The Scar

Andrea Ferraris and Renato Chiocca’s The Scar uses the comic form to report on their experience at the border wall between the USA and Mexico. For all that is covered in the book, it is a short piece of “graphic reportage.” The three parts of the book are marked by a symbolic oncoming and crashing wave that pulls in belongings and supplies of those struggling to cross into the US. The Scar works as a leaping off point for students. It isn’t a sustained narrative that follows the reporters or specific immigrants. It provides glimpses into the lives and deaths of people impacted by the politics of the border. Some of the stories shared are short because so little is known about those who die during their journeys. Volunteers try to piece together the information they have but their interactions with those who pass and those who survive is brief. 

While I haven’t taught this text, I can see it being useful in the classroom to discuss how the comic form provides something more than a traditional newspaper report or a documentary. Ferraris and Chiocca, Italian artists, imbue the text with pathos through the darkness of the shading and the numerous visual symbols the audience must decipher through analysis. The text could also provide students with the opportunity to pick up a thread and do additional research. Given the number of threads provided, student choice would be fostered. Additionally, the piece would work well in nonfiction classes to discuss the craft of piecing together a narrative from diverse research where the writer wants to decenter themselves from the subject.