At first I found the introduction of this chapter rather disturbing/disgusting...I asked myself, what is the point of including a pee fight? Of course, it was tied in to religion and Craig's concept of sin and shame. I admire Thompson's smooth transitions; in the next scene, Craig and Raina are distinguished from the crowd by their innocence. Craig's behavior, hugging himself, clearly shows that he is uncomfortable in this crowd of sinners who are smoking, drinking, doing drugs, etc.
Craig's isolation in the crowd demonstrates a key aspect of his characterization: loneliness and as a result, an obsessive need to be loved and accepted. His attitude towards Raina is getting a bit scary; he seems to both idolize her and to become increasingly obsessed with her (pg. 337). No matter his physical proximity to her, he is still able to feel lonely, which I find amazing. Craig always seems to find the grass greener on the other side and is unable to appreciate the present.
Perhaps he has a valid reason to feel lonely, however...because even though he's with Raina, he knows that his time with her will end, and he isn't sure that she reciprocates his feelings equally. I found the font changes interesting on pgs. 346-347, especially considering Craig's earlier discussion of typing poems as depersonalizing them. When he tells Raina that he loves her, the font becomes fancier, but her reply scared me, as it was in the same font as the typed poems. And it's the unsaid words that are more powerful to me in that panel, though she does say them later on. However, the context in which she finally returns Craig's feelings for her is rather depressing, as it seems like they have no future together. I wish Craig had a better response than "I don't know" to Raina's question of "So why bother getting started in the first place?" on pg. 371. With that type of logic, I feel like there's a slippery slope leading to the absurd concept where there's no point in living because you end up dying anyways. This is a question too many of my friends have grappled with, and it's difficult to be the one attempting to answer it, so I can see why Craig doesn't. But I still think it's one's perspective that matters, to make the most out of living in the present. One shouldn't always look to a better future in a place like heaven, which Craig does, because then the present escapes too quickly.
Blankets Chapter VII, Just Like Heaven
Loneliness again, and this time it's not just Craig's, but Raina's and her father's as well. Raina's whisper in the very first page, surrounded by all that white space, demonstrates their isolation from the world, which Craig reflects on in the next few panels. Raina's father's isolation in the cold is juxtaposed with a vision of him and his wife in Hawaii, their love rekindled (which I hope is more than just wishful thinking, their divorce is causing visible stresses) and also with Raina and Craig's lust.
On another note, I feel like this chapter is full of symbols--the apple, the zits, the boat metaphor, the monkey, the sounds...having read McCloud's chapter on closure, I think symbols are usually non-sequitors that require the most effort to complete closure. Some may be simple to deduce, such as Raina's mother reaching for the pills...but what about the positioning of the apple in between Raina's parents? (pg. 394) Craig and Raina are above and below the panels with Raina's parents, sandwiching them, and making the layout of the page odd indeed. Though the positioning of the hands of Raina's dad in a wanting gesture indicates that there is lust, but no temptation in his relationship with Raina's mom:(
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