Symbolism In Pride Of Baghdad

Pride of Baghdad – Freedom at any cost?

Pride of Baghdad is a short graphic novel written by Brian K. Vaughn. In the spring of 2003, a pride of lions escaped from the Baghdad zoo during an American bombing raid. The Pride of Baghdad story revolves around four lions in a struggle for their lives that are lost and confused roaming the destroyed streets of Baghdad. Vaughn’s Pride of Baghdad uses unique symbolism by representing the Iraqi society during the war in each animal’s character. He uses animals to bring the reader closer to the topic of war. When reading I felt an emotional attachment to the lions along their journey. I feel the conversations between animals could easily be interchanged with real people. I believe one of the most important pages is the conversation between Noor and one of the

antelopes at the zoo. This page shows the quest of freedom by Vaughn’s female lion character, Noor, presenting her as the libertarian of the group. She characterizes the Iraqi citizens who seek to maximize independence and freedom of choice and political freedom without any interference from the government.
In 1979, immediately upon coming to power, Saddam Hussein silenced all political opposition in Iraq and converted his one-party state into a cult of personality. Over the more than 20 years since then, his regime systematically executed, tortured, imprisoned, raped, terrorized and repressed Iraqi people. Iraq is a nation rich in culture with a long history of intellectual and scientific achievement. Yet, Saddam Hussein has silenced its scholars and doctors, as well as its women and children (Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor). Saddam Hussein served as the socialist president of the Iraqi Republic from 1979 until April 2003. President Hussein was well known for his severe violation of human rights. The Iraqi people are not allowed to vote to remove the government and cannot assemble except in support of the government. Freedom of expression, association and movement do not exist in Iraq and citizens cannot freely leave Iraq. The media is tightly controlled by Saddam Hussein’s son, who owns the daily Iraqi newspaper. According to The New York Times, “Saddam murdered as many as a million of his own people, many with poison gas. He tortured, maimed and imprisoned countless more” (Foreign Commweath Office). Citizens of the United States are lucky to have their freedoms protected by the Constitution. The first ten amendments are known as the Bill of Rights. These first ten amendments specifically protect our rights of religion, speech, press, assembly, petition, bear arms, no-quartering, equal justice, private property and many other freedoms. The people of Iraq could only dream of what it would be like to have such freedoms just like Noor dreamed to live freely outside the walls of the zoo.
In 2003, the United States invaded Iraq with the expectation of ending Hussein’s regime of terror and to provide the Iraqi people with freedom. The invasion of Iraq, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, started the 19th of March and ended the 1st of May 2003. This was a combined force of troops from the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Poland. These countries invaded Iraq to find Hussein and any weapons of mass destruction. According to the United States President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the aim of this mission was “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Hussein’s support for terrorism, and the free the Iraqi people” (Encyclopedia Britannica Online). Hussein went into hiding and was eventually found in December 2013.
The cages at the zoo represent the government’s control of the Iraqi people. The cages keep the lions confined behind the bars dreaming of freedom and the government confines the Iraqi citizens behind the walls of their homes unable to express any displeasure. When the invasion finally reaches the zoo, the pride of lions take shelter and the zoo is destroyed. The walls are destroyed and the lions are not sure of where to go or what to do and are faced which heavy attacks coming from overhead. Vaughn vividly illustrates the devastation as the animals run about the demolished zoo. He graphically displays a giraffe, being killed by the incoming artillery. This demonstrates how the Iraqi people who could not flee before the war started must have felt. Their city was being destroyed and while they were trying to flee, they had to witness many of their families and friends lose their lives. The Iraqi citizens had a safe life before the war too, but when they fled from the country, they had to find food themselves and faced dangers which they hadn’t experienced before.
The behaviors observed in Pride of Baghdad shifts between being lion and human. Each of the four lions symbolizes an Iraqi citizen during the invasion and Saddam’s regime. Zill, is the male lion leader and protector. He represents an Iraqi citizen who comprehends both the positives and negatives of freedom. In the text, he talks about how much he misses the horizon, indicating how he wants freedom. His choice is captivity by stating in the text how even though a view is nice, it is also nicer to eat more than once a week (Vaughn and Henrichon 17). This shows that Zill understands that captivity is safer and his loyalty is to the pride and keeping them safe. This represents how an Iraqi father would protect his family during Saddam’s regime; it was safer to go along with the government’s policies, instead of being denounced as an opponent and killed.
Safa, the oldest female lion, symbolizes an Iraqi with many vivid and horrific memories of freedom, therefore making her believe captivity is the better choice. In the text, Safa vividly remembers being raped. This is her only memory of freedom and this makes her scared of the thought of freedom (Vaughn and Henrichon 15).
Ali, is Zill and Noor’s child, represents the youth of the Iraqis during the time of the invasion. Ali has never been free and was born in captivity, so he doesn’t know what to expect when the lions escape. He is very ignorant and annoys the others with his questions. This was demonstrated in the text by his constant questioning and lack of knowledge as to what was going on, just like a child at the time of the invasion (Vaughn and Henrichon 6).
Noor, is the young lioness and current mate of Zill, represents an Iraqi that strongly believes in and wanted liberation. Noor is constantly busy with her freedom. As a child she had been taken out of the wild, and despite the fact that she doesn’t remember a lot of it, she claims that things were a lot better back then. She is constantly making pacts with other animals living in the zoo. This is shown by my chosen page from the text. Noor was trying to orchestrate a plan to break out of the zoo, so they could be free. She tried to get the help from antelopes to break out of the zoo. She even promises the antelope to not use them as a prey as soon as they are freed from the zoo. Due to a lack of trust and fear, the antelope said no, just like many other Iraqis. This conversation between Noor and the antelope represents many discussions between the Iraqi people. In the text, Noor says, “Liberation is within our reach. We can’t wait around for some miracle to change the world for us. We have to take control of our own destinies” (Vaughn and Henrichon 7).

The antelope represents all of the other Iraqi citizens during the invasion that were too scared to go up against Saddam Hussein.

The antelope states at the beginning of its conversation with Noor, that “she shouldn’t be there” (Vaughn and Henrichon 7). Due to a lack of trust and fear, she said no, just like many Iraqis did. This represents the fear of how Iraqis felt during Hussein’s rule. Everyone knew they should not be meeting to discuss any type of revolt because if the government found out they would be killed.

Vaughn also used several other animals as symbols throughout the book. He used an old turtle to represent a wise old man. This turtle spoke of the memories of the walkers and black falling from the sky which poisoned the ground. He also represented someone who had been deeply affected by the war because his family and friends had died. Fajer, the black bear, represented Saddam Hussein. He was a greater power who demanded the lions bow down to him or both would be killed. It took all the lions, plus the horses to defeat him. This would represent how it would take the Iraqi people along with the United States military to defeat

Hussein.
The lions finally make their way to a Baghdad rooftop where they see the horizon. This symbolized the end of the journey. The book implies that the group finally found the true meaning of freedom with the sight of this horizon. Just when they seem to have found peace they are viciously killed by the American forces representing that freedom is treacherous and comes at a price. They had given their lives for their freedom, so the freedom had fatal penalties for them. Sometimes, freedom isn’t always the best option, which is clearly shown in Pride of Baghdad.