Missy Schreiber Reader Response to Allende et al. Zorro

Melissa Schreiber

Professor: Dr. R.E. Benander

ENGL222

14 February 11

Zorro, the graphic novel by Isabel Allende, Wagner, and Francavilla is brought to life for the 21^st century.  Zorro, the Mestizo hero represents diversity and this hero is relatable with today’s audience. Zorro has class mobility as well as compassion for the poor. This novel describes the vivid life of a young boy who becomes a man right before our eyes. Diego de la Vega is both a member of the Spanish aristocracy as well as a crusader for the native people. The graphics are emotionally drawn, enticing and sometimes fearful, because the outside reader has become active within the drawing. The novel creates a young boy we know will become Zorro, and we the outside reader begin our relationship with Diego eager to see him succeed. The young men in the novel build a friendship, deal without parents, journey from home, true to the archetype, and experience the world mostly through oppression and horror. A hero needs to have qualities that are similar yet they must stand out to be remembered.

 In chapter six, the young boys are drawn as young men, and they are back in California, home. The graphic I chose is that of a waterfall, bright and blue, the waterfall symbolized, for me, these men reaching their enlightenment. The young men stand off to the left in the shadows of the falls, and they present a sense of accomplishment. The waterfall was normal and yet behind it was the secret to Zorro. The next graphic, “My brother realized that, to be most effective in his crusade for justice, he would need to re-enter the very society that he hoped to overthrow.” This waterfall is the beginning of the boys becoming men and the limitless possibilities yet to come. The realization of their duty as men makes the friends real heroes and they will be remembered as standing up for justice and all who interfere.