Book Analysis: Pride Of Baghdad

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Four hungry lions escape captivity. What do you do? Most people would panic, lock their doors and pray they can’t smell the leftover Thanksgiving turkey in the fridge. Now imagine your neighborhood was just attacked by aerial bombers. Believe it or not, both of these scenarios are true, and happened simultaneously in Iraq. April 2003, the United States started the invasion of Iraq. During the bombing raids, four starving lions escaped from the Baghdad zoo. Later, they were shot and killed by American soldiers. Brain K. Vaughn and Niko Henrichon cleverly used this event to venture into their thoughts and reactions of the war in the graphic novel, Pride of Baghdad. However the book is not about lions, the zoo or even the war itself, the story covers themes of freedom and survival. Every page in Pride of Baghdad demonstrates important …show more content…
They address what many people struggle with when it comes to the concept of combat, why kill each other? During the War on Iraq, thousands of people in places like New York, Vancouver, London and Barcelona protested the war (Tharoor, Ishaan). Many of these protestors idolized peace and believed killing one another would solve nothing. The wise, old turtle is used to represent the idea of peace. He does so by irritably saying, “Keepers, two-leggers, Man.. Don’t matter what you call ‘em, they’re all the same”. The authors use logos to further drive home this concept. The Iraq war was fought between several countries, including the United States and Islamic State of Iraq, whom are all of the same kind, man. All participants in the war are “keepers” and “two-leggers”. Questions are raised about idea of war itself. Man vs. Man and the killing of one another is what warfare boils down to. By mentioning this concept in the graphic novel, the authors are speaking out on a common opinion revolving the Iraq war. ***why is this important****talk about pictures

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