The Quitter Section 1: Frames

On the third page, Harvey's mother says, "African Americans and Jews should stick together, since we're both persecuted minorities."

Later in the section, Harvey wonders, "Why would she want me to give up just because I was in the minority?"

These quotes both show how important it is to Harvey's mother to not me in the minority.  She thinks African-Americans and Jews should side with each other because that will give them more numbers, and she tells Harvey he should join the other side because he is outnumbered.


After watching film noire, a visual parallel that I noticed right away while reading this book was the use of shadows.

In both of the fight scenes shown above, Harvey's opponents are shown only as shadows.  This gives the reader the idea that these people are insignificant, nameless people that are dark and mean.  They shadow over Harvey in the upper shot, as if them have power over him, but Harvey is grasping and finally beating the shadow in the shot below.

Also, this book features many different shapes and sizes of frames.  Visually, the frames that stick out first are the large frames with little text interrupting them.  One of the biggest frames in the section is shown above, where the shadows of his opponents stand over Harvey.  This is a crucial shot because it shows that Harvey is powerless against the many people, which relates to the written parallel I found that has to do with strength of numbers and minorities.  The other biggest frame is Harvey shown covering his ears, trying to block out his Mom's favorite candidate and a communist flag, showing that he doesn't want to hear to opinions of his mother because they are unpopular in American culture.

One interesting thing I noticed the author did with frames was on page 11, the last page we read.  This page is divided up into 6 squares and is perfectly symmetrical.  Harvey is placed on the right third of the frames on the left, and the left third of the frames on the right, so when you look at them together, It looks like 3 people connected by the frames.  This shows two sides of Harvey.  On the left side, he is in the dark, angry and his face is bruised, whereas on the right, his face is clean and well lit, and he looks confused.  This page shows the effect of how frames can take on a different meaning when they are placed next to each other.

Also, when a page has many small frames, things seem to be going by quicker and it is easier to glance over them, as they are not the most important part.  On the other hand, when the frames are big, although there is less text, things seem to move slower.

If I were to make chapters in the book, I'd end the first chapter after Harvey wins a fight and gets accepted into a new group of people because it has a good narrative arc (Harvey is faced with a conflict and he overcomes that conflict).  I'd title this section "Minority Race" because it captures the idea that minorities are racing to get out of their situation and join the majority.  The African-Americans have done this, as they have found a neighborhood where they could be the majority, and Harvey does this too in the end when he finally fits in.

The next section (that I've made) starts with Harvey asking his mother for advice, but then realizing that she is wrong, and he'd have to do things his own way.  All people have this realization that their mother is not always right as they grow up, so I'd title this section "Independence," as he is becoming independent from his mother.