New Kid

 Laura Latham 

En 446D 01

April 17, 2023

New Kid

Most of the humor in “New Kid” by Jerry Craft comes from the images used for the cartoons. The humor that comes from the cartoons is dramaticized so that the reader’s attention is focused on how Jordan is feeling. The graphic about Andy being scraped into the trash specifically is effectively humorous in that it grasps the reader’s attention so as to create a deeper understanding of Jordan’s struggles being a twelve year old boy. 

On Jordan's first day of school, he is disheveled, and full of nerves not only from being black at a predominately white school, but because this is a new school where he is meeting everybody for the first time. At lunch, Jordan starts to feel more comfortable with a few of the boys, however he does not care for one of them, Andy. Andy is shown making racial remarks about one boy, then making fun of Jordan’s size. With words, it can be seen that Andy is an annoyance. However, the graphic at the bottom-right of page 43 depicts Jordan’s feelings about Andy better. Here, Andy is shown being scraped off of his lunch plate into the trash. He is small and helpless and through his facial expression is distressed. This graphic shows what Jordan wants to do with Andy. Before this scene, it was explained that Jordan is sitting at this table because he wasn’t accepted at any others, and therefore this graphic of Andy also shows that Jordan has a connection to Andy in that they are both not accepted. Andy’s pink tie and sideways hat is meant to show that Jordan does not think that they have anything in common. However, at the same time Jordan is showing that he wants to do to Andy what it feels like is being done to himself. 

Cartoons as a medium works in “New Kid” as it expresses the thoughts and emotions of Jordan that are hard to conceptualize in words. The reader is able to read that Jordan doesn’t like Andy, but through the cartoon, the reader is able to see that Jordan and Andy are alike even if they are different races and come from different backgrounds.


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