74 pages • 2 hours read
Smile: A Graphic Novel
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Chapter 2
Chapter 2 Summary
At her Girl Scouts meeting, Raina receives measured encouragement about her jutted-in teeth from her friends. When Raina worries that they make her look like a six-year-old, Emily dismisses that idea but also criticizes her twin ponytails. After a somber walk home, Raina decides to stop wearing her hair that way but accepts she is succumbing to peer pressure.
Raina skips class to go to the endodontist for a root canal, a long operation. She is nervous at the beginning of the procedure, but the doctor gives her soothing music to listen to. However, he accidentally burns her mouth with a hot sealing tool.
In two visits, Dr. Dragoni creates a molding of her teeth using a disgusting material and installs her upper row of braces. The goal of the braces is to gradually move the teeth using increments of pressure. The warning that Raina “may experience slight discomfort” proves to be an understatement as she experiences stings of pain throughout the day (44), and during a family trip to the movie theater she begins to crave the now-forbidden bucket of popcorn that Will gets.
Raina convinces her parents to let her pierce her ears before she reaches 18. Her mom is unsure because of an ear infection she suffered after her piercings as well as the simultaneous dental pain, but Raina insists that the procedure is safe. She receives several pairs of earrings for her birthday, though she gets upset when Melissa asks her if “you’ll look normal soon” (43).
Raina gets cold feet on the day she gets the piercings, but the procedure goes without issue. Happy, Raina leaves town to visit her old best friend, Jane. Raina misses her because Jane is not as concerned about maturity as the other girls, but Raina cannot stop talking about her looks and whether boys—specifically cute boys—will like her with her teeth problems.
Chapter 2 Analysis
The Girl Scout meeting shows that Raina’s relationship with her friends is changing for the worse. While the girls do not make fun of Raina’s teeth, Emily does go after a more acceptable target—her pigtails. Melissa and Kelli decide to walk her home after a silent panel in which they recognize the consequences of their horseplay. At school, Karin gives the first of many jokes at Raina’s expense when she tells her that an endodontist “sounds like it’ll be the end of you!!” (32).
The root canal demonstrates how Telgemeier uses graphic storytelling to explain dental procedures to a young audience. The procedure involves injecting several novocaine shots into the mouth and clamping it open before drilling holes into her teeth, cleaning them out, and filling them with cement. This is a complicated process, so Telgemeier instead depicts Raina’s reactions as she half-listens to the endodontist’s explanation: her fingers trembling, her eyes bugging out in fear of the novocaine shot, and her face dazed in front of a flowery background when she is given laughing gas.
The artist also uses panel transitions to depict dental pain by slowing down or speeding up time. When Raina holds the nasty-tasting mold in her mouth, Telgemeier illustrates the agonizing duration with two panels of Raina forcing her mouth shut while glancing at Dr. Dragoni’s ticking watch.
To counter her dental issues, Raina wants to demonstrate her maturity. For a middle-school girl, doing so involves symbols of adulthood like earrings. Raina uses her dental problems as leverage to get her piercings early and lists a range of styles that she wants to try on. When she gets to the jeweler, she is worried about needles and wonders if she truly wants them. She is happy with the results, however, and she wears a variety of earrings throughout the rest of Smile.
Another symbol of adulthood is romance. She goes to Jane’s house, believing that the two friends will hang out like in the old days, but Raina keeps asking about boys to Jane’s discontent. Jane does not appear in the story again, but Raina eventually understands her friend’s perspective as she gets annoyed with her group’s focus on appearances.
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