The author’s choice in conveying this work of literature through a graphic novel was a very interesting choice. I believe by choosing this medium he was able to convey a lot more as it provided not only a setting but also much more emotion. Typically, authors describe the setting through their diction, but as it is not concrete or given visually, it remains open-ended and different from people’s perspectives. However, graphics, not only helps portray the setting but helps to emphasize certain aspects such as how closed in the center feels with the shading and cross-hatching, or how bland/bad their conditions are with the lack of color. By including other people’s faces the illustrator was also able to convey to the reader, their emotions which would likely do much more than words can describe. They even went as far as including pictures drawn by those detained in the center to illustrate their feelings, which provides a deeper and better insight into their feelings rather than a possibly inaccurate/misinterpreted translation.

I want to I want to start by saying this reading has left me if a state of shock that no reading has ever done. Many of us, if not all of us, have heard and learned about the unsettling stories of refugees’ struggles/treatment. However, the fact that this story is told through pictures and vivid images has been an eye-opening experience. The image itself allows adds to the powerful words. It’s one thing when you hear the stories, and it’s another thing to see them–putting the two together is just a masterpiece. A specific image that left me starstruck was right before chapter 4. At first, it starts like a ‘crunched up paper’ with the saying, ” there are hundreds of stories like this…” Initially, I thought the ‘crunched up paper’ signified the ending of the whole comic because it opened up with someone entering the detention center to experience and meet people my their drawing. The ‘crunched up paper’ was the magnified two images and showed ‘trapped’ like faces with the saying ” they are not in detention to be punished… not processed”. The image emphasized the term punished and illustrated trapness, which is also ironic because the meaning of detention/detained is to “keep (someone) from proceeding; hold back” (google definition). The image itself is a form of communication from the refugees. This image, along with others, left a lasting effect because I was able to absorb and synthesize what I saw rather than what I was reading. Visual was highly influential in this case and I will say this reading left a mark.

There are distinct advantages and disadvantages of any storytelling medium, and the graphic novel/story is no exception to this. One of the most compelling features of a graphic story is its ability to follow the golden rule of “show, don’t tell.” This is especially true when it comes to fantastical metaphors that can sometimes feel almost forced in standard literature. To illustrate this, I would like to point to what I found the most powerful scene in Safdar Ahmed’s “Villawood: Notes From an Immigration Detention Centre.” Towards the end of the work, when explaining that “there are hundreds of stories like this,” we see an illustration of a small ball. In the subsequent panels, we see the ball grow larger and is described as “a mass of depression and mental illness.” Finally, we get close enough to this “mass” to see that it is made up of all of the contorted faces that the system has failed. This powerful and emotional visual metaphor would not have had nearly the same impact had it been merely described in words. The power came in us, the reader, seeing the ball get larger while curiously wondering what it, Even when the faces do appear, it takes us a moment to understand what we are looking at. These visual metaphors allow the artist the unique ability to show emotions, rather than telling them.

“yeah well it’s just more paperwork for me”

Safdar ending his graphic novel with this remark from his case manager is extremely impactful when looking at the exigence of his writing. Throughout the entire graphic novel, we see the many hardships migrants face in Australian detainment centers and the systemic oppression they had endure through the perspective of Safdar. When Safdar is finally told that he would be released from the detainment center and was excited to finally be set free, his case manager downplayed his freedom as just more paperwork that she had to deal with and is completely tone death to what Safdar had gone through. Even at his best point, there were still people degrading him and eating away at his humanity. One thing that interested me about Safdar’s graphic novel was the date mentioned when he joined the rooftop protest in Villawood. The year when the uprising happened was 2012, which was only ten years ago. This makes me wonder about the current conditions of the detainment centers in Australia and if they are still this bad. This also makes me wonder if these issues have been exacerbated by the global pandemic and if Australia has made any attempt at trying to improve conditions for migrants who are essentially seeking asylum from violence.

At the end of the comic strip, I thought that the lady’s reaction to the refugee finally getting his freedom was insensitive. It’s also a slap in the face considering what the refugees taken to the camp had to endure, and the social deprivation the camp had placed them in without compassion. Its terrible to see that the state of immigrant detentions centers in other countries besides the U.S. also make immigrants feel dehumanized, especially in a country I didn’t think had such an outlook on immigration to have these centers be more resemblant to prisons. But I think Ahmed did an effective job in conveying that through these comics. As someone who didn’t know much, it made me more aware of treatment of refugees in Australia. And the illustration is fairly recent too. Overall, it did well as an outlet for education while trying to do so in a rather untraditional way.

” Serco, People are Our Business.”

Reflecting on the slogan of Serco, I think we can see how the company Serco and Australian politicians view the detention center. First and foremost, the people in the detention centers are just people who are looking for a new home. Yet, they are being treated like dangerous criminals considering the fact that the institution is run by a prison company. The idea that there is a company that makes money by providing horrible living conditions to refugees is almost insane. There is a deprivation of human dignity considering how they are a part of a transaction between a multinational company and the Australian government. There is also a deprivation of the human spirit by the fact that they are not allowed to seek medical assistance, have proper living space, and have a proper justice system.

“So what’s your story? Why did you leave your country? And could you imagine if the shoe was on the other foot? ‘So tell me about your worst trauma! Were you ever abused? What’s your story?” (Ahmed)

      These lines really stood out to me while I was reading because I never realized how the two questions go hand-in-hand. While someone may think asking the reason you left your country is harmless, the meaning behind it is a lot bigger than we may think. These people aren’t leaving the country by choice, they were forced to leave as a need. Leaving their country meant trying to escape horrible conditions in which they were abused, it meant they were trying to escape a place that has brought them trauma. I feel like these lines emphasize how senseless humans are and it highlights how we aren’t as effective sympathizers as we may think. Despite trying to get a better understanding of what the refugees might be going through, people don’t realize the level of difficulty it is to talk about the hardships in their lives. Overall these lines intrigued me as it opened my eyes to how unaware and insensitive people can be. These lines are pushing me to be more alert when I speak, because what might seem like a normal conversation for me, can be a very difficult conversation for someone else.

“They are in detention to be punished … not processed”

This was probably the most impactful line for me in the entire graphic novel. The author perfectly captures what it means to be an immigrant in a dominantly white, first-world country with this line and the series of images that accompany it. I think the author chose to highlight this irony to engage with the reader on a very emotional level. People react more to things they can connect to, as opposed to methodical data on some fact sheet. This line also helps to summarize the visuals that preceded it in a great way. We can see the globe of tormented faces of the immigrants get closer leading up to this statement but these words help to solidify the intent of the images we are looking at. It offers a very real explanation for their poor state of mind. I also think this line can be connected to the entire situation with Yusuf and how his protesting got him thrown in prison. Again, in that scenario, we see the irony of sending a man to a place to be punished (the prison) simply on the basis of him requesting to practice his autonomy as a human being. Instead of something productive like actually accelerating the speed of processing these people or analyzing the underlying causes of their protests, the government chooses to keep them in a state of limbo where they are persecuted simply for being “the Other”.

Reading these panels, I came to sympathize with the lady on the telephone. At first, I couldn’t understand why the lady chose such an apathetic and insensitive response to Ali’s excitement. After all, immigration is a long and arduous process. It’s extremely taxing on the applicant and on the administrative end. Because the medium is cartoonish, it’s hard to imagine an actual person on the phone saying something like this. But she did, and for completely understandable reasons. After I finish taking an exam for a difficult class, I feel only a brief moment of relief. The sense of success I feel is quickly overwhelmed by the realization that I will have another set of midterms to study for and assignments to complete in only one to two weeks. Being in a STEM major, it’s also difficult to see how most of the things I learn will apply to my specific concentration (I don’t really see how electrical engineering and circuitry applies to genetics and biochemistry). In the same way, the lady on the phone doesn’t see the end of her work. After completing the paperwork for an application, she only sees another application behind it. It’s also quite likely that her job doesn’t really give her the opportunity to see the immigrants that she helps. In the same way that I don’t see the applications of most of the things I learn in college, she most likely doesn’t see the people whose applications she completes. To her, the immigrant’s application is literally a number, and everything about the way that she perceives immigrants is manufactured to represent that. Having understood this, I realized that we should not dislike the woman on the other side of the phone. It’s not her fault that she feels indifferent about applicants. Rather, the current existing systems of borders, immigration, and administration are the root issue here. These are the causes of the dehumanization seen throughout Villawood.

“Everywhere there is evidence of anxiety, depression, and self harm”.

This line and its corresponding image were especially powerful as they showcase the true terror and trauma that follows the lives of the refugees from the countries they came from and now Villawood. The quote is broader than it first appears. Literally, everywhere, there is evidence of anxiety, depression and self harm. Not only all over Villawood, but also all over the countries that the detained refugees fled from. The next set of images shows artwork done by the refugees that depict the trouble that haunts their minds. I think this is especially significant, as it points out the disheartening truth that the oppression and traumatic experiences the refugees face is what somehow brings keeps them going: “it is a good way to make friends and get to know people”.

This ties back to anxiety and depression being everywhere as well. Anxiety and depression is depicted in their artwork and experiences. It is gut-wrenching to read the line, “like so many refugees in detention, his artwork depicts the frustration of being indefinitely detained with no certainty of release.” The uncertainty of being released causes such emotional pain, anxiety, and depression that is expressed through artwork. It is important to depict these truths in such artworks, as they need to be broadcasted so that society can understand the horror and terrible experience refugees face in detention facilities such as Villawood.

-Hannah Khanshali

“Just because I came by boat… To escape the Taliban. The prison guard abused me. But I am a refugee. I only came here to save my life and Australian politicians are destroying me.”

I thought this section’s illustration and words were powerful together. The words are somewhat linear and so are the drawings, so a black background of seawater contrasts with a boat sailing the dangerous waters, the Taliban, a prison guard calling Yusuf a queue jumper, and finally an image of Yusuf’s face cracking and falling to pieces. I noticed that each of those images was progressively bigger, almost as if the obstacles that Yusuf has to overcome only get worse even though he is supposed to have escaped. And the words about the oppressors are accompanied by scary images, but the scariest image of his cracking face is accompanied by “But I am a refugee.” There’s significance in the pairing of words to images when it comes to Yusuf’s journey, how his identity is formed, and how he is broken down the most by treatment in detention centers and of refugees in Australia.

“To harm themselves is to defy the system that locks them away.”

I thought this quote was ironic because it sounds like them harming themselves is hurting themselves even more than its harming those that are oppressing them. The system will just make space for another detainee that will stay where you stayed. I think this may have been a metaphor for creating the thrill of escape. They may stop at the point where they know that the harm is irreversible because that’s when it hits what they would be leaving behind, their family. The idea of escaping the oppression is an adventurous high that fells good in the moment because the pain would be gone, but the pain would have an everlasting impact on your family with the mourning.

“In Sri Lanka, they torture people physically but here they do it mentally… They have to realize we are human beings who need dignity and respect.”

These sentences unveil the harsh reality of many people who are trapped inside immigration detention centers. Many immigrants risk their lives trying to escape the violence, poverty, and social instability that exists within their country. However, the idea that they will finally start a new beginning, find safety, and contribute to their family’s desperate needs back home is crushed when they are locked up in the detention centers. In these detention centers, they confront injustices, and daily deprivations, and have little to no companionship. As a result, their mental health, as well as their sense of optimism, is destroyed. The only things they have left are lingering questions about their freedom, and how they will support their families back home?

This idea is also reflected in one of the refugees’ statements about their actual situation: “In this night of solitude, there are thousands of dreams, but there are more pains in my heart-thousands of sorrows.”

Safdar Ahmed states in Chapter Three of “Villawood,” “The Human Rights Firewall and Other Deprivations,” They are in detention to be punished/ Not processed.” This form of punishment that the Australian immigrants go through sounds like purgatory to me. The migrants escaped the hell of their countries and are now stuck in an area where they are “purified” to become Australians. This purgatory involves punishment and isolation, all for the sin of being not White. If they are part of the “elect” who have their asylum claims accepted, they can go to Australia(heaven). However, if they are not part of the “elect,” they are deported back to their original countries(hell) if they fail. 

While Ahmed says “not processed,” I cannot entirely agree that it is not processing; processing and punishment often go together, with purgatory being a prime example in the spiritual world and pre-trial detention being an example in the temporal world. Unfortunately, immigration detention in Australia, like purgatory and pre-trial detention, fits the mold of punishment and processing.

-Zachary Rosman

“Self-harm is an expression of abject despair but in detention, it’s sometimes more than that. Because refugees are objectified and dehumanized…because they are reduced to incarcerated bodies…to harm themselves is to defy the system that locks them away.”

This comic was incredibly heart-wrenching and provided an insight into immigration detention centers that I hadn’t been aware of. One of the things that startled me was the concept of self-harm as a form of defiance. Though I do know of other instances where protesters engaged in self-harm as a form of defiance, such as Mahatma Gandhi or in the civil rights era which was successful to varying degrees, the notion is so counter-intuitive and so against natural tendencies that, to me, it is unfathomable.

The image of the man with the stapled mouth illustrates the sort of defiance the refugees may be engaged in and the types of symbolism, oppression, repression, etc. that may be intended by such self-harm. I found the captions explaining the self-harm unsatisfactory, and my first instinct was to criticize the self-harm for confirming and even reinforcing the notions of those objectifying and dehumanizing them that their bodies were not valuable enough to not be harmed. However, looking at it again and attempting to understand it, I can see it as an attempt to force attention to be paid to them, to use the symbolism to criticize their treatment in the detention center, and to garner sympathy and publicity for their plight.

Villawood just goes to show that refugees, immigrants, or people who immigrate from certain foreign countries such as Afghanistan, or Sri Lanka are seen as a danger to society or the rest of the world at that. Countries that promise to act as a safety harness to dangered immigrants around the world are safe to do this in many ways. For example, the narrator states that when one of their colleagues passed away, they would mourn by placing pictures of him in the center, but the guards would see the pictures and tear them down because they did not see the detainees as people with humans, or humans at all. One of the guards even goes as far as trying to grab a Muslim detainee’s son, and when the mother asked her not to touch her son, the officer yells, “you are in detention, I can touch whoever I want.” This just goes to show that even when these people are experiencing troubles back in their own countries, a chance to escape means a chance to end up right back in the same situation just in a different place.

Safdar Ahmed depicts the ever so common lives of refugees residing in United States Detention Camps. He uniquely tells the story of some refugees using art and comic strip style writing. The hardships that refugees face in their homelands and at the camp are expressed through testimonials and anecdotes. Ahmed’s main point is to show how destructive and deteriorating these refugee camps are to the well-being of people seeking asylum. One refugee proclaimed that the victims of the system are “in detention to be punished… not processed.” Some are inflicting harm on themselves which is represented in the drawing of an arm with cut marks on it. This art piece speaks without words by showing an illustration of the rash methods used by refugees to express their sorrow and frustration. One of the refugees who shared his story explained that, “In Sri Lanka they torture people physically but here they do it mentally.” This statement can be felt by millions of refugees who are constantly denied access to their basic rights and mentally abused in detention camps.

“She wasn’t taught by anybody doing the painting./
But she saw somebody doing the painting./
And now she is really good, art painting.” (Bil Bil 8).

This quote from the poem “And Now She Is Really Good, Art Painting” by Marjorie Bil Bil resonated with me, as I have plenty of family members and friends who are artistically talented, and they all happen to be girls. I am shocked that the feminine nature of painting sticks in cultures as divergent as American and Australian Native.

The word “painting” is repeated over those three lines to show how she became good at art and how sudden and shocking it was. Also, the language that she is speaking is slightly different from speakers of Australian English. I think that choice is deliberate, as the Aborigines in her region said that way. It is a way of asserting her Aboriginal identity, contrasting to the average Anglo-Australian identity, which has oppressed voices like her for so long. The book Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston was similarly written in the dialect of an oppressed minority, this time African-Americans in Florida. Both told stories about female heroines trying to find their callings and eventually succeeding, albeit in two different environments.

-Zachary Rosman

“I felt, with Nina’s drums throbbing in my ears, as though I was marching at the head of a king’s funeral procession, with an entire village in my wake.”(Danticat 19).

This line interested me. The words “funeral procession,” judging by the fact we’ve heard for the last few pages about old Haitian traditions about funerals, implies that we are referencing a tradition. However, “Nina,” referring to Nina Simone, is an American, not a Haitian. Therefore, the tradition Nadia is imagining seems to be a mix of American and Haitian culture, a mix between her mother’s American identity and her dad’s Haitian identity. This mixing suggests that she, although American, has not abandoned her Haitian roots as her mother did. I find this fascinating as an amateur historian because I have always been interested in culture blending and its resulting traditions. As we can see from this passage, America has always been proficient at doing this process.

-Zachary Rosman

“If you ever have a child of your own,” my father’s wife said, “at least you can tell your child that you saw your father, even like this.” 

How would I describe this to my own child if I ever had one? How would I tell it to my mother, who thought that nothing having to do with my father was in the present, that everything involving him was in the past, in the old days?

• Danticat p. 15

I find Danticat’s use of time as a means of connection and severance particularly interesting. In some instances, time connects the past with the present. Nadia’s father returns to Haiti to help rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, while her mother decides to stay in the United States. Nadia’s arrival in Miami was just a bit too late for her to reach her father in time, preventing her from reconnecting with her Haitian heritage. Her student criticizes Camus’ disregard for lifespan. Her father feels it was “too late” to reach out to Nadia by the time he learned of her existence (by which time she was a teenager). And most notably, Nadia reconnects with her Haitian heritage (the old days) when participating in a funeral ceremony. 

While the atmosphere throughout the story is quite gloomy, Danticat’s use of time seems to impart a hopeful and celebratory theme. Even though we never speak with Nadia’s father, and even though his existence can only be verified by those who have met him, there’s a sense of immortalization from passing down Haitian traditions. Nadia doesn’t need to describe her father to her future child, but needs only pass down the Haitian heritage he worked so hard to preserve. Tradition is something that seems to transcend time and distance, connecting people around the world and across eras. It is in this manner that the deaths of people before us become forever immortalized in our hearts and minds, which quite frankly, is best symbolized by the final two paragraphs of the story: Nina Simone’s sorrow-filled voice slowly transitioning to a joyous and upbeat rhythm–carrying the nobility of a king and the strength of an entire village.

” He might have made a different choice if he’d known about me.” (Pg. 7)

Based on the quote above by Nadia, it is transparent that she was angry, not only at her father for leaving but at her mother for not telling her father about her. She strongly believes that had he known that he had a daughter in America, he would not have left to help other children when he had one of his own in need of him. I feel that Nadia has every right to feel this way (the anger) towards her parents, having to grow up and be told that her father did not want her. to you. or let alone care about you enough to stay is a hard pill to swallow at such a young and fragile age.

I would even go as far to say that it justifies why in the beginning Nadia states,

” “I am not sure I can drop everything and come to Miami now,” I told my father’s wife, even while realizing I was sounding like a moody teenager. “I have school.” ” (Pg. 3)

Nadia is now 25 and has never come into contact with her father, so her acting the way she is acting in the mentioned quote above is sensible and appropriate. How is it that you expect her to care for someone who has the label of being her father, but was never present in her life?

Danticat vividly depicts a sorrowful moment from Nadia’s life in her short story, In the Old Days. Nadia finds out that her absent father is deceased and hidden family conflicts are brought to the surface. Every character in the story has a different perspective of the Old Days. Nadia reflects back on her life and feels robbed of a relationship with her father. Her mother hesitates to ponder on the old days and refuses to be completely truthful with her daughter. The second wife of Nadia’s father sees the glory and joy of the past and wishes she could turn back time. 

Although people might share bits and pieces of the past, their futures are uniquely influenced by those shared experiences. Also, everyone has a different view of the past which helps put the puzzle together. Nadia can’t finish her puzzle because some pieces are missing. She states on page 15: 

“How would I describe this to my own child if I ever had one? How would I tell it to my mother, who thought that nothing having to do with my father was in the present, that everything involving him was in the past, in the old days? My father’s wife had her own version of the old days…Looking down at my father’s dead face, in which I saw no trace of my own, I wanted to grab him and shake him, force him to wake up and explain to me his version of the old days.”

Nadia will never have the opportunity to ask her father the questions about the old days that she’s been formulating all her life. 

“”You have no children that you know of,” I said, then let out a cackle loud enough to drown out the sound of her ankle bells.”

I was intrigued to find out the narrator’s father’s wife was in the same situation as the narrator’s father- that she too, had left America and her previous husband to move to Haiti. To the narrator, this revelation is no more fuel for her amusement at how it’s comparable to her exact situation. For me, I thought it’d be interesting to watch how Danticat shifts our perspective on this kind of person- a person that “…chose a country over me, over us” (Danticat 7). To readers, how can we not view this character that has left the narrator and her mother stranded as selfish and insensitive? In the beginning, the narrator simply views the father’s wife as an obstacle to her father. Even though she wishes to prepare her and not rush the process, she still pushes, and is constantly asking to see him. I believe she wants to get it over with, and not prolong her anxiety. At this point, I was expecting her visit with her father to feel disconnected and sprawled with apprehension. But, I was surprised when I noticed her deep connection and alertness in the room with her father. She genuinely seemed to want to understand what made her father the man he was, and his effect on the people around him. After her dialogue, she saw her father’s wife completely, wanting to embrace her and understand the love her father brought her and the people around her. Through someone who has just passed away, I believe this is a powerful message on the positive nature and energy her father radiated throughout his life, despite his one act of selfishness when he left them for Haiti.

“Looking down at my father’s dead face, in which I saw no trace of my own, I wanted to grab him and shake him, force him to wake up and explain to me the version of the good old days. ‘He was a good man, a very good man,’ my father’s wife continued. ‘I know he would have wanted you to be part of his final rites.’ How could he have wanted me to be part of his final rites when he’s been absent from my first?” (page 16)

This quote made me feel really bad for the narrator as you can tell she is still upset at her father’s absence from her life despite his wishes and whether or not he was a “good man.” This almost makes me feel frustrated for her as her father could have been a good person, however, it is still not fair to Danticat as she was never able to receive that type of goodness from her father. It doesn’t really matter how much her father’s wife explains how good of a person he was because to Danticat, she was never able to experience that herself. In this moment, she has to bring herself to forgive everyone despite what she truly deserved as now that her father is dead, there is no way of her being able to be upset or mad at him but would rather have to come to terms with it. You can truly feel her frustration because while she does not see any trace of herself in his face, she still wants that father figure she longed for and talk about “the good old days,” showing how she only wanted something so simple that is now out of her reach.

“So he knew about me. The bastard knew. And still he’d chosen not to get in touch. He had chosen a country over us, as my mother said. Because it was nobler to take care of hundreds of children?” (10)

This line by Danticat is very powerful as it finally reveals her true emotions regarding her father and her feelings toward him. In previous passages, she writes that her mother recently confessed that she did not inform her father of her existence. That being said, the narrator went her entire life thinking that her father abandoned her, regained a sense of closure once she heard that he didn’t actually know of her existence, just for it to break apart on her when she finds out he did truly abandon her after knowing of her existence since her teenage-hood. Her feelings come to life in this sentence for one of the first times in a straightforward way, similarly to how A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid is written. She asks herself questions, saying to herself over and over again how she was abandoned, digging up trauma shoved away for years, and the readers enter her thoughts as she makes realizations.

This line is proper foreshadowing a line closer to the end of the text where refers to her students as “her kids”, “I had not seen him either live or die, so I was at best a well wisher and at worst an intruder. Besides, I had to get back to work, to my kids” (17) . This line reveals her true stance on her trauma, and how she never wants to abandon the children in her life, even if they are not their own.

-Hannah Khanshali