After our discussion of Hartzell’s graphic novel last Wednesday, I went back and finished the rest of the story. Needless to say, I am still amazed at Hartzell’s ability to portray the emotions and internal conflict of the main protagonist through visual cues and use of black and white colors.
I, too, was struck by the ending of the book, especially with the fox’s transformation into a bunny. Initially, I viewed the process as a positive thing, because we saw from the beginning with his bunny costume that he obviously felt more bunny than fox. But in examining the last few pages (101-103), I became disturbed at the (former) fox’s reaction to the abrupt surgery so I examined it further. On page 101, the circular frames suggest that only seconds went by as the protagonist examined his new self and this seems to explain his perplexed and shocked expressions. As a reader, each frame seems much longer, and indicates hesitation and possibly even disgust as seen with the third and sixth circular frame. On page 102, one can describe his expression as proud, but upon a second look, I instead saw sheepishness at what happened, what he now is, and the audience that was now congratulating his change. The audience’s position around the protagonist like they are in some sort of arena, their obvious passive, uninterested faces shown by straight lines for eyes, lack of a mouth and uniformity in clapping, and the spotlight, seems to rather poke fun at the protagonist. He seems to serve as some sort of entertainment for the inhabitants of this new world. This picture serving as the last page of the novel is unsettling for me, and I read it as Hartzell’s way of telling his readers that the world of the protagonist, as well as our own world, is frustratingly complex and that sometimes, endings can’t be wrapped up in a nice red bow even though it may seem that the protagonist got what he wanted (and Hartzell’s playful comment on the back flap that his “sutures are healing nicely” seems to contrast this serious last page).
In an attempt to understand Hartzell’s message and the ending I went backwards to look for visual clues. As Lee mentioned, there was a lack of consent and I would have liked for the fox to be given a chance to make the decision for himself instead of being thrown into it. On pages 48-51, the fox falls asleep in the church in Bunny land and dreams of an almost exact scenario of what would happen to him later on. He is surrounded by bunnies who throw him up into the heavens. He sees a supernatural being and tries to run but is captured and forcefully transformed into a bunny before being thrown back down. I am unsure whether this dream is simply foreshadowing what will happen or if it is showing an inner desire of the fox to have someone make the decision to change him for him. This notion is further complicated by the pressure placed on the protagonist to act like a fox, forcing him to devour the bunnies in the church in the most savage way. As many have mentioned, this is the fox at his most human, but I also think the event implies that although he may feel like a bunny, he’s most naturally, innately, a fox and when he snaps, he reverts to his “true” nature. This suggests that he may have needed the push into being a bunny, because his (biological?) nature and vulnerability prevents him from doing so on his own. The image of the fox-bunny hybrid introducing us to chapter three, and the obvious uneven split of species favoring the fox also indicate the difficulty and the heightened struggle of many individuals experiencing identity conflicts. This brings me to my own interpretation of the last pages, which is that nothing is simple. The dichotomy of either-or, fox-or-bunny, black-or-white that Hartzell introduces his readers to is disrupted in these last pages, where it seems that although our protagonist may look and feel like a bunny, somewhere, in some part of him, he is still part fox.
One last comment: Page 81 showing the 2-page spread of the protagonist being introduced into the new world throws a huge figure at the readers of a bunny with sharp features that suggests a change from a fox. But the human-like characteristics, with her lips, earrings and clothing, also suggest a gender change (the nose and lips seem masculine to me). I also thought that this new hybrid world is interesting because one would think that black and white together makes gray, yet the co-existence of the two (colors and species) seems to indicate a mashing of the two that mixes but doesn’t blend, which may say something about the transformation and the reaction our protagonist has at the end.
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