52 pages • 1 hour read
Raina TelgemeierGuts: A Graphic Novel
Nonfiction | Graphic Memoir | Middle Grade | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Literary Devices
Simple Images as Purveyors of Emotion
Readers may find it strange to conceive of graphic images as a literary device. However, the author uses the drawings in the narrative to achieve effects similar to those a novelist might achieve with nuances of words. The graphic images making up the entire narrative of Guts are simple cartoons. Telgemeier does not use screening to add depth or hatching to add realism. Though the accurate proportions of the figures, the complexity of multiple images in a panel, and the consistency of the drawings reveal the author’s professionalism, it is clear Telgemeier intends for these images to be almost childlike. This is partly so they will resemble the pictures Raina drew as a 10-year-old. The simplicity of the drawings is also engaging, inviting the reader to follow the flow of the story from one visual crescendo, through peaceful scenic frames, to another powerful scene.
Telgemeier uses very simple graphics to suggest her characters’ full range of emotions. With closed eyes, a great smile, and a spread-fingered wave of an open hand, the illustrator captures the supreme confidence of Amara, Raina’s sister, on her first day of kindergarten (33). With two huge, oval eyes, no eyebrows, and a tiny, upside-down “U” of a mouth, the artist portrays Raina's uncertainty about attending a party with her antagonist, Michelle (170). Periodically, the author abandons speech and narration to let images inform readers of the character’s emotions. One of the best examples of this is the joyous, tender affection shared by the girls during Jane’s slumber party (195). Fine literature uses words to precisely convey an author’s emotional intent. Telgemeier demonstrates that plain cartoons have the same ability.
Punctuation and Boldface in Graphic Texts
The banners, thought clouds, and balloons that accompany comic strips typically freely use more dramatic elements than typeface words on the page of a book. Illustrators use these bold devices to convey emotions and stress particular words in the written texts accompanying cartoons. This is true of Guts. The illustrator utilizes cartoonish punctuation and boldface and massive lettering changes to make certain the reader perceives specific meanings. These graphic conventions are literary devices that can create expressions that printed words may not easily duplicate.
An obvious example of this occurs when Raina shouts, “NO!!!” (47) at Michelle in the middle of class. The massive, bold, all-caps letters imply that everyone in the room would hear and react to Raina’s shout, even if the surrounding cartoon did not portray that. A subtler use of this device occurs when Raina lays her head on the kitchen table after her first night in her new sleeping quarters and asks her mother, “How do you put up with Dad’s snoring?!” (126). Combining an exclamation mark with a question mark emphasizes the puzzlement Raina feels and expresses an underlying sentiment that Dad’s snoring is unacceptable. The artist also intersperses boldface with standard lettering to express precise meanings. Having observed the finicky manner in which Raina eats, Raina's friend Nicole asks, “Do you have an eating disorder??!” (146). The bold lettering conveys to the reader that the question is really an assault. Only in a graphic book can such unconventional literary devices work to communicate the exact intention of the author/artist.
Repetition of Words and Images
A literary device Telgemeier uses throughout that is not solely limited to graphic texts is repetition. Many literary forms use a word or phrases multiple times in a work. Sometimes this is to emphasize it as a theme. On other occasions, the repetition highlights different, ironic uses of the word or phrase. In Guts, there are several words the author uses either to emphasize their importance to the narrative or because there is a message she wants to convey through repetition. Telgemeier uses this device for different purposes.
An obvious example is the word “vomit.” In any usage, the word by itself is unpleasant. That Raina develops a phobia to the actual word magnifies its distasteful nature. Often in the text, the author places the word against a green background that readers associate with Raina’s feelings of nausea (74) or adjacent to a panel that shows Raina with an upset stomach (84). Telgemeier also substitutes other synonyms for the word, using them similarly. By repeating this throughout the narrative, the word and its synonyms tend to lose their potency to disgust readers, just as the word lost its ability to launch Raina into a panic attack.
A positive example of this is the author’s use of the word “try.” Lauren first institutes this as a regular part of Raina’s vocabulary, and eventually, Raina uses it to encourage those who do not feel able to overcome the challenges they face. Often, Telgemeier uses the word by itself in a balloon with a neutral background so that the word stands out by itself emphatically (77). Readers may note that whenever the author uses the word “try” in any context, almost invariably, something positive results, as when Raina encourages Jane to try to draw comics with her, and they end up creatively writing and drawing cartoons about their families together (131). The author intensifies or disarms the power of different words and phrases through repetition.
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By Raina Telgemeier
