My Friend Dahmer

“Those pickle jars all have animal bodies I’ve collected. The acid I use is kinda weak…so it takes a couple of weeks for the flesh to dissolve.”

This quote comprises the first time Dahmer shows off his collection of dead animals to another person, and the reader can see the passion in his words. Through the depiction of his facial expression, the reader can deduce he is furtive and somewhat scared to be sharing this much, but compulsion guides him. Most of his face is in shadow to indicate the dark desire that governs his behavior. 

“He was a nobody. One of those shy kids who turned into social invalids when that first blast of adolescence hit, meekly accepted their fate, and became invisible.”

The narrator insists on Dahmer’s invisibility throughout the graphic novel/memoir. He positions Dahmer as a young man on the margin of society, both in school and beyond. The bolded words emphasize the key points of the narrator’s ideas: Dahmer is a social pariah, the panel containing the quote showing him alone and distracted, stressing his social status.

“Eastview was a teeming anthill of a school. Post-baby boom, the student population surged, far exceeding the building’s capacity […] If you were shy and slow to make friends, you were virtually trampled by the throng.”

Offering contextual information for the story (the spatial and temporal settings, which play a significant role in developing Dahmer’s character), the narrator also depicts a crowded environment unsuitable for maladjusted individuals. The school system’s inability to register Dahmer’s progression of illness is a constant motif in the novel, visually represented by singling out his character from the throng in the background.