Use of Cognitive Closure and other Graphic elements in Lynd Wards novel Gods ManIn this paper I will discuss about closure and other graphic elements that Lynd Ward uses. I shall elaborate on visual closure which is common in all graphic narratives and auditory closure that is prevalent in this novel. I will try to bring out the features that led to auditory closure. To substantiate my idea I will refer to Steve McClouds Understanding Comics and the Gestalt Theory (SS2-Gestalt psychologytries to understand the laws of our ability to acquire and maintain meaningful perceptions in an apparently chaotic world.). I will also discuss about how the techniques of storytelling become associated with the politics of the novel. (SS3-explain)What does closure actually mean? (SS4)Closure is a tendency to look for a firm answer to a question and an aversion to ambiguity. In our daily life we commit closure unknowingly.(SS4 part 2)When we watch a film we can complete the two dimensional image and take it for a 3d figure. When we are reading graphic novels closure is used in a different format. In Understanding Comics (SS5) Closure has been defined as The phenomenon of observing the parts but perceiving the whole. We complete the action taking place between two panels (SS6). This completion is essential for maintaining the spatial continuity between two scenes. Closure alone cannot give us this continuity (SS7), for this we need what in Gestalt theory is known as SIMILARITY /CONTINUATION/CLOSURE/ PROXIMITY (slide show8-explain)Unlike comics or graphic novels in this woodcut novel there is no panel hence no gutter space. Each page contains an image which is discreet and bound by space and time. It is almost like snap shots of different moments which have been arranged in a definite order and have been left for us to find continuity. As compared to narratives that use panels here the images are spatially less proximate still we commit closure due to Similarity. In cinema the persistence of memory is a sort of closure but it is a swift involuntary process and in graphic narrative the closure is a slower voluntary process. It is more of a tendency to solve ambiguity and to make sense. Visual closure is common in graphic narratives but the major achievement of Wards novel is its auditory closure. The lack of words in the novel is compensated by the mood of the composition. Moreover word can act as a distraction and readers pay less attention to the image. In absence of words the mood and setting of scene tend to create its own sound. This auditory closure like visual closure depends on past experiences, nature of sound or image (simple or complex) and also on the time spent on each image. The sound perceived or imagined can be different for different readers and is more transient and less definite than the visual closure. When we imagine our own face we do not remember the vivid details but a sense of general placement (SS9). Hence it is not possible to draw our own face without looking at it. Similarly these sounds are there in a generalized form. While some images like laughter can generate this sound instantly the complex sound of storm can be a bit difficult to imagine. Same is true for complex images, if one reads the surreal wordless novels of Max Ernst there is hardly any visual closure. Neither proximity nor similarity brings in closure due to lack of identifiable figures. This generalized form of sound can be explained by the Fuzzy-trace theory. It is a dual process theory of memory- gist and verbatim. Gist traces are fuzzy representations of a past event (e.g., its bottom-line meaning), hence the name fuzzy-trace theory, whereas verbatim traces are detailed representations of a past event. So perceiving a sound in association to some image such as rain can well be a part of gist trace. That is we can recall the sensation of the sound but may not be able to produce it our self. As an example we can think of the sound made by a cat in real form but while expressing it we strip it off its tonal quality and call it meow.Along with the lack of word there is another important factor which achieves this auditory closure that is the framing of the image. Ward depicts a party scene (ss10) with the protagonist being surrounded by hands holding glasses, such an image produces sound of clinking of glasses due to closure. The second last image of the artist falling down the cliff produces a yell that keeps receding (ss11). The way the depth has been depicted with shading that same shade can stand for an echoing yell. There are several frames that create the sound of laughter (SS12). In one such scene the mistress is shown to be laughing at the artist. The sound of laughter and the trauma of the artist have been merged together by the pattern of shading. (SS13-the images uses similar method to depict trauma but in this case the shading is less extensive.)Other graphic elements(SS14) Art Spiegelman said about Wards novels that To make a wood engraving is to insist on the gravitas of an image. Every line is fought for, patiently, sometimes bloodily. It slows the viewer down. Knowing that the work is deeply inscribed gives an image weight and depth. The choice of surface is integral to storytelling. Ward was influenced by the Expressionist painters who were actively involved in woodcut printmaking. He went to Europe to learn Expressionist painting. They were using woodcut to maintain the continuity with their ancestors: the Gothic and Renaissance artists. This method of printing gave a primitive dimension to the painting while allowing them to express their post-industrial angst. The woodcut supplemented Wards painting with certain amount of rawness which set the tone and added to the emotional aspect of the novel.Words have become such an important symbol of conveying definite information that lack of word draw attention as we cannot imagine a narrative devoid of word. In this novel lack of word universalizes the novels characters. The character lacks name and has an eternal identity. The characters are identified by their occupation. All the characters except the protagonist are only symbols. Thus the protagonists character undergoes certain struggle and change in the course of narrative; all other characters are just symbolic representations. Thus these characters lack individual stories. (Ss15)This novel mostly contains scene to scene or subject to subject transition and no action to action transition (except for the final few frames involving the artist and the mysterious man, none of the other character of the novel has a action to action transition) which is the most common form of transition used by comic artists(SS16). The choice of such transition emphasizes on the fact that Ward is not keen on characterization. As it was mentioned earlier the characters are symbols representing a broader system. The protagonist is a selfless artist whose prime concern is art, money was never a concern. The pub owner whom he meets sets the tone of what he will face in the city, he laughs at him when he pays him with his painting. The minor characters such as the beggar in the outskirts signifies the poverty and also the sets the attitude of the artist towards money. The mistress is shown to have a dollar sign on her shoulder; she is a sign of corruption, opportunism and avarice. The corruption of governance has been shown by the association of police and the judge with the mistress and religious decadence by her association with the priest. Both these institutions are corrupted by lust and money. The novels important character is the city; the dark towering buildings signify the vulnerability of man in the lonely winding streets. The city that is self indulgent and obsessed with itself rejoices in its glory but is opposed to criticism.The novel was published in 1929 a week before the Wall Street crash and the Great depression. Ward had been to Europe and was anticipating similar consequences of capitalism in the USA. Like his latter novels this novel is a critique of capitalist society. Some of the brief images having poster-like qualities showing corruption of the policeman, the judge and the priest have their roots in agitation propaganda.(ss17)Ward being an Expressionist is keen on subjective emotions. Thus the psychological aspects are not always expressed by facial expressions but also by frame, shades and shadows. We have already seen how he employs shading in his story telling techniques. (SS18)In one particular frame the artist is pushed to the corner by the art dealer, who occupies a major portion of the frame. The dealers position looks dominating to the subordinated and neglected artist. (ss19) In another frame his success is being celebrated where he occupies the centre of the frame with an expression of isolation and is surrounded by a number of hands raising a toast. (ss20)In a third frame, just after the protagonist escapes and takes the leap of faith the mob is shown on the cliff having a unified body and two front limbs depicting an animal like behaviour. Other than this the shade of black and white has been used cleverly- while the city is depicted by the intensive use of black the idyllic setting has been depicted in white. While summing up I will talk about the features that initiated the auditory closure and gave this narrative a new interpretation. The first reading of the novel gives a point of view that the young artist in the novel is Ward himself but he has negated the idea. The story came from his youthful brooding on brief tragic life of artist such as Van Gogh, Keats and Shelly. He summed up the story in a single line saying, The creative talent is result of a bargain in which the chance to create is exchanged for the blind promise of early grave. Though death was never depicted. The second last image shows the author fall off the cliff and the last panel shows the mysterious mask man revealing his skull like face. The receding scream of the second last image continues in the last image reminding one of the famous painting of Edvard Munch- The Scream. Thus it opens up an interpretation that the whole narrative is a metaphor of a psychological journey and these two frames together symbolize the existential crisis of the artist that was brought about by the bared face of reality.