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I Kill Giants: Characterization & Resilience

The document provides a review and analysis of the graphic novel "I Kill Giants" by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura. It summarizes that the novel follows fifth grader Barbara Thorson who escapes reality by playing Dungeons & Dragons and fighting giants, as she struggles with distressing circumstances at home. The review analyzes Barbara's characterization, the techniques used to illustrate her inner thoughts, and how the theme of resilience is communicated. It praises how the novel creatively depicts Barbara's imaginative world and troubled mind to understand her struggles, and how the mantra of strength and Mrs. Molle as a mentor convey resilience. The reviewer concludes the graphic novel successfully captures Barbara's unfortunate life through these three aspects

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31 views1 page

I Kill Giants: Characterization & Resilience

The document provides a review and analysis of the graphic novel "I Kill Giants" by Joe Kelly and JM Ken Niimura. It summarizes that the novel follows fifth grader Barbara Thorson who escapes reality by playing Dungeons & Dragons and fighting giants, as she struggles with distressing circumstances at home. The review analyzes Barbara's characterization, the techniques used to illustrate her inner thoughts, and how the theme of resilience is communicated. It praises how the novel creatively depicts Barbara's imaginative world and troubled mind to understand her struggles, and how the mantra of strength and Mrs. Molle as a mentor convey resilience. The reviewer concludes the graphic novel successfully captures Barbara's unfortunate life through these three aspects

Uploaded by

api-526201635
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Amin Hassanpour

IKG REVIEW 
I Kill Giants (2008) is a meaningful graphic novel, cleverly written by Joe Kelly and skillfully Illustrated 
by JM Ken Niimura, which follows the struggles of a fifth-grader Barbara Thorson, a precocious 
Dungeons and Dragons player, who devotes her time to fighting giants. Nevertheless, Barbara is 
actually fleeing away from reality in response to distressing circumstances in her life. The 3 aspects 
that are going evaluated, are known as to be the characterisation of Barbara Thorson, techniques 
used to illustrate Barbara’s inner life, and the communication of the theme of resilience. On these 3 
aspects, I’m going to preview the topic these include, talking to fairies and wearing armour, 
imaginative and troubled thinking, Through the mantra, “You are stronger than you think. Through 
the example of Mrs Molle as a mentor.  
 
As Kelly and Niimura used a variety of astonishing techniques to successfully express the 
characterisation of Barbara Thorson, imaginative and troubled thinking were the most creative way 
to clearly identify Barbara’s characterisation. For instance, these two clearly describe the difficulties 
of Barbara, they also help to create her fantasy world. The quality of BT as a protagonist is definitely 
high-quality, this is because of the fact that she is very creative in creating this perilous fantasy 
world and also really relish her because of her sarcastic comments. I really relish her because of her 
sarcastic comment. On the other hand, my reaction towards these techniques was unique, this is 
because it was collaboratively created for readers to create this precise picture of Barbara’s 
characterisation. 
Kelly and Niimura used a range of peculiar figurative techniques to skillfully exemplify Barbara’s 
inner life, including, talking to fairies and wearing armour. These techniques represent the hardships 
of Barbara's security and the presents of her mind. The imaginative thinking is known to be really 
illuminating because of the fact that she is having difficulties to pursue herself to her ill mother. This 
made a huge impact on me because of Barbara's discourteous actions and thinking towards her 
dying mother. However, these are important issues as the authors allow the reader to go deep into 
Barbara’s intricate mind and thoughts. 
In  this  aspect,  Kelly  and  Niimura  carefully  produce  a  curious  technique,  it  is  known  as  the 
communication  of  the  theme  of  resilience,  for  example, through the mantra, “You are stronger than 
you  think.  This  is  an  example of Mrs Molle as a mentor. The  technique used to exemplify this aspect 
of  resilience  because  Mrs  Molle  has  hope  in Barbara’s future. My reaction towards this section helps 
me to have aspiration, this is because of Mrs Molly's patience in Barbara. 
To conclude, through the use of these 3 aspects which demonstrate Barbara’s inner life, 
characterization and communication, I have found this graphic novel to verify these privations of 
Barbara’s unfortunate life. Nevertheless, the creation of Kelly and Niimura novel is a very triumphant 
and realistic graphic novel which changed my emotion towards the issue of losing someone. 
However this graphic novel is ⅘, this is because this relates to people who have suffered in losing 
someone. However I would recommend this film to those who are struggling with losses, or wanting 
to read a mysterious and well created novel. 
 

Word count: 535

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