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45 pages 1 hour read

Lynda Barry

One! Hundred! Demons!

Nonfiction | Graphic Memoir | YA | Published in 2002

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Essay Topics

1.

Barry begins the novel by asking whether something is an autobiography if some things in it aren’t true. Why does Barry want readers to consider that question?

2.

Why does Barry collage realistic-looking objects and paper cut-outs into her illustrations? What effect does that have to the book’s art?

3.

Compare two or three of the maternal figures Barry describes, including her grandmother, her mother, her friends’ mothers, and her teachers.

4.

Why does Barry draw herself the way she does? How does her character design impact the way the reader views her as a narrator? As a child?

5.

Discuss the intersectional relationship between gender and class in this graphic memoir.

6.

Barry breaks the fourth wall several times. Why does she choose to do this? What effect does it have on the reader?

7.

Discuss the role of music in this graphic memoir. How does Barry’s relationship with music grow and change at different points in her life?

8.

Barry came of age in the late 1960s and 1970s. How do the cultural and historical events of those decades impact her identity?

9.

How would this memoir differ if it were not illustrated? What do the visuals add?

10.

What does Barry learn from the “100 Demons” exercise? Why is it important to visualize the memories that torment her as actual monsters?

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