The graphic memoirs allow the author to express themselves in a way words cannot describe with the shame they have faced. This often includes trauma, exposure and sex. According to the article, “shame is an instrument of oppression.” Drawing is a way for female novelists to come to terms with what has happened in their lives and how they saw themselves on the inside at that time. It is also a way for them to express their feelings as they were taught to keep these feelings private in order to avoid the additional shame. They show this to the readers rather than telling us.
For example: in the article, it states that Allie Brosh’s comic often revolves around the subject of her anxiety and depression. The body she drew for her chacater wasn’t even a body in any realistically representational sense. It was a “noodle-shaped blob with sticks for arms and legs, with a yellow cone to represent her ponytail atop a frog-like face.” She said “This character sort of evolved and doesn’t look like me, but in a way it’s an impression of me … It’s this absurd, crude little thing, and that’s really what I am inside, and it’s a more accurate way to represent myself.” If shame is really a form of oppression, then drawing is a way for these graphic novelists to accept what has happened to them and move on.
