The Rabbi's Cat Reader Response by M. Schreiber

Melissa Schreiber

Professor: Dr. R. E. Benander

ENGL223      

22 May 2011                                           

                                                                                     

            The Rabbi’s Cat, is a graphic novel written by Joann Sfar in 1988. The novel’s overarching theme is religion and the characters personal struggles of faith. The protagonist is the rabbi’s cat who is never named. In the text the rabbi and his family live in 1930’s Algeria, during a time when Algeria was under French rule. The intense curiosity of the cat all begins after he eats the family’s parrot and the chaos also begins. “My mistress Zlabya says that if cats could talk, they would tell incredible stories. While this act who roams the rooftops every night, never pipes up.” “The rabbi tells her it’s better this way” (5). This foreshadowing set the tone of the struggles to come. Families everywhere have different beliefs, and The Rabbi’s Cat hopes to teach all religions to balance traditional values with modernity.

Our family’s cat is Ella, we got her last year when she was 3 months old, it is the first time I have ever had a cat. Growing up my family had dogs, but no cats. I love to watch Ella and play with her, she is different from a dog in every way, and I love watching her learn and grow. She is interested in everything and anything, especially string. If Ella could talk I think I would listen to her like I do my children, if she was as educated as the rabbi’s cat I think my beliefs would be in jeopardy too.

This text along with the pictures is very similar to my outlook on the world. Religion is very complicated, and there are so many questions and not very many answers, this text allows for modernity to mix with tradition and accept faith being questioned rather than ignore it.

This text communicated to me that it’s okay to have questions and that doubts are normal. Regardless of what religion a person is, there is a lot to learn and something’s are hard to understand. The rabbi struggled with an identity crisis after many years of learning and believing, questioning his faith first made him crazy, but then I think he was free. He didn’t have all the answers and modernity provided the escape the rabbi needed.

I personally believe this text to be important for understanding that balancing religion with modernity is possible. Acknowledging that some questions may not have answers is key to curbing one’s curiosity, I am Catholic and there are many confusing aspects I may never fully understand. This text uses Judaism, yet I believe any religion could be substituted. “I tell him that’s a nice thought, that all humankind is one big family, but all the same it’s just a symbol” (24).

The drawings weren’t beautiful, but they were works of art that told an entire new story. Each story, the text and the pictures were successful and brought controversial questions to life.

I would read more works by Sfar, and I recommend this graphic novel to college level students, art majors and English majors. Adults as well of any religion and especially adults who appreciate pictures that take the time to tell another story.

Tsitsi Dangarembga Reader Response by: Missy Schreiber

Melissa Schreiber

Professor: Dr. R. E. Benander

ENGL223

02 March 11

            Tsitsi Dangarembga, author of Nervous Conditions, expresses the many ways an African woman can escape the traditions of a colonized Africa. Each chapter is a journey that tries to ask questions in order to balance tradition and modernity, never knowing which path is the best to be taken.

I believe it is a universal experience in any culture to hope to maintain this balance. I was brought up Catholic and married a Baptist man; together we were able to take a modern path, whereas Dangarembga struggled. My husband and I both cherish our religions and do not allow modernity to hurt what we value. I believe Africans everywhere will begin to experience this luxury the Western world takes for granted through literature by Dangarembga. Right and wrong are supposed to be easy decisions, yet some cultures are not given a choice. Dangarembga asks many questions throughout her struggles as a young girl, destined for college and her struggle was because she was a girl. That’s irony.
 I learned that not every culture has equal opportunities or rights. I support equality and freedom which is why I joined the US Navy, where gender bias. Her text communicated to me that the first step in overcoming these “nervous conditions” is awareness that they exist and then to educate ourselves on how to treat another person. I personally believe in supporting any cause that helps a person in need, especially in the 21^st century, some rights aren’t supposed to be questioned. Answers to her questions are slowly being answered and conditions will improve through art like Dangarembga. Her literature is a powerful and necessary voice for women everywhere suffering from oppression and repression, together we can overcome and together we can come up with answers.
 Overall I enjoyed reading this text, if the ending would have been as powerful as the middle I would have had more closure, but there are still unanswered questions. I recommend her literature to anyone who has access to a copy, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, read her words and help answer the questions of injustice together.