ing the Rabbit ask his question to David, Small is simultaneously asking it to
his audience, who of course are primed to answer “no.” Small completes the
crossover in two more steps: the White Rabbit asserts that “you have been liv-
ing in a world full of nonsense” (253), and then delivers the most crucial truth
his audience already knows (see figure 2.3).
This revelation is all the more powerful because it comes from the fig-
ure of authority (and note here that Small uses the close-up to give a kind of
double exposure to the figure: he is simultaneously White Rabbit and human
psychiatrist). Furthermore, the revelation is far more powerful than it would
have been had Small followed the standard script, since doing so would have
involved his going over so much ground that the audience already knows well,
and that redundancy would have greatly attenuated the Rabbit’s articulation
of the truth. The sudden, authoritative revelation is far more effective. In this
way, the crossover has considerable Added Value.
The effects of the Rabbit’s truth-telling are immediate. Because David had
not allowed himself to think that his mother didn’t love him, he is initially
shocked by Davidson’s pronouncement. But within that shock, David also rec-
ognizes the truth of his experience. Small expresses David’s coming to terms
with that truth through another remarkable set of graphic depictions: David
cries, he holds on to Dr. Davidson’s leg, his tears turn to rain and the rain falls
all over his small world until it finally becomes cleansing and peaceful. In this
way, the scene functions as the turning point in the whole progression. Once
David accepts its truth and has Dr. Davidson to help him deal with its conse-
quences, he starts down the path that leads him to become the accomplished
artist who creates this powerful memoir.
56 • CHAPTER 2
FIGURE 2.3. A turning point in Stitches, part II. David Small, Stitches (255).