Blankets

Blankets is a 600-page black-and-white graphic novel by Craig Thompson, published in 2003 by Top Shelf Productions. A memoir, the book tells the story of Thompson's childhood in an Evangelical Christian family, his first love, and his early adulthood. more...

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Thompson has said that the novel grew out of a simple idea: to describe what it feels like to sleep next to someone for the first time.

Plot synopsis

In Blankets there are nine chapters that describe the different intervals and events that went on in the main characters' life. The chapters as a whole follow a fairly stable chronological order. Sometimes the chapters focus on childhood events while still keeping to the current storyline, this produces a flashback effect in the story line. The story in itself is a narration of Craig Thompson's early years which include events that happened in his childhood, adolescent years, and later a look into his adult life. Craig deals with many issues concerning the coming-of-age genre and that of his religion Christianity which he would later abandon.

Chapter 1: Cubby Hole

The name of this chapter comes from the special type of discipline Craig's parents would employ on his brother and himself. In this first chapter the main character, Craig Thompson, describes to us the turmoil of his early childhood years. The chapter relates the negative experiences he had at home, mainly the aspect of having to share a bed with his younger brother, Phil. Because of this we see that any problem caused by Phil was answered with the discipline of the Cubby Hole.

Chapter 2: Stirring Furnace

The "Stirring Furnace" chapter gets its name from the furnace at the Christian snow camp that Craig would attend throughout his childhood and into his adolescent years. At the beginning of the chapter Craig relates how his house was always inadequate in the form of heating and cooling. Summers were always too hot due to poor ventilation/cooling and winters always too cold due to poor insulation/heating.

Chapter 3: Blank Sheet

"Blank Sheet" starts off with a short description of an activity both Craig and Phil did in the winter time. It involved the careful traversing of the snow that had melted, iced over again, and finally snowed upon one more time to produce an ice/snow effect that required extra careful walking. Craig also portrays the way his Sunday School teacher at his church would impose her ideas onto the children without letting them express themselves. This is a common theme seen throughout the book. Craig views this type of oppression as one of the primary factors for him leaving his faith. The relationship between Craig and Raina starts to develop further and is seen now as a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Later Craig would visit Raina and meet her family. A more involved relationship between both of them develops when he visits her.

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