A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return

Zeina  Abirached, experienced war first hand in 1984, in East

Beirut. As a child that is born into war, she experiences quite a lot
of trauma. And with her experiences, she creates “A Game for
Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return”. Her work consists of her
and a small group that consists of apartment members’ experiences
in their considerably safe foyer  in the midst of war in Beirut.
Throughout her work, the effects of trauma can be seen visibly not
only in Abirached but everyone around her , along with their coping
mechanisms.
A Game for Swallows, as an autobiographical memoir of Middle
Eastern childhood in black-and-white fashion, simple illustrations,
naturally calls Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis to mind. Still, the comics’
different locations and disturbances aside, unlike Satrapi,
Abirached is not concerned with the clashing ideologies in her
homeland but instead completely focuses on the ongoing war’s
effects on ordinary people’s lives, and uses a much more refined
style of illustration. The stylistic art of comics which is very sharp,
neat, geometrical and controlled almost like a pattern, enhances the
narrative’s purpose to own the traumatic experience by remembering
and recycling the events. The feeling of control of the environment,
of the body, and of the events that occurred was lacking during the
war and that is considered the main cause for trauma: the lack of
control. Recollecting the memory and recycling them into a more
controlled form (let it be an art form or a mere renaming) thus
steering the wheel back again is what is needed to overcome those
traumatic effects. We can detect that cathartic purpose in many
artworks about post-war trauma including “A Game for Swallows”,
“Persepolis”, “Waltz with Bashir”… Just like Marjane Satrapi in
Persepolis, Zeina Abirached is also using her stylistic, almost graphic
like art technique to cope with the chaotic and out-of-control
effects brought by the war by drawing everything in a very neat
fashion. 
 The most apparent aspect of the comics’ art is of course the
fact that it is in black and white. Comics as a medium definitely is
not a stranger to monochromatic colors, but in A Game For Swallows
black and white are used to elevate the narrative. On the most basic
level, black backgrounds can simply be interpreted as the physical
darkness that comes with the lack of electricity and arguably
blackout during the war. Total black or white also highlight certain
elements at times; like the route drawn on the map on page 15, the
car on page 67, the radio on page 82, and most of all the characters.
An interesting use of black background is on page 85; a block of
black with its obscurity stands right on the characters’ shoulders,
and the news that it is a background becomes a burden they all
carry.
While the feelings rose from an experience of trying to live in
a warzone seems like creating a contradiction to the orderly and still
style of Abirached, she manages to find a way to give the reader a
grasp of the amount of stress her characters are dealing with. The
usage of cigarette smoke getting bigger and bigger while waiting for
their children to pick up the phone could be a great example of what
she does to illustrate the stress; nothing seems to be happening but
with every passing minute the worry, the stress, and the agitation
thicken as the cigarette smoke does. Her panel-to-panel transitions
even though they are moment to moment, manifest a huge bundle of
emotions behind with gestures, mimics, eye movements, etc. which
are powerful and penetrative.
The idea of the ‘unlucky generations’ that are born into conflict
is spread throughout the story. Starting on page 19 with the camp
stove, this object is seen dividing the pages into panels. As it is
observed the object divides the panels in such a way that grandma is
left on one side and the young couple on the other. Considering she is
talking about her experiences before the war occurred it can be
concluded that the camp stove separates the generation that is born
into an environment without the war and the other that is born into
a world of conflicts. What separates them and connects them at the
same time is the camp stove. It represents grandma’s free
adventures and their life living in the dark, close to this object,
depending on it for light as war took away their electricity and
freedom. Another example of this generation separation is seen on
page 40 as different parts of the tapestry is paired with different
generations of family. Starting with the oldest generation which was
free from conflict and strife of war, the tapestry depicts people
existing in nature, engaging with it. Nature and birds could be taken
as the symbolism of their freedom, with clouds and in the sky and
trees surrounding them. Moving onto the next generation, the piece
depicts a conflict between two sides, dividing them by bold lines, and
enhancing the tone by their frowning expression. This part reflects
Zeina’s parents’ generation that is not particularly born into war but
is in the middle of a conflict. And the third piece depicting Zeina’s
generation that is born into the war, under the fire breathing
dragon, symbolizing war. And the expressions of figures are no
longer angry but rather sorrowful. Lastly, to emphasize this link, the
author creates three family members as looking at each other
through separate panels. Showing the reader all three people and
generations are interlinked with each other. And again this analogy is
emphasized even further on page 30, showing plants, barrels, and
bullet and shrapnel pieces on it. Plants here representing freedom
once again. And the barrels, representing conflict era generation
could be interpreted as oil barrels as “Lebanon is an oil transit
country facing regional and international crises” and this fact
possibly contributed heavily to Lebanese civil war by means of
creating conflict. As Dan Naor mentions the conflict “in which Syria
blocked the oil flow in the Saudi-Lebanon line in 1970. Lebanon found
itself between East and West and had to maneuver between
different aspirations, those of progressive Syria and those of
conservative Saudi Arabia and the American oil company.” And last
symbols of bullets and shrapnels showing the war-born generation.
An important point to consider is that since Zeina Abirached
was born in the middle of the Lebanese Civil War as a child, she
knew neither Beirut before the war nor what a life without an
ongoing war would be like. In fact, she explains: “The city had been
cut in two and in the eastern part the streets were divided by walls
of sandbags; as a naive child I thought that all roads stopped there.
When the rest of the city was opened up, I felt I was going into a
foreign country.” Thus, when she calls the area that is left to
ordinary citizens a “half-city”, it is more of a retrospective
commentary. The fragments of maps on pages 26 and 27 are
borderless, but the captions describe the city’s borders for her. 
In addition to the city’s maps, there is also a plan of the house.
As the house “gets smaller”, with each panel, the rooms out of use
are blacked out and they become a part of the uncertain darkness
that surrounds the characters until the family’s whole life is
crammed in the small entrance room. The most important object in
this room is the tapestry depicting the Jews’ escape from Egypt.
The 39th page explicitly states the tapestry as a symbol of family
togetherness and the sense of security it brings. On the following
pages, when the neighbors are gathered in the room, it is present in
the background almost all the time and signifies the safety those
people seek and try to create by staying together. As the comics
progresses, the story depicted by the tapestry gains more
importance. The moment that the shrapnel drops is visually
represented by the dragon of the tapestry ascending over the
buildings instead of a sound effect; two stories overlap as this event
is what triggers the escape of the artist’s family from Beirut and
ultimately Lebanon. Despite living in a warzone where constant loud
bombings occur, Zeina does not add voice effects or depictions of
bomb noises to her work. This is perhaps due to the fact of her
being born into this environment. The bombs and constant sounds of
the war are for her nothing but white noise, so far that she and her
brother do not pay attention to any bombings till adults make it into
a game on page 114. The only sound effect that is significant is the
one on page 134, the ‘tap tap tap’ noise as it symbolizes both the
sound of people running away from snipers and dancing. And this
running away is actually likened to a ‘choreography’ by Zeina in the
first few pages. 
 How Abirached can use objects to influence her audience’s
perception of the story is astonishing. Her success is in part a result
of her utilization of details in her illustrations, which is not
surprising considering her educational background. Most things (like
the faces, the cityscapes, the cars) lack detail which fits the
protagonist’s age. Iconic drawings indicate that the story is about a
child’s point of view. However, from time to time, drawings are
tremendously detailed without straying too far from the iconic art
style and with curvy lines that give off an oriental impression.
Although amnesia is one of the widely known defence mechanisms,
traumatic events do not affect everyone in the same way and
remembering even the smallest pieces of the important occasions in
one’s life is a part of human nature. Thus, by detailing the tapestry,
window grates, the living room on the 33rd page, et cetera, the
artist reveals how inevitably impactful such a chaotic childhood is in
someone's psyche. 
The reflection of trauma can be seen through plenty of
characters but most importantly by Chucri and Ernest as their
habits resemble one another but reactions differ completely by
means of trauma. Both characters subject themselves through
ritualistic behaviors. Chucri’s trauma is his father’s death as he was
brutally murdered and robbed by someone on the green line, as seen
on pages 85 and 86. Chucri deals with his loss by spending “more
time in his (fathers) car than at home” (68), trying to hold on to the
last item that is related to his father. And his reaction to this
traumatic event is that one of heroism. He assumes the role of
caretaker of the apartment. In order to forget he could not do
anything to prevent his father’s death, he tries to protect everyone
he can even if it risks his life, as seen from him going out to find
Zeina’s parents. Ernest on the other hand puts himself onto the
ritual of watering flowers every wednesday, the day his brother
died. And his punctual schedule to the point of second, as kids count
his arrival by seconds on page 73. He tries to find control in
miniscule parts of his life but unlike Chucri, Ernerst acts more
depressed and daunted towards life. He does not try to be the hero
of his community but rather teach them to be safe and careful. As
seen on page 82 where he asks “Who long for death” and being
pleased with kids not raising their hands, wishing heroism in their
life.
All in all this works presents the reader traumas of Zeina 
Abirached, and through her trauma’s as written as experiences the
reader explores the world in the perspective of a kid who is born
into the war. If looked upon closely one can understand her work is
very much relatable to all kinds of readers, showing, not only Zeina
but everyone in this world is born into the war filled world and
everyone experiences traumas caused by all kinds of wars, whether
physical or psychological. And in the end Zeina escapes just like
everyone in this world, to a safer environment and the cycle of
escape repeats itself. No matter it is Europe or even Mars one
cannot escape the war as it lies not inside a location but inside us
all. 

Irmak Akcan
Zeynep Sevgi Benli 
Sözüm Dila Metin