panel of a newspaper on a table littered with breakfast detritus. A paper is shown at Alison’s place at the table after her father’s death, and then again at her father’s seat before his death (1 above and 5 below). The placement and repetition of this representation of printed text reveals how the act of reading was intrinsic to both her and her father’s daily lives. The details in the breakfast table debris of empty coffee mugs and used dishes are carefully and beautifully observed, yet the newspaper itself still takes the center of attention in the scene, standing out in white on the blue wash of the table and its contents, attesting to its paramount importance (27). 5.
Bechdel indicates the active presence of these printed texts in the
characters’ views of reality by bringing our attention to her father’s marginal notations. In her father’s copy of Albert Camus’ book, A Happy Death, Bechdel finds that he has highlighted one line of the text (28) (6 below). Bechdel illustrates this notation visually by highlighting the line in white 36 Excellence in First-Year Writing 2012