49 pages 1 hour read

Alison Bechdel

Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama

Nonfiction | Graphic Novel/Book | Adult | Published in 2012

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Essay Topics

1.

Why does Bechdel frame the book’s title in the form of a question? Describe which characters play the role of her “mother” over the course of the story.

2.

Explain what a non-linear narrative is and how Bechdel applies this to this book. What are the advantages of this approach? How is the medium of a graphic novel beneficial to this approach?

3.

Bechdel introduces each chapter with a dream that foreshadows her areas of focus. Select one chapter and analyze how events call back to the dream. Why are dreams important to Alison’s therapy?