Stitches

In David Small's book Stitches: A Memoir, one aspect that really stood out to me was the dysfunctional family structure. His family was not family oriented and lacked the love and nurture affection needed as a human being.

 David was brought up with no knowledge of being loved and cared for. As parents it was their responsibility to show affection and love and a sense of security for their child. Everyone in his family was isolated and did their separate thing. Usually a happy family sits around the dining room table enjoying their mother’s dinner and having a conversation with each other about every ones day, or just simply enjoying the company of one another. In David’s situation this was not the case. Dinners at his house seem like complete quietness and keeping to yourself and almost like a weird vibe and tension in the room of just unhappiness. After dinner the mother who throughout the book was just in a bad mood would slam doors and cabinets, the father would punch his punching bag and the brother play his drums.(pg15,16) Did the father punch his punching bag to deal with his unhappiness? Did the brother play the drums to not hear his mother’s anger?

 Feeling lonely and as a young child not understanding the isolation of every family member, David would draw and let his imagination take over. Some of his drawings in the book seem to turn into real life and you could see them walking out of the paper. In another occasion you see David falling inside his own drawing. These situations just seemed like him having his own mental escape of reality and problems that he just didn’t understand. (pg. 14, 48, 49, 61-63)



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The family had a lot of issues which caused the unhappiness and loss of love and affection. The mother was lesbian and could not be outspoken about it due to society. The mother was married to a man who she didn’t love and had two children. For her the role of a wife a mother was something maybe she didn’t want and only had to accept due to society. The grandmother also had some fault in David’s unhappiness; the grandmother was insane and was mean. David’s mother grew in that environment and carried it out in her own way with her family. The father was a doctor and was always busy and didn’t spend enough time with his family and neither showed any affection. Why didn’t the father show affection? Was he ever concerned or question his family structure and relationship?


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  When they had family vacations they would not enjoy them together, instead they would split up and go their different ways. (pg65) This was very odd due to the fact that a family vacation is supposed to be a vacation where your family is together enjoying once again each other’s company. In the book David wrote that he always left with his mother and his father and brother left together. Did David ever meet his father’s parents? Did the parents ever switched children in these so called family vacations? Why didn’t they go as a family?

Little Designer

Almost every day after school when I was done with my homework I remember going outside to play with my friends. We would ride our bikes around the neighborhood or play either hide and go seek or some kinds of sport. My childhood years for me were the best! I enjoyed every single day.

 On rainy days or at night I remember taking out all my journals and books, crayons and just imagining all sorts of dresses. I would spend hours drawing and coloring big dresses, whether they were wedding dresses, party dresses or simple everyday dresses, I enjoyed it very much and hoped to grow up and be a clothes designer.

 I remember watching TV and me laying in the living room floor just picturing dresses with big flowers and bold colors. Some had different patterns and then I would begin with sketching and coloring and adding shapes and flowers and beads here and there. When I was finished I would show it to my mom and then she would post it on the fridge door and I was very happy.

 From drawing to coloring dresses I started wanting to actually begin cutting linen and try to sew. I asked my mother for help and permission and she would help me make dresses for my Barbie’s...of course it was more difficult than the drawings and I would become impatient.



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 When my first little dress was finally finished I was so happy and just wanted to keep making lots of clothes for all my dolls not just my Barbie’s and even for myself I used to love to go through fashion magazines and look at the clothes and when we went to the mall I always wanted to go in to the boutiques and just look at the dresses.

 As I got older I stopped being so fascinated with drawing clothes in particular dresses and just drew different type’s art and I did get into drawing lots of eyes with shading and almost real look to them. I’m not the best artist and I stopped drawing for a very long time now.

Childhood Memory

It was twenty years ago and I can still remember my first day of school like if it were yesterday. I was only four years old and was excited for my first day of class! My outfit for the day was washed out jeans with a zipper on the side of my ankle and a bow at the end, with a pink blouse, half ponytail , big pink bow, and black shiny shoes. That morning my mom took me to school and had breakfast with me,I had french toast and orange juice. The cafeteria was big and there were bigger kids than me and everyone had backpacks. My back pack had a small pillow and a small blanket.

 I remember my mother walking with me down the hall and I could see lockers down the hall and pictures. Than we entered a class with other children my age and I became extremely shy and nervous and I hugged my mother. In the classroom there was a colorful shelf to the right hand side of the entrance door, and small tables and chairs and a huge colorful carpet with letters. I remember having to meet my teacher and than my mom telling me to have a nice day give me a kiss on my cheek and leave. Suddenly I became lonely and sort of confused. I had never been left alone with  strangers and began to look for my mom desperately. I began to cry and the teacher came over to me and told me it would be OK and introduce me to some classmates than I stopped crying. One of my classmates happen to be one of my neighborhood friends and I felt like I wasn't alone any longer.

 The teacher had instructed for us to join her and sit in the colorful carpet and asked each student one by one to introduce our self by saying our name and our favorite food. That day we did several activities such as played with blocks and paint, learn colors, numbers, story time and we had lunch, and I even made more friends! Later we had to take a nap and for me that was a little weird since I was not home and was expected to sleep in school. It took me several days before I could actually take a nap in class.

That afternoon the teacher pinned a small yellow bus with a number on our shirts, and we had to get in line and sit in the gym. We waited our turn to ride the correct bus and go home. My Neighborhood friend and I sat together in the bus. Finally I heard my name get called out and I was helped out of the bus and my mother was waiting for me! I was so happy to see her and just tell her everything I had done all day.  We had a conversation about my first day of school and I was so excited for the next day.