Delusions in the Aftermath of the Deluge

September 1^st of 2005 was a horrible day for most people in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Josh Neufeld decided to write his comic: ”A.D. – New Orleans: After the Deluge,” which captures the suffering and loss of refugees after Katrina. Neufeld not only shows the problems the refugees of Hurricane Katrina faced, but he also shows how the government’s and the outside public’s response to the situation were utterly unacceptable.

Neufeld starts his comic on Thursday, September 1, around 10:30am at a New Orleans Convention Center and shows how the day progresses from here with a female character who he follows throughout the entire comic. The woman (who remains unnamed throughout the comic) starts in a place where she used to work (the convention center) which is filthy from top to bottom. She is stuck in this place with what looks like hundreds of refugees after the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina. The day seems to be really hot because all of the characters are perspiring profusely. What Neufeld shows throughout the comic is how they are all stranded without any survival supplies like food, water or medicines while waiting and hoping to be rescued. Tempers flare as more refugees are brought in and government relief is nowhere to be seen. An elderly woman dies just as their survival is already looking bleak and panic has set in leaving our female character with her final and powerful words, “They are trying to kill us all.”(237)

The comic starts with how grotesque the convention center was by a panel showing us our female character (let’s just call her F.C.) entering a ladies restroom with urine, feces and toilet paper all over the floor and sludge and grime everywhere, not to mention an odd looking woman in the middle of the restroom (not in a stall) squatting with her pants down “taking care of business”. This is a very fast “attention getter” in this comic and definitely points out the disgusting conditions in which the refugees were left to survive in. Neufeld illustrates the comic in a pale yellow hue for most of the characters and their surroundings. Neufeld contrasts this with a reddish-brown hue to shadow or outline the characters and surroundings. Neufeld uses these colors throughout his comic strip to cast pallor over these scenes that would not have the same emotional impact in plain black and white. It is a stagnating, sickish feeling that Neufeld wants to convey to his audience that sets the tone for a feeling of disgust and despair for the conditions in the convention center. After using the facilities, F.C. exits the convention center claiming; “Now how the hell am I going to get this shit off my shoes?” and comes to what looks like a crowd of hundreds (216 – 218).

At this point two police officers drive by and on their microphone announce, “Attention, people…The buses are on their way. Get yourselves lined up!” (219). Here Neufeld draws one of the policemen with an almost sinister smile while simultaneously giving a “thumbs up” to the crowd (219). While waiting for the buses, a water truck drives by as people are running behind it shouting, “WATER! We jus’ need water!” and “HELP!” This panel makes it look as though the water truck is not going to stop because the back door of the truck is open and inside readers can see cases of water and a man who is doing nothing but staring back at the refugees (220). Then, a couple of panels later F.C. states, “They bring us here, with no power, no sanitation, no food, no medicine – and they can’t give us water? It’s like some kind of sick joke!” (221). This part of Neufeld’s comic stresses the desperation of the refugees due to the lack of relief from government agencies. He revisits this later in the comic with the Police in an All-Terrain Vehicle, holding out their rifles, as they drive past the refugees who are sweating and pleading for water. Neufeld draws the sun beating down in this panel to emphasize the heat of the day. Here again the yellow and reddish-brown hues convey the disgust and despair of this situation (226).

Neufeld suggests bad communication among government officials when the buses that arrived were not there to pick them up but instead, dropped off more refugees adding to the overly crowded conditions.  He illustrates this by a heavyset character who stepped off the bus wearing a jersey, with a big number “5” on it, and is holding a very tiny girl who asks, “Please – any y’all got some water? My baby’s dehydrated. We was on a roof for 36 hours!” He approaches a man with water and starts to fight him for it until a couple of tough looking characters break it up. Then we see the heavyset guy on his knees, holding out the limp little girl and he has tears running down his face as he pleads, “But…you gotta help me…What am I s’posed to do with her?” (221 – 225). Neufeld created this panel as a universal appeal to his audience for compassion and understanding towards these citizens who were victims, not only of Hurricane Katrina, but of a government incapable of responding adequately. Neufeld definitely hit my heart with this by placing just the father and the limp little girl in a two page panel with nothing else around them. All readers see is a father and child and their suffering. It is sad and disturbing to see a father, whose little girl might die before him as he is helpless to help her.

September 1, 2005 at 4:03pm, the “thugs” come back with supplies that they looted from a nearby store and start handing them out to all the refugees. Neufeld surprises his readers a few times in this comic with tough looking men (who F.C. refers to as “thugs”) more concerned with the well-being of these citizens than our own government officials. They keep the peace, make people feel safe, and bring much needed supplies. They even tend to the elderly as Neufeld shows in the first panel of page 229. Neufeld keeps this notion as a background but brings it more alive at this point by having F.C. say, “And look how organized they are, making sure the sick ones and the old folks get what they need first…” (229). Neufeld demonstrates this to argue once again, how our government is more disorganized than the crime element of our society.

Neufeld also touches on how the outside public viewed these events after Hurricane Katrina. Neufeld draws several panels showing a couple who are driving in Muskogee, Oklahoma at 5:31pm on September 1, 2005. Unable to receive any phone service the couple decides to turn on the news only to hear, “All those folks in the Superdome and whatnot – why didn’t they just leave the city before the storm? What is wrong with those people?” Neufeld counter argues blaming refugees and points out the flaw of this kind of reasoning. It is easy for persons not directly affected to look at a situation and make accusatory judgments and unjust assumptions. Do we really know that everyone in New Orleans had viable options to evacuate in an efficient manner? This is why the couple refutes this by stating, “…when you take for granted you can hop on a computer and make a reservation at a Hilton five hundred miles away – it’s pretty easy to forget what it’s like to be a have-not” (232). In this comment, Neufeld infers the detachment with which many of our citizens view events outside of our immediate locale. He places this in the comic to remind us that people with low to zero resources don’t have the same advantages as those who do, and we really need to think carefully before making  a presumption about a situation we have absolutely no idea about.

From here nothing but panic ensued. Then the old lady that one of the “thugs” helped, dies. There was nothing they could do but leave her in her wheel chair and cover her with a blanket as she laid, dead, in the entrance of the convention center. One of the characters little girls asks, “Mama, she sleeping?” The mother replies while sniffling, “Yes, baby…” but the little girl knows better and starts to cry. The refugees own perception of their circumstances transition from one of wondering when, not if, help will arrive; “Oh shit here we go again…What’s this, like the fourth time they told us buses were coming?” (219). Later in the comic there is bewilderment on the part of the refugees as F.C. wonders (230), “How can this be happening? Don’t the authorities know about us? Don’t they care?” (230). Then in the final panel, the feeling of complete despair and disbelief as F.C. exclaims, “They are trying to kill us all” (237). What Neufeld is displaying in the last panel of his comic is that all of this is the consequence of a horribly unorganized government that had absolutely no concern for the citizens whom they are responsible for.

Neufeld has demonstrated through his comic how the supposed “thugs” were better and more organized at taking care of our society, how our government made feeble attempts in aiding those in need, and the consequences of the unethical choices of our government officials. It is devastating that no one was able to come to the aid of the refugees in New Orleans after Katrina.  Our government failed in multiple areas and we need to hold all government officials involved accountable. If we don’t let them know there are consequences for their actions (or inactions in this case), then they possibly might just “kill us all” (237).

Works Cited

Neufeld, Josh. “A.D. New Orleans After the Deluge.”  First Year Composition Reader. Boston: Pearson, 2011. Print. 215-237.