Sisters

The exposition of Sisters introduces its characters and their conflicts, both with each other and within themselves. The major conflict of the story is between Raina and Amara, who do not get along, connect, or understand one another at all. This results in passive isolation from Raina and aggression and anger from Amara. Amara is always punching or kicking Raina or making fun of her for something; Raina just wants to enjoy her music in peace and wants little to do with Amara. She is painfully aware of the irony behind this as she asked for a little sister when she was younger. Flashbacks of the past are shown throughout the story, and each gives more insight into the more complex thoughts and emotions of the characters. While it seems on the surface that Raina and Amara hate each other, memories show a frustrated Raina trying many times to connect with her younger sister and eventually giving up when she couldn’t handle Amara’s moods. This is particularly evident when Raina tries to connect with Amara through their shared love of drawing, and Amara outright refuses. They wind up drawing together in awkward silence as Raina desperately wants a sister who is also a friend, and Amara just wants to go her own way.

The conflict of the story is clearly told from the biased perspective of Raina, as Amara is painted as the much more obnoxious, much more intolerable sibling while Raina depicts herself as being quite innocent. Amara is thus the antagonist of the story and responsible for much of the stress that Raina endures. Raina and Amara’s conflict forces them to Overcome Differences as they eventually begin to open up to one another in the novel’s conclusion. Raina writes her story from an adult perspective but through the eyes of her teenager self. Along with their need to overcome their differences, Raina and Amara are also constantly Adjusting to the Unexpected, which adds more stress to their lives and sometimes becomes the source of conflict between them. Their baby brother Will, the death of their many pets, and their father’s job loss are major events that they must adapt to. The death of the pets has a more severe impact on Raina, who has an aversion to dead animals after stepping on a snake when she was small. She cannot seem to escape her fear, however, as she is confronted with it after the storm when she wakes up to the sight of several dead animals in the parking lot and is also unknowingly riding across the country with a king snake in the van. Although they do not to realize it, Amara and Raina both deal with the same issues, but are unwilling to support one another through them.

The novel’s setting and plot structure are depicted mainly through its artistic style and formatting. Subtle hints in the illustrations give away clues as to the time period, such as the Macintosh computer, the vinyl records, the YM magazine on Raina’s seat in the van, and Mom’s visor. Since the story takes place in the 1990s, Raina faces problems like running out of batteries for her Walkman. As the setting of the story changes along the road trip, new states and changes in the days are introduced with splash illustrations of license plates, souvenirs, and typical car games like license plate bingo. Raina’s artistic style is evident not only in these subtle details, but in the way she draws her characters as well. Especially in moments of innocence, the characters often have dotted eyes and simple expressions, giving each scene added warmth. During moments of tension or excitement, the characters’ eyes widen and consume their faces, such as when Amara stares at her chameleon who refuses to eat. The graphic novel includes only minimal captions denoting narration, such as to indicate the passing of several months during Mom’s pregnancy with Amara, or the hours passing along the road trip. Everything else, including mood, atmosphere, and plot, is told through dialogue and illustration. Additional elements come in the form of hearts, stars, and dust balls, and motion lines are used to indicate surprise, shock, and movement. Text and images are interdependent, making up a full scene’s setting, mood, and plot, and it is necessary to examine both to fully understand the nuances of the characters’ experiences.