Robot Dreams by Sara Varon
Graphic Novel Explores Friendship, Loss and Redemption
The field of silent comics grows with Sara Varon’s graphic novel Robot Dreams. This heart-wrenching and morally complex story introduces readers to a pair of friends who must wrestle with a tragic separation. Sometimes billed as a children’s book, the all-ages Robot Dreams appeals to older readers as well with an exploration of friendship, loss and redemption.
The Friendship of Dog and Robot
We first meet Dog on an August day as he eagerly awaits a package in the mail. His new friend arrives in a large box marked “Tin Robot Kit.” After a little handiwork with a screwdriver, needle and thread, and some glue Dog takes Robot to the municipal library.
The friends take home a movie, make popcorn, and settle in for a pleasant evening. Robot falls asleep in front of the television. Dog lovingly covers him with a blanket before going to bed.
While returning the movie to the library they discover a guide to dog beaches. The duo hops on a bus to a nearby beach and enjoys a wonderful afternoon playing in the ocean. They come out to take a long nap on the beach. When it’s time to leave Dog discovers that exposure to salt water has ruined Robot. Dog cannot carry him and is forced to abandon his friend.
The next day Dog returns to the beach with a robot repair manual and tools to find it closed for the season. Robot can be seen lying in the sand beyond a chain link fence topped with barbed wire.
The Passage of Time in Comics
During Dog’s restless night before returning to the beach and after his discovery of its closing, Varon employs an interesting technique to communicate the passing of time. A solitary small panel occupies the corner of a single page. The negative white space weighs on the panel conveying the heavy emotions felt by Dog and Robot and slowing our reading.
She returns to the technique several more times throughout the book. Each occasion is an opportunity for us to consider the plight of our heroes. Varon invites us to think about the meaning of friendship and how we deal with loss.
Moral Complexity
As the year goes by, Dog tries to replace his friend, making and loosing a series of new ones. He befriends a duck who leaves him to fly south for the winter and a snowman who melts in the spring.
Robot, meanwhile, passes the time in daydreams of happier places. He is attacked by rabbits who break off one of his legs so that they might use his toe to plug a hole in a boat. Birds nest in the crook of his arm. Eventually a monkey hauls him away and sells him for scrap.
But Robot Dreams doesn’t end in despair. The two characters’ journeys of recovery from their day at the beach lead them to a place of redemption. Both heroes face their loss with bravery and find a way to overcome. Varon doesn’t settle for the typical happy ending, but takes us to a bitter-sweat scene of moral complexity unrivaled by the average all-ages graphic novel.
Robot Dreams
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