Craig's Appearance
Early in the novel, Craig provides a detailed physical description of his own face: "Dark hair and dark eyes and one snuggled tooth. Big eyebrows that meet in the middle. A long nose, sort of twisted" (7-8). Craig scrutinizes himself throughout the novel, so it is natural that his physical appearance would be subjected to a similar form of self-consciousness. But this description serves another purpose: Vizzini's many physical descriptions give It's Kind of a Funny Story an almost cinematic quality, and the use of close description would naturally start with Vizzini's protagonist.
The Emergency Room
After arriving at Argenon Hospital, Craig enters the emergency room and carefully notes the objects and patients around him: "There's a long black metal bench sprinkled with people. A Hispanic couple walks around, the woman howling about her knee. An old white lady and her gigantic son fill out forms next to each other" (156). Craig is wide awake and is feeling intense emotions that may explain why his observations, even in new settings, are so precise. Still, the people he sees are simply nameless figures and spectacles--and, in this respect, are very different from the patients he bonds with in Six North.
Noelle's Body
Some of Craig's closest observations occur when Craig meets with and regards Noelle: "I look at her feet ending in simple black sneakers and her small ankles and her pale lower legs and the indentation in the Capri pants where the pants start, under the knee, and up her body to her small waist and then the sharp blue of her neck, coming through the uneven, distended neckline of her wife-beater, and her small chin and lips" (278-279). Craig is similarly preoccupied with the physical appearance of his other love interest, Nia, yet his fixation on Noelle extends beyond her fashion sense and physical beauty. By the end of the novel, they have formed a bond which takes in both physical intimacy and, perhaps even more, emotional support.
Craig's Future Art
As It's Sort of a Funny Story nears its end, Craig envisions future art projects that he could complete: "I was also thinking: what if you filled a shoe with whipped cream? Just a man's shoe, filled with whipped cream? That's pretty easy to do, And then you could keep going: a T-shirt filled with Jell-O, a hat full of applesauce . . . that's art, right?" (390). Craig has a specific vision of the kind of artist—idiosyncratic and energetic—that he could become. By describing specific projects, he allows the reader to picture an entire artistic future the most specific visual terms possible.
