I must first confess that I've read this graphic novel before, this past semester in fact. Coming at this graphic novel a second time has allowed me to focus on the finer details. The first time I read through it I was more focused on the print dialogue, this second time I am allowing myself (knowing the storyline) to pay closer attention to the graphic text.
There were several things that stuck out to me when I was reading this first part, the first was on page 7. When describing her father's extracurricular love for remodeling "it was his passion. and I mean passion in every sense of the word" (7), the author chose to place a photo of her father carrying a stair railing in the fashion that the christ figure is popularly believed to have carried his own cross. It is almost like the author is making two statements here, one that her father's remodeling hobby was like a burden to him that seemed to her to be something he was unable to get rid of, and two, that her father's remodeling hobby was possibly something that led him to his death in the same way that the christ figure's cross was ultimately his death.
The next part that stuck out to me was the scene on page 22, particularly the print text at the top of the page "Although I'm good at enumerating my father's flaws, it's hard for me to sustain much anger at him. I expect this is partly because he's dead, and partly because the bar is lower for fathers than for mothers" (22). This passage struck me for two reasons, first because it is a very blunt indication that her father has passed, and two because it raises the question of whether or not the bar is actually higher for mothers than it is for fathers? My own jury is still out on this last question, although I would venture to guess that the expectation is not necessarily lower for fathers than it is for mothers.
The next part that stuck out to me from this first section was the note at the bottom of page 37. There is a picture of the container for the smelling salts that clearly reads "Warning: Keep this and all medicines out of the reach of children" (37). I thought this was funny because that scene details how Allison and her brothers would get a hold of this 'contraband' and play with it around the funeral home. To me this is a subtle indication of neglect on the part of her father, whether intentional or not.
The next part that stuck out to me was on page 38 where there is a note about the "permanent grease stain from (Alison's) dead grandfathers vitalis" (38). I just think this is interesting because it shows the detail that Alison put into this graphic novel that really add to the story.
the next part that stuck out to me was on page 41. I liked the way that Alison chose to depict the mailman from her Grandmother's story as a milkman because that is how she had always pictured it. Again this is a subtle detail that allows us to understand that this is Alison's story from Alison's perspective.
The final part that stuck out to me (that I am going to note in this lengthy blog) was on page 46. I have a decidedly biased perspective on this page in the graphic novel knowing for certain what I do about Alison. What struck me was when she notes "I bicycled back to my apartment, marveling at the dissonance between this apparently carefree activity and my newly tragic circumstances. As I told my girlfriend what had happened, I cried quite genuinely for about two minutes" (46). It is interesting for me to notice this section of the graphic novel that I hadn't particularly noted the first time reading this piece. I'm wondering if this is in fact Alison's first official coming out, when she notes that she has a 'girlfriend' or if she intended this to mean simply her 'girl who was a friend' and to allow the scene later in the book to be her coming out. It is an interesting question to consider and I have to say based on Alison's blunt, matter-of-fact style I have to think that this scene was meant to purposefully be her intended coming out.
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I had not seen the Christ references you pointed out, but I do like the way you interpreted it.
ReplyDeleteI questioned the "girlfriend" meaning as well! I am constantly questioning the blunt comments Alison makes in this book. Like the one about her father having sex with teenage boys. She says things so abruptly. This style relates to when she would tell people how her father died to see if they would react with the grief that she was missing.