The Rabbi's Cat, by Joann Sfar

In the graphic novel The Rabbi’s Cat, by Joann Sfar, many characters are described and shown through narrative text, spoken text, and the art of each panel. Throughout this novel, we see how the characters change, whether it is a good or bad change. Some start to question their beliefs and life decisions while others strengthen their beliefs. Kitty is one character that we see the most change in. we are introduced to Kitty from the very beginning and are told the story through his perspective. Kitty starts off with a simple life of leisure and freedom with love and attention from the rabbi and his daughter. The only problem is the noisy parrot that talks constantly while Kitty cannot talk. To solve this problem, Kitty eats the parrot and gains the ability to talk. Kitty begins to show his distaste for religion but wants to be bar-mitzvahed to show that he is a good kitty and so he will be allowed to spend time with the rabbi’s daughter.

Problem with Kitty’s ability to speak is that he lies. “Yes, but there’s a great misfortune too. He tells on lies” (pg. 8, panel 2). This shows that they are happy with Kitty’s ability to talk but are worried that all he will do now is lie. This is also shown when Kitty talks with the rabbi’s rabbi. Kitty tells him that he is God and that he was there to test him. During this set of panels, Kitty is shown in great detail. Throughout the graphic novel, Sfar draws Kitty in varying degrees of detail. Times where Kitty is talking about important topics, such as religion, or is being serious, he is drawn in greater detail. Times where he is trying to be cute and cuddly and nice, he is drawn with just an outline and with soft features to make him look more like a cartoon. This is done to help show the personality and emotions of Kitty in that panel or series of panels. This allows for a more in-depth reading of the novel by reading the pictures along with the text. This also allows for more types of people to read the story and have an understanding of it. The original text was written in French, which is the colonial language in Algeria, but the pictures are drawn in Algerian. One is able to change the language that something is written in but cannot change the style that the pictures are drawn in.

Kitty eventually loses his ability to talk but loses it for a reason that was unexpected to me. While the rabbi was taking his dictation, Kitty was trying to invoke a miracle from God by saying his name over and over again. The miracle works because the rabbi passes and is allowed to stay as the rabbi but Kitty loses his ability to speak. This is the beginning of the change we see in Kitty. He was willing to invoke the name of God even though he knows it is forbidden to help his master. This is something that is prevalent in my life. I personally do not like to break rules that I know are important but I am willing to break them all to help someone I love, just like Kitty. While I was not in school, I would help my fiancé write her papers for her classes so that she was able to focus more on her major classes and receive better grades in them. I know it was wrong but I would rather help her with that than have her stressed out and not do well in more important classes. The message that I got from this set of panels was that Sfar was saying that people are willing to give up things that they have to help out the people that they love.