An Analysis of Stitches - Memoir by David Small - Essay Example

of Lecturer] An Analysis of Stitches: A Memoir by David Small Introduction ‘Stitches’ is a graphic memoir by renowned American illustrator and writer of mainly children stories David Small. Published in 2009, the graphic novel narrates the story of a sickly child who later suffers from cancer. The graphic novel also narrates Small’s struggles and tough and risky decisions such as running away from home. What is worse for the teenage is that he has nothing driving him except the dream to become a successful artist. Essentially, the graphic novel is about the marginalized or the voiceless in society. Told in a crafty manner, Stitches speaks for the physically and psychically voiceless in society through pictures. The effectiveness of the graphic novel is quite apparent, considering the reviews by reviewers such as the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Publishers Weekly, among other reviewers that rate the novel rather highly. Moreover, the novel is now available in different countries and has been translated into seven other languages. This paper analyzes the graphic novel ‘Stitches’ with a bias towards its working-class theme. Analysis of ‘Stitches’ ‘Stitches’ is a memoir in which the author uses illustrations to portray the self-awareness of a boy, who represents the physically and psychically voiceless in society. The story begins with a six-year old boy, proceeds to an adolescent and eventually into the character’s adulthood. However, the biggest section of the novel concentrates on the character’s adolescence. Small comes from a small, silent and unhappy family. The voiceless status of the character is first portrayed when doctors diagnose him as suffering from cancer. An operation is then conducted without him being made aware of his condition. He is made physically voiceless when the operation results in him losing his voice, further alienating him from the world and people around him. In the novel, the black and white colors of the drawings portray the dreams and imaginations, from which the novel is based, making the drawings rather perceptive. However, the layers of dreams and imaginations are reflected into the boy’s real-life experiences and challenges. In the image below, David Small wakes from an operation that was supposed to be harmless and realizes that a vocal cord has been removed, his throat slight and stitched back, transforming him into a virtual mute. The worst part of the story is that the boy had not even been informed of his cancer condition. Through this episode, and others in the story, the reader is exposed to the drama of the family in which a talented but anxious boy bears the brunt of his parents’ frustrations and rage. While all the time believing they were doing the best for their child, David Small’s parents actually did the reverse. The father, Edward Small is a physician in Detroit who vents his anger by hitting a punching bag. He believes he is able to treat David’s respiratory problems using excessive radiation. Instead, he causes the boy’s cancer. David’s mother, Elizabeth is portrayed as tyrannical, stingy and excessively scolding, was manages the Small family, which is characterized by silence and hidden emotions. In particular, Mrs. Small hides her emotions from others. The author also morphs images to bring out the messages or themes in the novel. An example of a morphed image is the post-surgery scar on the main character’s throat. This scar becomes the dark staircase that the character’s mother climbs, implying deep emotional reverberations. Although the author fends for himself in his disconnected family, he reveals some family secrets. Generally, the story in the graphic novel is narrated in a delicate and powerful manner. It accounts for the boy’s horrifying childhood, in a story, which looks more like a movie than a book. The white, black and shades of grey in the graphics are unique and have certain implications and connotations for the author and the reader. Generally, the novel brings out the authors unique color choices and creative process to narrate his childhood, adolescent and adulthood stories. The novel is thus a metaphor of Small’s real-life experiences and encounters. Although the storyline has myriad dark elements, their negative effects are reduced by the use of fantasy and humor. Nonetheless, the ‘Stitches’ is unlike most of Small’s work, which use quite many metaphors. To some extent, the metaphorical veils are reduced in the ‘Stitches.’ The novel is thus a little bit more direct on the experiences of the author. The novel is also laden with the requisite silence and all the necessity for reading and learning body language, which makes it ideal for telling real-life tales. The novel also has images, which have long-lasting impressions on readers. As mentioned earlier, the most noticeable of the images is that depicting the morphing of the stitches on Small’s neck into the stairs in his family’s house, with the author’s legs climbing. The other favorite image for many readers is found on page 185, depicting the Ford Fairlane zipping down Woodward Avenue under an abstract mess of architecture, urban signage, and utility wires (Small, p. 185). The novel also has many scenes of sequential parts. For instance, from page 98 to page 101, there is a sequence of activities starting with the sudden outbreak of physical nastiness by the author’s grandmother, the author trying to tell his mother of his grandmother’s physical madness and the mother attempting to ignore or suppress the nastiness, due to her history with her mother (Small, p. 98-101). The story in the Stitches is rather familiar to many. Evidently, in many working-class families, parents are rarely watchful of their children’s welfare and problems. In Small’s case, as is the case with many children from working-class families, his experiences are rather harrowing and could be attributed to his parents. For instance, by exposing Small to many x-rays, even for minor ailments, his father may have contributed to his getting cancer. Moreover, the parents then left the cancer to develop for long periods before seeking help. In addition, the familiarity of the novel stems from the often-silent child-eye view the author adopts. The author shows the power of memory and what these memories look like in the novel. Interestingly, the depicted moments are real and imaginary, funny and guileless, sweet, dark and fearful. Stitches is quite singular in the sense that it specifically gives the artist, Jules Feiffer the full mandate to describe the author and character, David Small. Also the main character in the novel, author David Small presents readers with an insightful and moving gift of graphic literature, which reads like a poem but resembles a movie. Although the graphic novel uses words sparingly, it is full of painful in pictures, characterized with a dry menace style with the author drawing readers to a boys rather bad experiences and sad life. The novel has a mixture of stark realism and devilish fantasy, which enables it to attain a vivacious emotionalism, rare in many memoirs and graphic works of this nature. Although not overtly sentimental, the novel is quite emotional and could move a reader to tears. The novel is also brilliant and heartbreaking, masterful and evocative. For instance, the smoky skyline of Detroit launches the cinematic opening montage while the carefully designed tubes in the character’s mother’s nose make the novel a masterpiece. Conclusion In a profound and moving way, ‘Stitches’ tells the harrowing story of a small but conscious boy. David Small belongs to a silent and unhappy working-class family. He is exposed to many x-ray therapies to monitor sinus problems. Eventually, he develops cancer because of the over-exposure to x-ray procedures. He ends up being operated without him being informed of his ailments. As a result of the operation, Small loses his voice. This event cuts him further away from the world. Many young people identify with the rigors of growing up in working households characterized by angry silences, selfish parents, feelings of personal weakness, and secret lives, all portrayed in ‘Stitches’. Work Cited Small, D. Stitches: A Memoir, Reprint Edition, 2010. W. W. Norton & Company. Read More