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Obstacles Of Life In Will Eisner's Street Singer

1024 Words5 Pages

Will Eisner is one to show the true passions and motives of his characters and how they keep them walking to the many obstacles of life of life. This is no exception especially towards Ms. Sylvia Speegel on page sixteen (pg. 80) of “The Street Singer”, where she finally gets a second chance through mentoring an up-and-coming baritone singer. Though the overall layout on this page is very simple, each frame shows the gradual enthusiasm and happiness that Sylvia’s stage persona, Marta Maria, experiences on the phone with Max. Eisner shows how Sylvia’s career makes or breaks the ways she is interpreted as a character, showing key themes of redemption to show the willingness that we humans go to make ourselves feel some worth. The entire …show more content…

Unlike the previous panel where she is depicted on the floor, there is no sign of her in the room anymore, only her and the phone to remain. Eisner most likely did this to focus all attention to Sylvia and how there was a change in her emotional atmosphere. Her body isn’t curled into her chest as she did the last page, but has lifted up and her head is held up to either surprise and/or happiness. Her face picks up to a full-blown smile and the tears that once lied on her cheek is now gone, depicting that the good news that Max has delivered has taken every ounce of sadness out of her. As for the word balloon, ellipses show the pauses where Sylvia is intensively listening to what Max has to say. The words “God Bless You” are heavily bolded from the other text seen in this frame, where Sylvia used to thank Max. Eisner used bolded text on Sylvia on the previous page (pg. 79) to express how important she and ‘Ronald Barry’ were, but also how she stressed it on Max’s name as well. So in the second panel of page sixteen of “The Street Singer”, it can be concluded that she’s stressing her gratitude for Max and the opportunity he has given her. But shortly after her continuously thanking him, Max hangs up the phone abruptly, most likely showing that he has been annoyed and bothered enough by Sylvia for calling him so late at night, based on him trying to hang up on the previous

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