Graphic Novel vs. Novel

      The novel Fun Home has been unique in comparison to the other novel read in class. The difference isn't in the lessons taught throughout the book or the underlying messages giving to the reader the true difference is in the layout of the novel. Alison's use of the graphic novel in this stories case was completely necessary to accomplish her goal. Many pictures throughout the novel showed the seriousness and captured the reader by giving them a snapshot or several snapshots of that one moment in time.  A huge aspect of this novel is the fact of secrets that are hidden between the lines of something larger. The layout of the graphic novel is the same also by showing some hidden meaning in the pictures. As we discussed in class, the characters in the pictures didn't show too much emotion. Also, the pictures gave a hint as to the secrets which the author was speaking of throughout the words of the novel. The pictures gave meeting point between the thoughts of the reader and the words of the book. In the case of the mother, absence was seen. In the words she wasn't expressed to much, even in the graphics of the novel this is seen. The mother is absent in most of the pictures within the novels. Without the graphics in this novel the author wouldn't have been able to give the reader the tools they need to realize exactly what was going on. The graphics in this novel were completely necessary to get the message Allison wanted to send out to her readers. Sometimes, in novels, the words overwhelm the reader by taking their attention off the plot and onto figuring out what the words really mean. In the case of Fun Home, the pictures helped to make a visual image in the readers head as well as the image given by the words. Instead of spending time trying to decipher the word, the reader can focus more on the plot by taking the graphics and the minimal words together to create a overall image of what is truly happening.