anime as parable, as language

In Sink, Joseph Earl Thomas crafts a memoir that vividly portrays his turbulent childhood in Philadelphia, marked by violence, neglect, and a longing for escape. Growing up in an environment where love is often conditional and survival requires constant vigilance, Thomas finds solace and meaning in the fictional worlds of anime, video games, and fantasy literature. These stories become more than just entertainment or escapism; they serve as parables that help him navigate the complexities of his life. 

These concepts of trauma in life narratives are explored in Reading Autobiography Now by Sidonie Smith and Julia Watson, as they delve into the ways trauma, identity, and social forces shape the way a personal narrative is written. They argue that trauma has the ability to disrupt memory, sometimes making it difficult for the author to form a linear narrative and find some sense of closure. While this often leads to gaps in memory or non-chronological storytelling, in some cases the author uses alternate narrative forms such as metaphor or fantasies to process and communicate painful experiences. Life writers such as Thomas might struggle to fully articulate trauma due to the limits of language or the nature of their experiences, so instead, they rely on embodied expressions or experimental narrative structures to convey their experiences. 

Thomas uses fantasy and science fiction as tools to shape his memoir’s structure, just as those genres had effectively shaped his childhood. Rather than adopt a purely explanatory approach, he uses these genres as a way to comment on his world without reducing the seriousness of a young black experience. By referencing things such as anime or vampires, he preserves the interiority and imagination of his younger self and creates a private, inviolable space that allows him to think freely in a world that often sought to constrain him. For Thomas, fantasy was not just an escape, but a way for him to process his experiences. 

Retreating to these fantasy worlds grants Thomas a sense of agency over his own self-perception. As is apparent throughout Sink, any outward expressions of vulnerability or emotion (such as crying) would mark him as a target for ridicule or even violence. This forced Thomas to internalize his emotions from a young age and rely on his fantasy world as a means of self-preservation. This gives him a space to exist outside of the harsh expectations he’s been faced with, and allows him to reimagine himself beyond the limitations of his environment and the structures of race, class, and toxic masculinity that dictate his reality. So in other words, he can have some agency in his own life narrative, unlike in his reality where he is often powerless.

Goku from Dragon Ball Z, as both grown and as a child. Wikipedia.

He draws a parallel between himself and the anime character Goku from Dragon Ball Z, writing, “Not an episode went by where Goku, hair sharp and bright and glistening, had not gotten his ass beaten to near oblivion. But he fought through it, and kept fighting. He was abandoned, had no family, no history, no origin that could be readily narrated to anyone he knew. There was no one yelling at the top of their lungs about how much they loved him, either” (75). Like Goku, Thomas sees himself as alone, struggling through relentless hardship, but continuing to push forward. In a world where his own history and identity often feel fractured or uncertain, Goku’s relentless perseverance offers a model for survival. By identifying with characters like Goku, Thomas is able to process his own experiences of abandonment and perseverance through a narrative framework that empowers him.  

Thomas’ attachment to these stories stems from their ability to challenge established norms or offer alternative perspectives. These genres generally refuse to be confined to existing structures of the world, allowing for the possibility of new ways of being. While some may dismiss fantasy as impractical or detached from reality, these genres possess the unique ability to question or reshape the boundaries of what is possible, making it a tool for broader critique. 

Street Fighter gameplay, Youtube.

For instance, Thomas uses fantasy to reimagine power dynamics in his life, particularly in his relationship with his younger sister. In this excerpt, he envisions himself and his sister within the world of the video game, Street Fighter, where he trains her to fight: “He was Ken and she was Blanka… and in a rapidly aging and sparring montage, she grew taller and stronger than him, at which point Joey looked upon his work and saw that it was good. Mika was beating up men who were trying to touch her, challengers stepped up to get knocked down. One by one, then in droves, they stormed up the mountain with axes, scimitars, spells, and whips, but all of them met the same fate, screaming on the long fall down that steep cliff after Mika kicked and punched and threw them without breaking a sweat” (38). This fantasy sequence transforms his fears and anxieties into a world where his sister is strong and invincible, where she can fight back against the threats that surround them. In reality, he has little control over the dangers they face, but in his imagined world, he can shape an outcome where they emerge victorious. This passage is particularly striking because it reveals how fantasy allows him to temporarily reclaim control over his environment, even if that control is fleeting.

Thomas’ use of fantasy in Sink is not merely a means of escapism but a powerful tool for reframing his lived experiences and asserting agency over his own narrative. By drawing upon the imaginative possibilities of anime, video games, and speculative fiction, he transforms these stories into parables—moral and emotional frameworks that help him make sense of his world. At the same time, anime becomes a language through which he articulates his trauma, identity, and resilience, allowing him to communicate emotions and experiences that conventional storytelling might fail to capture. Ultimately, Sink demonstrates how fantasy and fiction serve as both refuge and resistance, enabling Thomas to reimagine himself beyond the constraints of his reality.