Blankets

Craig opens the chapter with a metaphor that compares his adolescence to his and his brother’s attempts to balance on top of the thin layer of ice that forms on partially melting snow. He explains that he was “competing with [his] own clumsy humanity that had lost synchronization with the earth” (134). He is also in constant conflict with his faith, and when he suggests during Sunday School that he wants to spend eternity in heaven drawing, because that is what he likes to do, his teacher criticizes him and tells him that drawing is not how people show devotion to God. He wants to draw God’s creation to show his devotion, but his teacher refutes this by telling him that God has “already drawn it for us” (138). He reflects back on this experience at the end of high school, doubting his passion and believing it to be selfish. He wonders if he should join the ministry as his pastor suggested. Craig is desperate to find a way to unite his faith and his passion for drawing.

Raina reignites Craig’s “faith in the notion of making marks on paper” (142) when she sends him a love letter in the mail after camp.