Blankets

## Plot

The plot of Blankets centres around the life of Craig Thompson, with a primary focus on his teen years and his first romance.

Blankets begins by establishing that Craig and his brother Phil live with their strict, poor, religious family and are forced to share a bed together. This leads to conflict between the two boys as they cannot comfortably sleep in the bed together. These conflicts lead to Craig beginning to see himself as a failure of an older brother. As the boys grow older, eventually, Craig and Phil receive their own beds, and start to grow apart.

At school, Craig is bullied for several reasons, including his skinny appearance, his family's background, and his family's poverty. This bullying continues into high school. Craig finds escape from this and the rest of his life through his art. He finds that drawing helps to liberate him and make his life worthwhile.

In high school, Craig becomes a slacker. He let's his grades slip, he skips class and he does not see school as being of any value. It's for this reason that Craig desires winter break, as it gives him a reprieve from school. However, Craig is forced to attend a church camp during the winter for a week, a trip he often hates as he cannot afford to ski or snowboard. However, this time, Craig meets a girl named Raina.

Raina is also unimpressed with the camp, and convinces Craig to skip mandatory events to spend time with her. The two become close, and continue keeping in contact after the camp ends. This eventually leads to Craig convincing his mother to let him visit Raina in Michigan.

Raina's family is unfortunately in the process of a divorce, an event that forces unwelcome responsibility on Raina to take care of her siblings. Despite this, Raina and Craig manage to find time to nurture their budding romance at night. The two frequently spend the nights together, cuddling under a quilt Raina made for Craig, and setting an alarm before her mother awakens so they do not get caught. Raina and Craig eventually become intimate with one another.

However, after Craig leaves, Raina becomes distant and no longer wishes to pursue this relationship. Craig is hurt, but eventually lets go of Raina and moves on with his life.

The story culminates with an adult Craig returning to his parent's home, and confessing to his brother that he is no longer a Christian, a fact he keeps hidden from his parents. Craig proceeds to explore the attic of his parents house, and rediscovers the quilt Raina made for him.

## Purpose

The purpose of Blankets was for Craig Thompson to communicate the significant moments of his life, and in doing so, to inform his audience about the freedom of choice a person has to their own religion. Thompson discovered over the course of his life that the religion he was raised to believe was not for him. By deviating from his religious behaviour, he found that he was liberated from the horrible guilt he would feel from "sinning." Thompson wanted his readers to be aware that their religion is a personal choice, and that they have the right to worship in whatever way they feel is right.

A smaller purpose for writing this memoir, was for Thompson to come out to his parents about his abandonment of Christianity. Thompson knew his parents would not accept this decision with kindness and that a conversation with them would go well. Thompson stated in an interview that he sent the memoir to his parent's after he finished writing it as a means of informing them of his decision. This lead to a period of tension with them, however they've since begun communicating again.

## Voice and Tone

The voice of the author shifts throughout the story of Blankets. Quite often, the emotion that Thompson experiences is evident in the way he reflects on the events that occurred in his life. Thompson successfully manages to transition between pessimism and optimism depending on what stage of life he is in. Overall, the story progresses from being pessimistic about his lot in life and being fearful of committing sin, to Thompson accepting that his beliefs are different from those of his parents, and accepting his past.

The tone of the story shifts greatly when Thompson meets Raina. Raina becomes a light in the darkness for Thompson and, as is the case with many teenage romances, the focus of his entire life. This changes the tone from Thompson's constant pessimism to his hope and optimism about a life with Raina. The tone shifts back to pessimism when his expectations of his life with Raina deviate from what he imagined. At the end of the memoir, Thompson's tone is a more subtle, realistic optimism. He has accepted who he is, what his beliefs are, and he does not look at the future so negatively.

## References

Mechanic, M. (2011, September 1). Graphic Novelist Craig Thompson on parental censorship, ditching Christianity, and his epic, "Habibi" Retrieved November 23, 2015, from http://www.motherjones.com/media/2011/09/craig-thompson-blankets-habibi-interview

Thompson, C. (2003). *Blankets: A graphic novel*. Marietta, Georgia: Top Shelf.