I thought it must be her hair that gave Alice the magic ability to travel to a land of talking animals, singing flowers and dancing teapots. The last picture on page 39 shows David's eye in line with the eye of the 'little man,' providing the reader an interesting perspective as it looks like the eyes are of one person (Small 36-42). As the images show David's eyes getting larger and larger, we see and feel David's wonder and panic. The lack of any language in this scene makes it stronger because it feels like we are inside of David's mine blank as he enjoys sliding up and down the hallway. David just makes it into the elevator before the 'little man' catches him, leaving his shoes behind. When David starts running away, the 'little man' jumps out of the jar and chases after David.

While staring closely at one of the 'little men,' one of them opened its eyes and glared at young David. When he stands up, he observes that the display case is full of jars of 'little men,' what look like babies. David is running through the halls of the hospital without his shoes when he slips and falls in front of a display case. The next scene is one consisting solely of pictures. One particularly strong portion of 'Stitches' is that David makes sure that it is obvious that despite his terrible upbringing, he wouldn't be the man he is today without it. It was still in me, or the trauma around it was' (Konisberg).

Small said that the dreams that he has had have greatly influenced him in the writing of 'Stitches.' One dream in particular where a large, bug-like monster that burst through the walls of a house 'played a big role in the decision to write 'Stitches.'' Small said, 'It was a crab - cancer - but I couldn't even tell what it was until I sketched it out the next day. I have chosen to go in depth into David's most deep and psychoanalytical scenes. David has the rare skill of being able to move his audience without saying a word. Christopher Borrelli of the Chicago Tribune said, 'He shows, in ways that dozens of traditional memoirs rarely accomplish with thousands of words, a distinct brand of stony Midwestern stoicism, and watchfulness, and with few panels, captures the small moments when chilliness veers into empathy, and vice-versa' (Small).

Instead of solely using words to tell his story, David using his skill of design to draw the reader a picture of his life.

'Stitches' is full of deep, psychological dreams and mysteries.

Stitches by David Small