Jacob Egli Mrs. Thomas English 2 April 26, 2023 Laura Dean Essay In the graphic novel, “Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me” by Mariko Tamaki, there is a constant conflict between the main character and her girlfriend Laura Dean. This conflict doesn’t start when they first meet at a school dance in gym class but there are showing signs. One of these signs is the panel on the top of page 69. In this panel, the girlfriend Laura is striking a pose and saying, ‘Because I’m irresistible’ in response to the main character asking why she should watch a movie with Laura. Laura is in a darker shade of gray and there is a pink background in this panel also. This panel appears because Laura broke up with the main character and the main character went …show more content…
It is a vicious cycle that she can’t, or doesn’t want to end. This panel gives us insight into Laura Dean’s thoughts and personality. With these few words, we can see that she is vain, self-centered, and doesn’t think of others. Even if this was supposed to be said in a joking manner it is still a problem and this situation could have been avoided if the main character saw these signs. Of course, this doesn’t take the blame off Laura Dean, she still shouldn’t act that way towards their girlfriend, or at least they could have talked about it. This idea of cheating and Laura being self-centered continues throughout the book. I believe the purpose of this panel is to show us the things that I just stated, that Laura is self-centered and that there were signs of this long ago. I think that this is also shown so obviously to show that there is blame on both sides, to show that yes, Laura is not the best girlfriend but the main character is the one getting back with her every time. This toxic relationship isn’t just affecting the two of them it is also affecting the main character’s friends, as she says on page 278, “Your a sh**** girlfriend. But also when I am with you I am a sh**** friend.” Of course, she only realizes this at the end of the