Cain And Abel In Crumb's Book Of Genesis

In Crumb’s illustration of the book of Genesis, he illustrates the story of Cain and Abel with a two paged frame story. Crumb used his shading, lines, and personal characteristics to specifically single out the main characters in this Bible story and to portray their dominant traits: Cain and his jealousy and guilt, and God and His reverence. He uses the shading to portray his character’s moods and uses the proximity of the frames to convey the quickness and rash actions of Cain and the shame in his final judgment. Instead of taking the typical comical, plain, dumbed down versions of Bible stories, his comic emulates reverence and skill through his accurate and serious portrayal of the story of Cain and Abel.
Crumb begins this part …show more content…
In the first frames, the sweat is long and in groups. This shows Cain’s exhaustion and tiredness from the many hours of work. In the next use of the drops, Crumb uses them as blood. Just as Cain colored with envy and anger, so were the drops of blood. The blood is plentiful and darkened in color, just as Cain’s anger was abundant and his heart darkened. Then, the drop is used as a nervous sweat mark. If the reader was skimming the illustrations, he probably wouldn’t notice it’s small design hidden within Cain’s beard. This helps convey how Cain was trying to hide the guilty deed he did from God. Finally, the drop portrays Cain’s regretful tears.
They are elongated and thick, just like the sadness and regret in his heart. He feels a deep sorrow, and the length of the tears portray the weight of his heart sinking as he realizes the drastic measure he has just committed before his God.
As for Crumb’s portrayal of God, God is depicted very reverently. Both His clothes and hair are different from the other characters in the comic strip: God’s clothing is wavy,