Snapdragon

Lulu, Jacks, and Snap are all dealing with The Social Effect of Being Perceived As Different. Pick one of these characters and write an essay about how they deal with this theme. How do this person’s loved ones treat them, as opposed to strangers and society at large? What does the social treatment of them reveal about what people think is normative? How does this perception effect the character?

Through the text, Snap deals with a variety of large and small conflicts both internal (for instance, feeling isolated) and external (for instance, being attacked by Chuck). Write an argumentative essay about what you think is the biggest conflict Snap faces: Why is this the biggest conflict and how does she confront it?

What role does Violet play in Snap’s life, and vice versa? What types of support systems structure their mother-daughter relationship? How does their relationship grow?

Pick a symbol in the text—for instance, possum babies or Snap’s wand. What is its literal meaning and symbolic meaning? How does the meaning of the symbol relate to or affect a larger theme of the text?

Animals play a large role in this novel. Pick one of these animals and write about their significance to the novel. What narrative role does this animal fulfill? How do characters treat this animal? How does this animal affect the central plot?

Why is the graphic novel’s animation versus its subject about accepting others and yourself with roadkill as a main factor in the plot unexpected? What stereotypes and beliefs do people have about roadkill? How are roadkill treated in the graphic novel, and why are they important?

Though the main characters coalesce in one community around Snap, there are many smaller support systems within the novel. For instance, Snap and Lulu, Snap and Violet, Snap and Jacks, and Jacks and Jessie. Pick one of these pairs and write an essay about how they support each other. What challenges do they each face, and how do they help one another through them?

What are Snap’s views on how Snap should practice magic and why does she have them? What makes her change her mind, and why is that significant to Jacks’s character growth?