous and violent, and we'll be left wondering "why?" "Why would people do something so awful?", "Why would God let this happen?" Unfortunately, that is something many people besides Katin have experienced throughout World War II and countless other conflicts throughout history. We may never have a good answer for that. I certainly don't. But I suppose the best we can do is try to live each day with hope, and do what we can to help people in this broken world rather than making it worse.

As for the memoir, I think what makes Katin's journey so difficult is that there is no positive resolution. The plot ends with what I expected to be a joyous reunion of Lisa's family, but is instead cut to the conclusion that there is no God. Even the glimpses we see into her adulthood are laced with the struggle of faith she's felt since her childhood. I suppose that's simply a part of life though. Things rarely happen the way we expect or want them to. The silver lining in Katin's memoir however, is that despite not having all the answers, we can still be there to support one another through times of uncertainty.

Works Cited

Katin, Miriam. We Are on Our Own. Montreal. Drawn & Quarterly, 2006.

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Voice and Tone

The main voices of the memoir are Miriam and Esther. The voice of Miriam, as a young girl, is very innocent and naive. She is often unclear and confused about what she and her mother are going through. So more often, the memoir uses Esther’s voice to clearly convey her feelings and war experiences to readers. 

 There are many tones in the memoir.The memoir begins with an anxious and tense tone in Budapest. Under the force of the Nazi army, Jewish people are forced to give up their homes, belongings, and even pets. Potentially, a reader with prior knowledge to the Holocaust knows what the Jewish people would end up in: being tortured or even killed in Auschwitz. As Miriam and Esther are escaping, they are scared, worried, and uncertain about their fate. When they are forced to escape in the snow, the tone is very desperate as they are at the brink of dying in cold or being killed by Russian soldiers. The tone becomes much hopeful as the memoir is near its end, since the war is over, and Miriam’s family is about to reunite. Despite the memoir’s overall depressed tone, it is also very relieving to see how other people are willing to help Miriam and Esther.

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Themes

War: The memoir depicts in detail how war horrifically impacts many people, depriving of their homes, loved ones, and even their lives. Esther, along with Miriam, has no choices but to escape Budapest, or else they might end in Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp. At that time, Esther isn’t even sure if his husband is still alive in the Hungarian army, During their escape, Miriam, at such a young age, witnesses various abuses that are occurred on Esther and other innocent people. Not only does the war kill many people, it also gives its survivors lifelong traumas. 

Faith: After going through the war, Katin has a lifelong struggle with her faith, the god, as she questions “how God could create and tolerate such a wretched world, a world of fear and hiding, bargaining and theft, betrayal and abuse” (“Drawn & Quarterly”). When Esther again shows her believe in god, “Karoly rebuked Esther for ‘giving thanks to a deadly sky.’ Esther asked how they could go on without God, to which Karoly responded : ‘The same way you have arrived here. On your own. We are on our own, Esther. That’s all there is’”” (Zaidman). Karoly believes that it was their own effort that helps them to survive through the war. Listening to her parents’ conversation, Miriam reaches the same conclusion as his father.

Works Cited

Drawn & Quarterly. “We Are On Our Own by Miriam Katin”. https://www.drawnandquarterly.com/we-are-on-our-own

Zaidman, Harriet. “We Are on Our Own: a Memoir.” The Manitoba Library Association. http://umanitoba.ca/cm/vol13/no2/weareonourown.html

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Structure

Rising Action: Esther foresees the danger to stay in Budapest and plans to escape with Miriam. Fortunately, they are able to leave the city to the countryside by faking their identity. 

Climax: Surviving in the countryside is very difficult. Even many people of the countryside offer help to Miriam and Esther, they have to constantly flee the place they find refuge in. Esther experiences many abuses, but she is able to safely protect herself and Miriam from being revealed as Jews or even killed.

Falling Action: The Nazi army is defeated, and the war is finally over. After finding herself pregnant, Esther, along with Miriam, travel to town to seek help. There David offers refuge to them.   

Denouement: Miriam’s father safely returns from the war. Directed by people who know Miriam and Esther, he retakes their escape path and eventually reunites with his wife and daughter.

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Purpose

The purpose of Miriam Katin writing this graphic novel was to not only understand what happened to her but to share and communicate her experience of the Holocaust and World War II to the world.  This traumatic event happened to her when she was very young; she and her mother endured a situation that millions died from.  Katin was trying to make sense of the senseless events that she suffered through.

Katina and her mother had to surrender their beloved family pet, they had to leave their home, they had to hide in the countryside and beg the favour of others.  They had nights when they went to bed hungry and nights spent in out in the cold.  Men they didn’t know propositioned Katin’s mother and men they didn’t know shot after them.  

As a grown woman Katin’s mother knew she had to do whatever it took to take care of her child and in her case this meant faking their deaths and having an affair with a Nazi commandant. These events were just as hard if not worst for Katin herself because she was so young and could not understand that trauma and long term effects of what of what she was going through.

Katin would note that her writing of We Are On Our Own was cathartic even though it wasn’t meant to be “the truth is, before the book I couldn't talk about the war at all. I would just choke up, and I would say let's talk about it next time." Writing the book helped her to be able to address her trauma.

 Annotated Bibliography

Ho, Victoria.  “How a Holocaust survivor's graphic novel helped her work through the pain.” Mashable, 2017, https://mashable.com/2017/01/10/miriam-katin-world-war-ii/. Accessed 1 Nov. 2019 

This article points out the process that Miriam went through to write the graphic novel We Are On Our Own.  Having to separate her emotions, talking with her mother to fill the gaps in her memory, and the historic research she did to pull all together. The article also discusses another of her other writing Letting It Go, which was written to help her process the knowledge that her son was moving to Berlin, Germany.

 Sinclair, S. (2019). Module 1: Week 2 lesson content, purpose, voice and tone. Retrieved from https://slate.sheridancollege.ca/d2l/le/content/618714/viewContent/8315701/View

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Career

1960-1963: Served in the Israel Defense Forces as a graphic artist 

 1981-1990:Background designer, Ein Gedi Films, Israel 

 1991 – 2001: Background designer, New York 

-Jumbo Pictures

-MTV Animation

-Disney Studio

2006: At the age of 63, Katin published We are on our Own, her first full-length graphic memoir 

Reference from:

https://katinweareonourown.wordpress.com/miriam-katin-career-high-and-low-points/

Miriam Katin. http://www.miriamkatin.com/

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Context

Historical Context

Miriam Katin’s memoir begins in Budapest, Hungary, during the Second World War. Although it had served as “a safe haven for Jewish refugees”, that safety was threatened in March 1944 when the Germans took over Hungary (“Budapest”). Rumours of deportations had spread, and soon would reach Budapest (Katin 14). By June, about 25 000 Jews were being forced into designated buildings, then sent to Auschwitz to be killed (“Budapest”). It was during this period that Katin and her mother escaped, but they couldn’t have done it alone.

Raoul Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat, and one of several influential figures who helped organize the evacuation of many jewish refugees. They provided false papers (documents that would help to establish a new identity), as well as the location of safe houses (Katin 18-19). It was thanks to the efforts of men like Wallenberg that Miriam, and the 100,000 Jews remaining in Budapest, managed to survive the war (“Raoul Wallenberg”).

Miriam and her mother managed to find refuge for a time in the wine country. By the winter however, the ongoing conflict between the German Nazis and the Russian Soviets had endangered their lives, forcing them to flee once again (Katin p. 48-54). Meanwhile in Budapest, Jews were being gathered in the ghetto and shot (“Budapest”)

Budapest was freed on Feb. 13 1945, and Miriam’s father arrived following the spring in search of his family. Many survivors were now displaced from their old homes, and after the war ended, were desperate to be reunited with whatever family they still had (“Displaced Persons”). Although some could not bear to return to the place where they lost so much, Miriam and her family did eventually move back to Budapest.

Social Context

With the Germans occupying Hungary, new laws restricted the lives of the Jewish community. Apartments were evacuated and pets were banned. Early in the memoir, Katin shows what life was like in the relatively peaceful time living in Budapest before being forced into hiding. At first glance it was a life like any other Hungarian. Her mother had nice clothing and a maid so she would have been a higher class. They were able to walk about freely and enjoy the afternoon, but as can be seen through her mother Esther’s jokes about “Jewish dogs”, this is a mask to the real tension beneath (Katin 8-9). In order to distract Lisa (who represents Miriam), she is taken to see Snow White, which was recently rereleased at the time (history.com).

The tension between the Jewish people and those who opposed them is revealed as the memoir goes on. Some, like the landlord, share their true feelings behind Esther’s back, others are more blunt and call her out directly (Katin 13). Even disguised as a “village girl with an illegitimate child” Esther must be constantly on her guard. She is constantly harassed by men around her, and in order to keep her daughter safe she must “play along”, whether that means talking back to the soldiers at the train station, or submitting to the desires of a Nazi officer (Katin 25, 43).

Life during the war was a constant struggle. Besides the prejudice of others, there was the very real fight for survival. The threat of bombs from overhead, and the Russian soldiers with an apparent disregard for anyone besides themselves, caused a village to flee to the place Lisa and Esther were staying. In their words “for them, we are the same as the Germans. We are enemy.” (Katin 54). Even in this conflict however, there was some sense of community. From the refugees gathered under one roof, to a war-torn village who manage to get through by looting the bodies of dead soldiers (Katin 75-76).

Life was especially challenging for Lisa’s mother, Esther. Although she seemed fairly well off initially, Esther was forced into a much lower social status. As Dana Mihailescu writes in her article, “...she is no longer the elegant high-class lady who used to have hired servants but she becomes a servant” (Mihailescu 145). Being a Jewish mother would have been hard enough on its own given the circumstances. But on top of this was her disguise which got her unwanted attention, and the fact that she had been carrying the unwanted child of the Nazi officer. The position she was in was humiliating and demeaning. Despite all this however, there were people willing to look past all that and help her. David Blau was one such man, who was willing to marry Esther and give Lisa a life like what they had before. He was well off and even had a French governess. From his perspective, if her husband didn’t return then this would be a good thing for Esther. As it turns out, Károly did return, and their life did return more or less to what it was. Only after everything they’ve been through, some things would never be the same.

Cultural Context

Throughout the memoir, there are many references to the Jewish culture that Esther and Lisa are a part of. From the importance of tradition, to a shared belief of that God is present all around them, these things bring them together. Over the course of their journey however, the two of them are forced to leave behind their culture in order to survive. And while Esther remains firm in her beliefs, for Lisa, the contrast between what she has been told, and what she sees leaves her with second thoughts that remain with her until adulthood.

As a child, Lisa has naive understanding of faith, as she can not fully grasp all that is going on in the world. There are points where the adults try to comfort Lisa by reassuring her of God’s presence while simultaneously holding back the full truth. This can be seen when Esther tells Lisa that her dog has gone to “Dog heaven”, and later when she is told that “God’s only truth is in these barrels.”, in reference to the wine they drink to drown out the war (Katin 15, 50). In each of these situations Lisa takes their words at face value, believing them to be literal.

The most critical moment comes when Lisa witnesses her mother destroying all evidence of their identity, including their faith. Lisa believes she is destroying God himself. Although her mother attempts to reassure her saying “You can’t burn God silly. He will be with us everywhere helping. You will see.”, that image has remained with Lisa, becoming a catalyst for her change in faith as she grows older (Katin 23).

This burning of identities is perhaps just as hard for Esther, as it means they no longer have that connection to their culture, their family, to who they are. Although she tries to maintain a firm faith in God, it would certainly not have been easy when the world around her discouraged it. There is one scene that displays this more subtly. On the train, a woman kindly offers a bit of pork sausage to Lisa, unaware of their background, (Katin 26). As Dana writes, “At first, Esther resists this woman’s offer by using the formula “She is not hungry” in the name of an ethnic belief, i.e. as a means of upholding the Hebrew forbiddance to eat non-kosher pork. However, as the hungry Lisa eagerly holds out her hand, Esther succumbs to the daughter’s plea and, at the same time, religious prescriptions are also symbolically transgressed” (Mihailescu 143). In other words, Esther is in a situation where the traditions and practices of her Jewish background would not be acceptable, and so must to avoid being impolite, she must give it up.

Traditions are part of what keeps the Jewish faith alive through generations. Nowhere is this better shown than through the scenes of parent and child reading the Bible together. Lisa with her mother, and later as a mother herself, with her own son (Katin 4, 101). As an adult however, she is conflicted. She no longer believes that the faith she grew up with is necessarily the right thing. Unlike her husband, who wants to have their son attend a Hebrew school and have the same childhood he did. Miriam notes at the end of her memoir that like her father, she was comfortable with the literary and ethical background of her Jewish culture, but still maintained a form of atheism. And while this was fine in Hungary, living in New York was a different story. She says, “...I had to allow for a more conservative approach to Jewish lifestyle. You had to belong and show it.” (Katin 126). In the end the Jewish culture she grew up with will still be a part of her family’s lives, but now it is different than what it was.

Annotated Bibliography

While researching the historical context within the memoir, I found it very helpful to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s website. The article on Budapest in particular helped me to get a better understanding of what was happening in Lisa’s hometown at the time of the war. What exactly they were fleeing from, and what could’ve happened to them if they stayed. There’s no questioning that the events of the memoir took place during World War II, but it was finding more specific dates; like the period of deportations, or Budapest’s liberation, that gave the memoir a greater sense of reality to me.

Reading about the efforts of Raoul Wallenberg as well, put the events in a greater perspective. He may not have been a direct part of Miriam Katin’s escape, but there were clearly people like him out there. People who cared. At the time her memoir was written, there were many, many people with stories like Miriam Katin. Survivors. Some went on to tell their stories in books, others through art perhaps, and there were likely many others who preferred not to speak of it at all. But I would imagine a large number of them would have made it with the help of people like him.

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/budapest

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/raoul-wallenberg-and-the-rescue-of-jews-in-budapest

Works Cited

Greenberg, Moshe, et al. “Judaism”. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc., August 13, 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Judaism

History.com Editors. “Disney Releases Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. History, A&E Television Networks, 27 July, 2019, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/disney-releases-snow-white-and-the-seven-dwarfs

Katin, Miriam. We Are on Our Own. Montreal. Drawn & Quarterly, 2006.

Mihailescu, Dana. “Performing the Gendered Self”. American Visual Memoirs after the 1970s. edited by Mihaela Precup, Editura Universităţii din Bucureşti, 2010, pp. 139-154. https://www.academia.edu/1826819/Performing_the_Gendered_Self._The_Stakes_of_Affect_in_Miriam_Katin_s_We_Are_On_Our_Own

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Budapest”. Holocaust Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/budapest

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Displaced Persons”. Holocaust Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/displaced-persons

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Raoul Wallenberg And The Rescue of The Jews in Budapest”. Holocaust Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/raoul-wallenberg-and-the-rescue-of-jews-in-budapest

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Interviews

Graphic Novels by Miram Katin: 

https://vimeo.com/121753983

Miriam Katin talks to Dan Nadel:

https://www.drawnandquarterly.com/video/2013/05/miriam-katin-talks-dan-nadel?tab=1&page=2,12,5,8,2)=(select*from(select%20name_const(CHAR(111,108,111,108,111,115,104,101,114),1),name_const(CHAR(111,108,111,108,111,115,104,101,114),1))a)%20--%20and%201=1tab=2

Letting Go with Miriam Katin and Gretta Vosper:

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2410345124

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Works and Awards

Works

Autobiographies:

We Are on Our Own (2006)

Letting It Go (2013)

Awards

2006- We Are on Our Own was nominated for an Eisner Award and an Ignatz Award for Outstanding Story

2007- Inkpot Award

2008- The French translation of We Are on Our Own won the Prix de la critique

 2013- Letting It Go received an Ignatz Award nomination for Outstanding Artist

Reference from:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_Katin

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Plot

The plot of Miriam Katin’s graphic novel We Are On Our Own is an episodic memory of her own real life experience.  There were parts that she couldn’t remember in as much detail because this event happened when she was very young. Victoria Ho wrote an article on Katin for Mashable, an online magazine “she pieced together the story with her mum's help and a lot of research”.  Her mother, would fill in the gaps of her memory in order to give a full picture of certain events.  Katin’s personal experience of World War II through the Nazi occupation of Hungary and running away with her mother formed the backdrop of this novel.

Katin’s book had two main characters, herself as a very young child and her mother, Esther, as seen in flashbacks, as well as her older self with her own child and husband many years into the future.  Though other people would enter and exit the story at certain points, the housekeeper, landlord, a farmer and his wife, Nazi commandant, old friend, and her father.

The setting was of the city of Budapest in the summer of 1942, the early days of the Nazi Occupation. We were able to see a small glimpse of the life Katin and her mother had before they were forced to run away. We were able to see that they had an ordinary life with friends, gossiping neighbors, pets, a housekeeper, even a nasty landlord.  The setting drastically changed after this as they hid in countryside outside Budapest.   At first, they lived with an old farmer and his wife and had some semblance of a normal life, they were not home but felt safe with all that was happening at the time.  It wasn’t long before a Nazi commandant noticed Esther’s beauty and she was forced to become his mistress to keep them safe. As bad as this was their situation got worst when the Russians began bombing the area.  They hid in a wine cellar which soon became over-crowded once other people started arriving in search for safety.  The Russian soldiers eventually found the cellar and when an injured soldier was found dead in Esther’s bed they had to fled from the cellar believing that they would be blamed for his dead.  

The next few pages were among the hardest for them to get though as they had to tread through deep snow during a storm, in the dead of night, not knowing where they were going. They were been haunted by Russian soldiers and because they were blamed for the death of the wounded soldier. These pages had some particularly dark imagery but these were some of the only pages that had no dialogue or writing on the pages whatsoever. However, we could tell that they were been blamed and hunted and shot at.  They waited out the storm in a hut and made their way into another village where they stayed with a man and his mean wife and many children.  For survival they would go out into the field where dead men laid and scavenged the bodies for anything they could use or sell, such as rings, coats, and boots.  By the spring of 1945 Katin and her mother left the village and went into a nearby town when she found out the she was pregnant.  

In a small town called Bordsvar they were recognised by an old friend from Esther’s past named Zoltan, he decided to take them in even thought about the possibility of having a life with Esther and her child.  Katin had a governess who was trying to teach her French and ballet.  Esther would soon leave to have a procedure done to terminate her unwanted pregnancy.  We see Katin getting closer to Zoltan, which bother’s Esther as she never gave up hope that she would find her husband again.  Katin’s father, Karoly, return’s home and begins his search to find them. Eventually his search leads him to Zoltan’s office and Zoltan gives his home address to Karoly.  We see the family reunited and Karoly makes the statement “We are on our own” in response to Esther questioning how can they go on without thanking God for bringing them back together.  The last few pages we see just how deeply the war had traumatised Katin as she plays aggressively with her toys under a table.

There was a thread been weaved thought the book surrounding Katin’s faith, the book started with a verse from the Old Testament of the bible and had a ended with her questioning her faith from a very young age.  We see throughout the book her referencing God as a child and as an adult her reading the bible stories to her own son, though she does not believe what is written within it.

The plot of Katin’s story is unfortunately one that probably hundreds of thousands of people went through due to the Nazi threat and the deviant behaviours of people during war times.  It is probably likely that a lot of people questioned their faith in God or stopped believing altogether.

Annotated Bibliography

Ho, Victoria.  “How a Holocaust survivor's graphic novel helped her work through the pain.” Mashable, 2017, https://mashable.com/2017/01/10/miriam-katin-world-war-ii/. Accessed 1 Nov. 2019

 This article points out the process that Miriam went through to write the graphic novel We Are On Our Own.  Having to separate her emotions, talking with her mother to fill the gaps in her memory, and the historic research she did to pull all together. The article also discusses another of her other writing Letting It Go, which was written to help her process the knowledge that her son was moving to Berlin, Germany.

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Characterization

        After doing some research into characterization and character design, I would say that majority of Miriam Katin’s graphic memoir We Are On Our Own would be considered indirect characterization. This means that information about the character(s) is given to us in a subtle nature rather than the author telling us. This is depicted through illustrations of actions (how the character acts), effects (how other characters perceive the character), and their design (the actual rendering of the character).

        Miriam’s horrific story of her experiences as a child during WWII is already very touching and moving but I believe the readers fully become invested in her story through her characters and how they are delivered. Many illustrators state that a successful character design should be kept simple, the first thing we look at is the character’s facial features/expression and their eyes. It is important to keep expressions clear and precise so that the reader knows how they should be feeling and remain interested/immersed within the content. Something as simple as a slight tilt of an eyebrow can make all the difference in a character expressing happiness, sadness, shock, or confusion.

        The characters in Miriam Katin’s memoir have very distinct characteristics, individuals (mostly adults) have elongated and angular faces where most of the children have circular and soft faces. By simplifying these facial features, the reader unconsciously recognizes and separates characters (adults) that understandthe gravity of situation (WWII, Hitler’s Reign) and the characters (children) that are innocent and naïve to what is reallyhappening around them. It is severely important that when developing a character, the artist only pays attention to the most essential details while leaving out the rest because this will be the information your audience depends on while connecting to your story. We may not connect to a character that is lovingif they are rendered with sharp and jagged edges, which is precisely why Katin choose the shapes she did when drawing her characters.

Works Cited  

YourDictionary. Examples of Characterization. 24 Jan. 2019, https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-characterization.html. Accessed 4 Nov. 2019.

Character Design Illustrators.https://www.agoodson.com/search/character-design-illustrators/. Accessed 2 Nov. 2019.

The agency was a really great resource for viewing different illustrators and their individual styles; which was super interesting when comparing different techniques and designs used to create characters. The agency also provides some helpful tips when developing characters and what is considered a successful design and why.

Melling, Emily. 10 Principles of Character Illustration. 2 Nov. 2019, https://yesimadesigner.com/10-principles-of-character-illustration/. Accessed 8 Nov. 2019.

This link broke down the development of a character and the principles you should consider while rendering your characters. There is also an extremely detailed YouTube video that helps you established the basics while creating characters. Although of course we are not wanting to create our own characters, it definitely helped understanding the do’sand don’ts of character design.

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Colour

Colour is extremely influential when it comes to our emotions, it can enhance and change our moods. When it comes to art, colour allows us to express our personalities and help evoke a particular mood/emotion towards our audience.

           Drawing and painting software has become easier to use and accessible to almost everyone over the last decade. As a result many comics, illustrations, and graphic novels have been presented to us in colour rather than black and white. These types of artists would have had to hand draw and hand colour their work which was extremely time consuming and also involved quite a bit of skill to properly render the colour. I found this to be extremely interesting because I don’t know much about illustration and I assumed if one could draw that one could also colour; however, often times with lack of experience the choice of colour could make the work appear amateur and feel carelessly completed.

           This is why I find Miriam Katin’s illustrations in We Are On Our Own to be extraordinary because of the tremendous amount of detail and effort behind them. The entire book was hand-drawn and shaded with pencil, which truly shows how raw and personal this memoir is. I feel very connected to her experience emotionally, while reading her experience during WWII the illustrations summoned a deep-rooted sadness within my gut. The monochromatic colour scheme intensifies this turmoil throughout the variations of dark and grey values. This decision–to limit colour really brings to life the truth, authenticity, and rawness of the horrific encounter both Miriam and her mother went through as they escaped Budapest during Hitler’s reign. I thought it was very clever and engaging of Katin to use black and white sketches to resemble her past (childhood in WWII) and pair this with coloured sketches to represent her life as a mother. Not only does the reader get a sense of time passing but we also feel a little light-hearted (we feel connected) when viewing the coloured illustrations because of how she strived to provide an environment for her children. I also found that the coloured sketches scattered throughout the memoir helped established this story as a reflection rather than a re-telling; which ultimately lets the audience know that this is a memoir, not a comic, autobiography, or graphic novel.

           As a photographer, we are constantly regarding colour while we are composing a shot. We like to say that when you strip a photograph/image of its colour what you are actually doing is encouraging the viewer to focus on the subject and what is unfolding within the scene instead of focusing on the distraction and bias of colour. Initially I thought maybe this was what drove Miriam to make most of the book in black and white while also primarily setting the time of occurrence. After reading an interview with Miriam Katin and Professor Nicolas Verstappen conducted by du9, she revealed that her choices were “inspired by photographs from those years, especially the pictures of her father during the war” (Katin, 2009). Of course this made a lot of sense, but I still like to think that she intentionally chose a black and white aesthetic to give her audience a truthful emotional experience of her experiences as a war child.

Works Cited

Color vs Black & White: Five Reasons Why Color Comics Are Popular. 8 Feb. 2019, https://onedogcomics.com/2018/09/26/color-vs-black-white-comics/. Accessed 4 Nov. 2019.

This website opened up the world of technique for me when it comes to comics and colour. I had absolutely no idea that just because an individual can draw beautifully doesn’t mean they can also render colour in the same fashion, especially hand-drawn. This is why most mediums we experience today are provided to us in colour– because of advancements in painting and drawing software. Before this advancement artists would have to hand-drawn and hand-colour their master pieces, which not only was immensely time consuming but also required a lot of skill.

Miriam Katin. Jan. 2009, https://www.du9.org/en/entretien/miriam-katin1151/. Accessed 4 Nov. 2019.

This link provides an article published in du9 of an interview with Miriam Katin and Professor Nicolas Verstappen. In this interview we get a sense of some of the decisions Miriam made while working on her memoir We Are On Our On and why she made them. Verstappen and Katin discuss what led her to the medium of comics, what triggered her to write this memoir, and even how she feels about her citizenship. It was extremely helpful to gain an insight on what she is like as an individual but also as an artist and writer.

We Are on Our Own: A Memoir.15 Sept. 2006, http://umanitoba.ca/cm/vol13/no2/weareonourown.html. Accessed 4 Nov. 2019.

This excerpt from CM Magazine made a couple connections and links to the idea that Mariam Katin uses the black and white illustrations of her childhood and juxtaposes them with her life as a mother in colour. It goes on to explain and review a lot of the content within the memoir and provides a brief summary, but I was more interested in some of points created around why she choose black and white with bits of colour throughout to explain her experiences. One really intriguing point was made that the black and white aesthetic resembles the ghosts of her past but the colour represents her struggle to create a happy environment for her sons.

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Influences

Katin realised her artistic ability at a very young age, she even wrote a few short stories in comic form as a child.  In an interview with Paul Gravett that she stated “I was drawing as long as I can remember”. It was her love of commercial art that prompted her to apprentice at a Commercial Arts studio in Tel Aviv.  As a young artist most of her drawings were of people landscapes.  However, she was drawn to nature and illustrated many wildlife drawings for Mondo publishing, Exploring Freshwater Habitats, Exploring Tree Habitats, Exploring Land Habitats, to name a few.    

Katin was inspired by to write about her own experience during the Holocaust by Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust memoir Maus: A Survivor’s tale.  This was what gave her the inspiration to write her first graphic novel We Are On Our Own.  Writing a book was a peculiar situation for her as she noted “I had stories to tell, but I’m not a writer.  I can draw, and I felt that comics were a possible method of telling my stories”.  

 Katin was also influenced by comic artists such as Lynda Barry, particularly because of “her freedom of expression and the fearless way she tackles her subjects”.  This meant that with her lack of writing experience and incredible artistic skills a graphic novel was the perfect medium for her to use to tell her story. Katin would later say of her writing “I hope to create a story that is strong and readable with illustrations that are powerful enough to express what I want to say”.  I would take this one step further to say that her powerful stories and illustrations may one day influence someone else to tell of their own experiences and stories.

 Annotated Bibliography

Gravett, Paul. Miriam Katin: Coming to Terms http://www.paulgravett.com/articles/article/miriam_katin Accessed 01 November 2019

Paul Gravette’s interview was done via email.  Katin provided background information of her and her mother escape from Nazi Hungary. Her family’s move to the United States and her career illustration.  Katin discussed her apprehension of informing her mother of her intention with write of their trauma.  Katin also discussed her own dismay when she found out that her son was moving to Berlin.  Katin opened up about how she came to write her comic for ArtReview magazine.

 Katin, Miriam 1942-, Encyclopedia.com, https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/katin-miriam-1942.  Accessed 29 October 2019

This entry on the encyclopedia website provides a lot of information on the career that Miriam Katin has had.  The entry also gives a quick review of the plot of We Are On Our Own and provides some information on the reviews that Katin had with its release.  The reviews discusses the different points of view on her use of graphics versus a straight narrative, the use of colour and black & white to convey her story.