Analysis Of Craig Thompson's Blankets

Craig Thompson’s autobiographical novel, Blankets, portrays his childhood, first love, and adulthood in a Christian family. The book is composed of visual images that draw attention to the messages of the author. The interpretations of those images convey conflicts between religion and his surroundings throughout his growth and development. In Thompson’s life, he gets bullied and creates his own world within the imagination and art as his way of a getaway escape from the real world. During church retreat camp, Craig comes across Raina, who eventually becomes his first love. After getting to know her, his perspective about life and religion transforms. Thompson wants to live by the teachings of the Bible, but at the same time, he develops …show more content…
However, he keeps the pursuit of his first love. He tries as much as possible to live the life he wanted, even if it means turning away from the Bible. Although he is being guided by the different occurrences and the creations of the Bible to think further about his relationship with Raina, he takes the step trying to begin a completely different life. When Craig first asks Raina, “So are we going to skip chapel?” then Raina replies, “Yeah. I’m going to sleep” (120). This occurs when Raina hides under the basketball game machine to hint that she’s going to skip chapel and suggest Craig to do it with her. This means that since Craig wants to be with Raina, he does what she wants to do and skip chapel as well. However, skipping chapel is also disrespectful to God and the Bible. After Craig and Raina rebelliously go out on the lake, Craig takes a bathroom break and overhears the teenage boys talking. They said, “You know, Jake. Church camp is the best place to score pussy” (117). Certainly, church camp and anything engaged in Christianity should not be a sacred place to talk about sexual topics. Sexuality is also a theme that is against the Bible. Since Craig finally has a chance with Raina, he wants to strengthen his first love by experiencing those sexual desires with her. However, this makes him conflicted with religion because he wants to have freedom, peace, and live the life he wanted to fill his void of …show more content…
The tone of this novel is soft and bittersweet. Religion is a source that should really help him get through his pain and sufferings, but he doesn’t seem to commit to the Bible. Craig struggles with his devotion to the church and the Bible, despite his faith in God has not changed. He stops going to church and goes out to find himself in a world unlike his childhood home. In the end, Craig realizes that there must be a balance between the religious lifestyle of his family and the mature lifestyle of