Blankets and Oranges

Craig, loves to draw and when he is a 5th grader his teacher tells him that, "our lives in heaven will be devoted to praising & worshiping God" he feels alone and hopeless (p 137). Although he knows that he can worship god with his drawings he cannot say anything in his defense; his teacher's emotions were uncompromisable, just like those of Jeanette's mother. Just as Craig's love for drawing has been challenged, so has Jeanette's love for Melanie. As soon as her congregation finds out about her lesbianism they accuse her of being possessed by demons, in the middle of the service. They aggressively force her to repent and deny her love for Melanie, only causing her to lie (p105-109). Both of these characters are strongly religious and both of their religious communities are the factor that question and challenge their harmless passions. Both communities tell them to choose - the church. Besides these similarities they both, in the end, choose themselves rather than their congregation.

While Blankets is clearly a Graphic Novel it more easily creates a visual image to the reader. Still, Thompson strengthens his images by their placement and space on the page, as well as the character and object placement within the picture. Jeanette Winterson, in the mean time, has to be descriptive and precise when creating a strong and symbolic visual image for her reader. She does this especially well in the opening scene in which she describes her mother's morning prayer ritual (p 4). She compares her mother to Napoleon Bonaparte. Her explanations clarify that it is not because of her knees that her mother does not kneel to pray, but instead because of the kind of relationship she has to god. This scene gives the reader a strong sense of her mother's influence and character.