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Riley Aafedt
ENGL 101: Critical Reading and Composition
Adam Padgett
13 October 2015
A Contract with God
Understanding the meaning behind a picture or series of pictures can
be difficult to accomplish. Many elements can be used when describing a
picture such as line, space, shape, etc.. Other principles include contrast,
alignment, repetition, and proximity. In Will Eisners A Contract with God, a
series of pictures are used to tell a story. These pictures contain meanings
behind them that can be directly linked to the story.
A Contract with God begins with a depressed man sitting next to a
window while it is raining. He appears to be crying as his hands are up to his
face. The text reads In 1881 Tsar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated
and a wave of antisemitic programs swept the country. (Eisner 108) This
picture is depicting a man who is going through this struggle and has to
watch this crisis happen around him. The rain is drawn as thin straight lines
coming down very heavily while pools of water are dripping off of the
windowsill. The bricks surrounding the window are shaded dark while the
ones farther away are lighter. This can indicate that the man is feeling
disheartened, sad, or even depressed. Also the bricks give a prison-like

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feeling to the picture and appear as forcing the man to stay inside due to the
tragedy outside.
The next page shows a man walking through a rundown town with logs
in his hand. The story says By the time he was ten, it became clear that this
boy was special. He was brilliant and seemed to acquire knowledge from the
air. In a poor shtetl like Piske, where survival was the main concern, how
else?(Eisner 108) The picture is indicating how the boy was raised in a
worthless community, but had such a bright mind. The houses are drawn
with black perpendicular lines that give them an old and worn-out look. The
powerlines are also drawn without definitive borders and slanted indicating
how people are just barely getting by in this town along with the intelligent
young boy who could be off studying in school somewhere else.
Another page shows a picture of the boy, now fully grown up, yelling
into the air with a book in one hand. The background behind him is filled with
repeated thin straight lines and the floor beneath him is a solid black. The
lines and the floor create a rough and dark texture which can describe how
the man is feeling because of the statement on the previous page Then one
day-in the springtime of her life-Rachele fell ill. Suddenly and fatally.(Eisner
116) The mans frustration and anger is expressed through the shadow
casted on the floor. The picture also contains a large amount of contrast as
well as the man being aligned in the center of the picture.

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The next image is of the man standing around a table with three other
men. The repetition of straight lines is present in this picture as well, but this
time there are other lines perpendicular to the original ones. The crossing
lines form a shadow that is reflecting the mans image as an indefinite figure.
His actual shape is slightly blurred as well and is completely black. The
caption next to his name states That contract was written when I was a
child-so, who knows, maybe it was poorly written!(Eisner 120) The shadow
behind the man could represent his past and being a child while is black
figure could be his present-self looking to make a contract with god.
The following picture shows the man bent over the table talking to the
other three men. One of the men says But Mr. Hersh, this is a private matter
between you and god!!(Eisner 120) The man replies with You are learned in
the word of god-and if you know his word you will know his will!(Eisner 120)
These words are in bold and clearly defined to enhance what the man is
saying. The background behind the man is now a thick black with thin lines
appearing at the top of the picture. The mans face and hands are clearly
defined as well as the other three faces in the room. All their clothes appear
to have a rough texture which could represent how each of them is feeling in
this predicament. Also, the contrast between the mans clothes and the
background make him appear as having no legs.
One of the final images includes the man sitting at a table in what
appears to a living room. Vertical lines make up the far wall and paintings
take up the wall directly behind the man. They are aligned directly on either

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side of him and an end table is directly to the left. The images in the
paintings are blurry containing only vertical lines and vague outlines. A rug is
also directly below where the man is sitting. He is holding a piece of paper
while saying I will make a new life. I will give I will do charitable work
again (Eisner 126) The picture shows how the man is living a fairly elegant
lifestyle, but still believes he needs to be charitable and give back to others.
Describing an image and the different elements included in it is not an
easy task. A Contract with God by Will Eisner is a story written using pictures
to enforce the meaning behind statements. It contains a lot of use of
different element and principles of images including contrast, proximity,
repetition, line, shape, and color. All of these elements combined make a
good series of pictures to go along with the story.

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Works Cited

Eisner, Will. "A Contract with God." The Carolina Reader. Plymouth, MI:
Hayden-McNeil, 2015. 108-27. Print.