5Q/5P

A semi-autobiographical love story set in a Midwestern backdrop of snowy winters, Blankets is a coming-of-age graphic novel exploring love, religion, family, repression, and exploration. Main story line is romance with Raina, and in a way, romance and disillusionment with conservative religion.

Symbol of blanket a recurring theme/motif…blanket of snow, Raina makes a blanket…using security and letting go, etc.

 

 

600 pages!

 

 

Curriculum Connections

English/Language Arts

Biographies/Autobiographies/Memoirs

 

 

(DM 4.28.08)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diane Mahan

Partington 267 Spring 2008

Craig Thompson’s Blankets

 

Art

 

 

California High School Arts Content Standards-Visual Arts

 

 

 

Creative Expression 2.0

 

 

 

Advanced

 

Communicate and Express Through Original Works of Art

 

 

 

2.4 Demonstrate in their own works of art a personal style and an advanced proficiency in communicating an idea, theme, or emotion.

 

 

 

2.5 Use innovative visual metaphors in creating works of art

 

 

 

Craig Thompson’s epic graphic novel uses the visual metaphor of a blanket to be a unifying theme in his coming of age story of romance and identity.

 

 

Theme Discussion

 

Craig Thompson intertwines Blankets both thematically and symbolically, tying together pivotal events in his young life and embedding the pervasive tone of looking for security and escape.

 

 

Blankets represent two main literary threads in the book, one symbolic and one literal. Craig’s relationship with Raina, which is a transformative love in his adolescence, is symbolized by the blanket she sews for him to have when they are apart. Patchwork in nature, Raina includes some precious pieces from her childhood and clothes. Craig is able to wrap himself in it when they are apart, and falls asleep with her smell wrapped around him. The patches of the blanket dot the panels when they are together and lost in each other.

 

 

The more symbolic blanket is the blanket of snow that permeates the book. Set in cold Midwest winters, snow is a cleansing agent, symbolizing youth, freedom, innocence, and a covering of ugliness. Once it melts, reality sets in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Activity: Identify a personal theme through visual representation and expression

 

 

 

Finding a theme:

 

 

 

How do I communicate a theme in my art?

 

What is a theme?

 

What is my theme?

 

 

 

Themes are thought of in literary terms as a message an author wants to convey (sometimes known as a ‘life lesson). Themes are commonly about things that are close to our hearts: family, friendship, love, death. A recent death of a loved one might bring you to think about the fraility of life. A new love interest might lead you to consider the excitement in something new. You might think you’re boring, but almost everyone has a family, friends, or a passion that is never far from your thoughts.

 

 

How you discover your theme is two-fold.

1)Identify what is close to your heart at this time.

2)What do you want to say about it.

 

 

Once you decide your theme, the next task is to represent it graphically. In Blankets, Thompson commented on the security of love and companionship through the image of the blanket. He also illustrated the escapist quality of love through the image of the blanket of snow. He was particularly effective in choosing a symbol (the blanket) that offered different perspectives on a singular theme.

 

 

Create:

 

 

 

Create four distinct pieces of visual art in any media (pen and ink, sketching, painting, clay) that are united in an image that reflects a theme. Each piece should represent a different way of looking at a theme, but using the same symbol (or metaphor) to cue the viewer that these are all commentaries on the same thing.

 

 

Viewers should be able to detect the common metaphor, but there should be some room for personal interpretation.

 

 

Images can be narrative in nature, but are not limited by a traditional narrative structure.

 

 

Display and Present

 

 

 

Images will be displayed for class review. Each artist will explain the way in which he/she used a visual metaphor or image to express a larger theme.

 

 

 

 

Reflect

 

 

 

After viewing the themed art pieces, students will evaluate in writing the following considerations:

• What images stood out?
• Was there a particular media that was especially effective?
• Were there similar themes that emerged? What conclusions can be drawn about the teenage experience from those trends?

 

 

Beyond

 

 

 

Students will be encouraged to continue their thematic approach and analysis as they create and collect art pieces for their portfolio.

 

 

 

 

Diane Mahan

 

Partington 267: Spring 2008

 

English

 

 

 

Content Standards and Instructional Practices Grades Nine Through Twelve

 

 

 

Ninth and Tenth Grade English-Language Arts Standards

 

 

 

http://www.cde.ca.gov/re/pn/fd/documents/rlafw.pdf

 

 

 

Students combine the rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description to produce texts of at least 1,500 words each. Student writing demonstrates a command of standard American English and the research, organizational, and drafting strategies outlined in Writing Standard 1.0.

 

 

 

Using the writing strategies of grades nine and ten outlined in Writing Standard 1.0, students:

 

 

 

2.1 Write biographical or autobiographical narratives or short stories:

 

 

 

a. Relate a sequence of events and communicate the significance of the events to audience.

 

b. Locate scenes and incidents in specific places.

 

c. Describe with concrete sensory details the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene and the specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of the characters; use interior monologue to depict the characters’ feelings.

 

d. Pace the presentation of actions to accommodate changes in time and mood.

 

e. Make effective use of descriptions of appearance, images, shifting perspectives, and sensory details.

 

 

 

 

 

Grade Level:

 

 

 

Students: 9^th/10^th grade English

 

High-engagement reading materials

 

High-engagement writing activities

 

 

 

 

Building a Foundation of Knowledge:

 

 

 

Graphic Autobiographical Narrative Reading List:

 

 

 

Inside Out: Portrait of an Eating Disorder by Nadia Shivack

 

Blankets by Craig Thompson

 

The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Single Mom

 

Epileptic by David B.

 

One! Hundred! Demons! by Lynda Barry

 

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

 

Persepolis II by Marjane Satrapi

 

 

 

Thesis and Synthesis: Reading

 

 

 

Reading Log for Narrative Elements:

 

 

 

1. Each book examines a powerful event (or a series of events in a turning point) in the author/illustrators’ lives. Identify the event in each book.

 

2. Create a simple timeline of the major events for each book. Which books illustrate a short period of time, and which books cover a larger span?

 

3. In each of the stories, major issues are symbolized by images. For example, in Epileptic, epilepsy is shown as a dragon-like monster. What are the dominant symbols, images, and motifs in each book and what do they represent?

 

4. How is interior monologue used in graphic novels? What are some common devices used when showing what a character is thinking inside? (Please give examples)

 

5. Mood in conveyed through color, lines, and sketching. Take two distinct panels from each story and analyze the ways in which the author/illustrator communicates the change and shift in mood.

 

 

 

Having examined several graphic autobiographical narratives with symbolic elements, analyze trends and common threads specific to graphic novels. Evaluate: what is more effectively communicated in graphic format? What is not? How to the graphic works compare to text-based autobiographies we have read in class?

 

 

 

 

 

Thesis and Synthesis: Writing

 

 

 

2.1 Write biographical or autobiographical narratives or short stories:

 

 

 

a. Relate a sequence of events and communicate the significance of the events to audience.

 

b. Locate scenes and incidents in specific places.

 

c. Describe with concrete sensory details the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene and the specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of the characters; use interior monologue to depict the characters’ feelings.

 

d. Pace the presentation of actions to accommodate changes in time and mood.

 

e. Make effective use of descriptions of appearance, images, shifting perspectives, and sensory details

 

 

 

Using the writing standards for biographical and narrative writing, create your own autobiographical graphic novel highlighting a specific event (or series of events) surrounding a powerful moment in your life.

 

 

 

Your work should include:

 

· Grade-level text of 1,500 or more words.

 

· Identifiable narrative plotting.

 

· Visual symbols and motifs that stand in for larger issues or themes.

 

· Characters engaging in both exterior dialogue with other characters and interior monologues with themselves. This can be done explicitly (with word bubbles), or implicitly (with images).

 

· Using color and sketching to illustrate a shift in mood or tone.

 

 

 

Once your graphic novel is complete, please present your work to the class and explain some of the literary elements and techniques you used (ie. themes, symbols, motifs, stylistic elements and decisions).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

sk 4.27.08

 

 

Thompson, C (2003). Blankets. Marietta, GA: Top Shelf Productions. Illustrated by Craig Thompson. ISBN: 1-891-830-43-0

 

 

 

Blankets is a story about brotherly competition, the joys, loneliness and sadness of first love and the coming of age when you grow up and move away from home. Interjected within this book are the parent’s religious belief and Craig’s struggle to make them his own or dismiss them. 

 

Craig Thompson illustrated this graphic novel. 

 

Rating: 5Q/5P

MWood