Graphic memoirs are incredible ways to share human experiences, connect with others, and evoke empathy through text and images. Generally, it allows the audience to understand the insight and a more engaging look into one’s life. Forney’s Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me conveys her inner thoughts, feelings, and experiences through pictures and text, and readers can see her creativity and artistic nature. She has illustrated mental illness as life experiences such as depressive and manic episodes and mood and bipolar disorders. She tries to understand her artistic abilities and her creative or perhaps insane outlook on life. Forney worries that managing bipolar disorder would weaken or kill her creativity. The four images that best capture the essence of this graphic memoir are from pages 19, 59, 148 and 226 because I find them sympathetic, empathetic and educational.
Forney begins with her experience with manic episodes and the subsequent therapeutic sessions. She depicts the exchange of dialogue and thoughts and pictures that transpired to her during these meetings. The image on page 19 illustrates her conversation with the psychiatrist, describing her experience with bipolar 1 mood disorder symptoms. “My own brilliant, unique personality was neatly outlined right there, in that inanimate stack of paper,” she writes above the mug shot. She emphasized further, “My personality reflected a disorder shared by a group of people.” A cloud is depicted on the left side of her face, and beneath it is written, “This sank in like the sun had gone behind the clouds.” “Like I had been covered by a heavy blanket like a parrot,” it says on the right side, a little lower down; below it, I suppose, is a draped blanket.
On page 59, Forney uses images to describe mood disorders, somewhat like a carousel ride. A human figure with dark hair represents the author riding eight carousel horses. The drawing depicts mental states of mania, hypomania, mixed states, rapid cycling, euthymia, dysthymia, mild depression and depression. Each horse in the race symbolizes the impact of a specific condition, beginning with a manic horse on the far-left end that is seen leaping so high that she banged against the roof. On the right side, much lower to the ground, is a depression horse where Forney is seen curled up in a fetal position. Rapid cycling portrays her holding on for dear life while going up and down. The “normal” or “balance” state of euthymia shows Forney on top of a horse in the middle sitting triumphantly in an upright position carrying a “brass ring.”
Another exciting image is on page 148, which recounts the author’s struggle with bipolar disorder and describes a walk she once took. Forney was suffering from severe depression at the time, and she changed her path to avoid happy objects such as “happy couple,” “happy dog,” and “happy dog owner.” Forney encounters a tree she regarded as a very strong and quiet maternal by taking a “half-hidden path” rather than the main route. She hugged the tree so tightly that it left a physical imprint on her body (there is a bark imprint on her cheek). This connection gave her a feeling of safety, despite appearing to others as a “crazy woman alone.”
On page 226, there is a full-page image of two humanlike arms contrasted against each other. The left-arm stands out against the white background, with claw-like fingers that are messily crooked. The white letters on the forearm ask, “Is bipolar disorder a curse, a source of misery and pain? A dangerous, often life-threatening disease?” On the right, the arm is a black outline over white space, with the thumb and index fingers forming an “Okay” sign. The rest of the question is written in black letters, ” “Or an extricable, even essential part of many creative personalities? A source of inspiration and profound artistic work?” The next page answers, “I suppose it’s both,” above an image of the two hands now clasped tightly together.