Literary Devices in Stitches: A Memoir
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Small establishes setting first and foremost in Stitches. Two all-black pages with white letters begin the book. The first says, "I was six," and the second says, "Detroit." A full-page drawing of...
Narrator Point of View
Because a memoir is the story of someone's life, it's usually written in first person, and Stitches is no exception. You feel like you're right there with David, experiencing his life as he does, e...
Genre
What, you may be wondering, is the difference between autobiography and memoir, and why can't you just call Stitches a graphic novel? Well, it goes something like this: Novel means fiction, so...
Tone
From the first page of Stitches, you know things aren't going to go well. Sure, it could be a happy love story that takes place in cold, gray Detroit, but how many of those are there? We've got a s...
Writing Style
Only eighteen panels in, Small introduces his mother and writes: "Mama had her little cough. Once or twice, some quiet sobbing, out of sight […] or the slamming of kitchen cupboard doors. That wa...
What's Up With the Title?
The title Stitches doesn't make sense until you get to the third section—but when you finally see panels 119 through 122, we're pretty sure you'll gasp and clutch your throat. For two weeks after...
What's Up With the Ending?
In general, dreams offer an escape from real life. Sure, there's the one about the algebra test you haven't studied for (that one's the worst), but dreams are also where you get to flap your arms a...
Tough-o-Meter
Stitches is a fast read, since so many panels have no words, and you can easily fly through it in an evening. However, it's a book that demands to be read more than once. You'll keep turning pages...
Plot Analysis
In Sickness and in HealthSix-year-old David Small lives in Detroit. He doesn't exactly have a communicative family—in fact, they're experts at finding ways other than speaking to express their pa...
Trivia
A German scientist named William Roentgen discovered X-rays in 1895. Fortunately, he didn't die of exposure.(Source.)Dr. James P. Thomas does throat surgery. Here he answers the question, "Can one...
Steaminess Rating
There are exactly two panels of sex in Stitches, and nobody's naked, but they're fairly scandalous anyway. David comes home from a therapy session and hears his mom laughing in her bedroom. When he...
Allusions
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1.265)Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (2.119)