Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in It’s Kind of a Funny Story, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Mental Health
Art and Self-Discovery
Peer Pressure vs. Self-Empowerment
Friendship and Romance
Summary
Analysis
Dr. Minerva comes to speak with Craig. Craig says he’s surprised at how good he feels so far, but he doesn’t trust it. As he tells her about his time so far, Dr. Minerva says it seems like Craig is better at making friends than he realizes. He talks about Tentacles and Anchors, saying that his phone calls from home are Tentacles, but the people in the ward are Anchors.
Dr. Minerva uses the concepts of “Tentacles” and “Anchors” to help Craig to see his life as connected, rather than treating the hospital as some different, separate place from his life back home. She bridges the gap between these two phases of Craig’s life, showing how he can apply the lessons he has learned in the hospital to his life outside.
Themes
Dr. Minerva ends the meeting by calling back Craig’s principal and forcing him to talk. The principal is amused that Craig hung up on him. He says he’d never judge or punish a student for being in the hospital, no matter the reason. He promises Craig that his teachers will all support him. Craig finds the call wasn’t as bad as he feared.
Although Dr. Minerva wants Craig to manage his stress, she also emphasizes that part of managing stress involves doing potentially unpleasant tasks that nevertheless need to be done. From the experience of calling his principal back, Craig learns yet again that his depression can cause him to imagine that situations are worse than they actually are.
Themes
