
From the cradle to the grave, many people find themselves combatting the tug of society attempting to place them into a cell. There is incentive for people to stay in line and do what they are told while there is punishment for breaking away from the pack. In the short comic I have chosen the artist depicts many instances of “cells” that humans become trapped in as they progress through youth and adult life. The visual “blandness” and repetition of style serve to make a statement about the dangers of traveling through life practicing conformity and lacking “awareness” and as David Foster Wallace calls it. It seems all too easy to become entrapped in a cell starting from a young age while the effort required to free oneself is often trumped by the lull of complacency. The visual and thematic choices the artist makes helps the comic convey a greater truth about living life trapped within one of the many forms a cell can take.

Analyzing the first panel of the comic, the viewer can see a nurse figure placing a new born baby into a crib alongside many other identical cribs. This scene serves to depict that society wishes to place you in a “box” as soon as you are born. The artist utilizes no colors throughout the entire comic to make the scenes more relatable to any potential reader much like similar visual choices in cartoons like The Simpsons. Like the rest of the panels, the first does not have any significant background which helps draw viewers’ attention to the centerpiece of the comic, which is the character progressing through his life while remaining caged.  This comic only features one faceless character throughout which furthers the artist’s idea that you are solely responsible for breaking free of the cell you have been placed in. The artist creates the comic void of color and personality similar to how one can lose their own color and personality if they choose to remain trapped in one of the cells depicted. The shot and angle, which remain centered on the character are retained throughout the entire comic to further the idea that once you become placed in a “cell” early in your life it is likely that you will remain trapped there for the rest of your life. 

The artist details an instance of the most commonly referenced cell for young adults in the second panel of the comic. The ever-mocked entrapment of a cubicle job and workspace often appears in artwork to criticize the monotony of the adult workday. Trudging to work on a daily basis just to produce equity for someone else while willingly confining oneself to the measly walls of a cubicle epitomizes the pathetic American rat-race for financial standing and stability. Giving up one’s freedom of expression and individuality in the name of working a dead end job while simultaneously becoming a faceless slave cannot be justified by financial stability. The artist retains the consistent visual motif of facelessness and lack of color to show that working a cubicle job as highlighted in the second panel, will leave you trapped indefinitely as your individuality and character fade away. The artist asserts that working a cubicle job will cause you to become a machine in the line of production for corporate America. Slaving away in a cubicle for the majority of your life also highlights the American trend of not being awake and aware similarly to how David Foster Wallace criticizes the same flaw in the majority of people. Not only does working for others in a cubicle lead literally to a form of “enslavement,” in the physical sense, but also a sort of mental enslavement in where you lose your originality and uniqueness as a large corporation attempts to crush your vast life into a tiny cubicle. No one should expect to avoid a meaningless workplace job for the entirety of their life however, one can still hold such a job and be aware of the dangers of doing so without giving into mental and physical enslavement.

The final panel in this comic is rather morbid, depicting the character being placed into an oven for cremation. The final step in a journey that has been spent trapped in conformity of is to of course be cremated among so many others who have met the same fate with only material possessions left behind. The artist of this comic maintains the visual motif of facelessness and lack of color to show the viewer that anyone can meet the same fate as the main character if they progress through life stifling their uniqueness and inner voice. Although the final scene is morbid, it exists to claim a greater truth about how time after time humans get lost in the “rat race” of everyday life only to end up dead before they have truly lived. While this is a dark concept the artist of this comic expertly depicts the normalcy of the caged human experience in an unorthodox approach of ambiguity and repetition rather than increasing the complexity in an attempt to make the work more relatable.

Humans must constantly fight the tendency to ease into a dull repetition throughout their life, living every day the same and never being truly awake to strive for greatness.  Learning to embrace individuality and what sets you apart from others instead of sweeping it under the rug as you are urged to dull your edges will allow you to progress through life conscious and awake. The artist of the comic I chose makes visual and thematic choices to show just how normal it is for humans to be placed in a cage at birth and remain there until death. The comic also highlights that being trapped within the walls of a cell can take many forms other than being in a literal prison. The lack of color and detail in this work makes the message relatable to all potential viewers instead of a specific audience. The artist’s overall message is that breaking free from your cell must begin at an early age to prevent yourself from remaining there until you waste away like so many others have. Philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein sums up the artist’s argument in his quote, “A man will be imprisoned in a room with a door that's unlocked and opens inwards; as long as it does not occur to him to pull rather than push.”
