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
Craig doesn’t know why exactly he’s depressed. Two years ago, he started attending a prestigious high school in Manhattan. In seventh grade, he did well on the entrance test to get into the high school, but studying caused him to lose touch with most of his friends, except for Aaron. He and Aaron liked to watch movies, and Aaron was the first one to offer him pot, although Craig refused at first. Movie watching became a regular Friday ritual for them.
Craig’s life shows how it is possible to appear successful on the outside—Craig attends a prestigious high school, after all—while still feeling depressed and inadequate on the inside. Movies will play an important role throughout Craig’s story, offering him an alternative reality to the fraught one that he’s currently living in.
Themes
