12 Analytical Essay Prompts for Jenny Lawson’s Broken

These 12 essay prompts dive into the memoir’s central concerns: brokenness, memory, mental health, relationships, and the transformative power of humor. Each prompt targets specific literary elements—character change, causality, relationships, contrasting scenes, themes, symbols, structure, foreshadowing, and the ending—and draws on concrete chapters and scenes from Broken. Use these to build a defensible thesis supported by Lawson’s own language and structure.

1. Embracing the Crack: How Lawson Redefines Brokenness as Growth
Why this prompt matters: The epigraph (Leonard Cohen) and the kintsugi episode frame the book’s central claim that breakage is not a flaw but a source of light. This prompt asks you to trace how Lawson’s attitude toward her own flaws shifts across the memoir.
Sample thesis direction: Lawson uses the twin metaphors of the cracked dove and kintsugi to argue that accepting—rather than hiding—brokenness is essential to personal growth and authentic connection.
Evidence leads:

Ch. 25: The stone dove shatters; Victor suggests kintsugi, treating breakage as part of the object’s history.
Ch. 2: Lawson admits, “I am still as broken as I was before, but with better stories.”
Ch. 39: The cover art—a child holding a monster—is embraced as a “beastie” that makes a person unique.
Epigraph (ch. 1): “There is a crack in everything / That’s how the light gets in.”

2. “It Won’t Always Be Like This”: Cyclical Depression and the Promise of Change
Why this prompt matters: Lawson repeatedly insists that depressive episodes pass, yet the book itself is structured around repeating crises. This prompt examines how she balances hope with honest acknowledgment of relapse.
Sample thesis direction: Lawson’s mantra “it won’t always be like this” functions as both a personal survival tool and a structural device, yet the memoir’s circular form reveals that recovery is an ongoing, non-linear process.
Evidence leads:

Ch. 37: Lawson repeats the mantra while watching snowfall, noting “there are still things I have not yet seen.”
Ch. 13: TMS treatment brings temporary relief, but six months later depression returns; she considers “booster treatments.”
Ch. 25: The broken dove is saved, but Lawson admits “I don’t know if I’ll find the old me or a new one.”
Ch. 8: After describing a depressive low, she ends with Victor’s line “you are a bad risk … but one I’m happy to take.”

3. The Weight of Inheritance: Family History, Memory Loss, and Identity
Why this prompt matters: Lawson traces mental illness and dementia through four generations, linking her own struggles to her grandmother’s fading and her great-great-grandmother Lillie’s death in an institution.
Sample thesis direction: By juxtaposing Lillie’s brutal treatment with Granny’s compassionate care, Lawson argues that open conversation about genetic inheritance can transform inherited trauma into a source of hope and advocacy.
Evidence leads:

Ch. 17: Granny’s dementia and her cheerful acceptance (“if they were alive they would have come to get me by now”).
Ch. 17: Lillie died in a mental institution after experimental therapies; Lawson notes “it wasn’t that long ago that I would have been in that place.”
Ch. 3: Lawson’s own memory lapses and the fear of becoming like her grandmother (“the dementia runs in my family”).
Ch. 23: The lost-watch story—Granny’s near-commitment to a bad marriage—illustrates how small decisions shape whole lives.

4. “Victor Is a Goddamn Saint” and Also a Real Asshole: The Paradox of Long Marriage
Why this prompt matters: Lawson repeatedly credits Victor with saving her, but also shows the arguments and exhaustion that fill the other 95% of their relationship. This prompt explores the full portrait of a long-term marriage.
Sample thesis direction: Lawson uses humor and sharp self-awareness to dismantle the myth of perfect partnership, arguing that real intimacy is built through laughter, conflict, and the willingness to stay even when laziness or frustration threatens to pull apart.
Evidence leads:

Ch. 21: The “secret to a long marriage” is laziness and laughter; she recounts the “kiss a wizard” moment that defuses a travel fight.
Ch. 24: The toothbrush argument escalates into absurdity about cat toothbrushes and vibrators, yet ends with Victor telling her to buy a new one.
Ch. 8: Victor admits she has no life insurance because she is “a bad risk,” then says he is “happy to take” that risk.
Ch. 25: Victor suggests kintsugi for the dove, showing he understands her need to preserve broken things.

5. The Open Letter as Genre: Systemic Failure vs. Individual Resilience
Why this prompt matters: Chapter 11 is a formal “Open Letter to My Health Insurance Company,” a sharp departure from the memoir’s usual humorous tone. This prompt examines how Lawson uses a different genre to critique the healthcare system.
Sample thesis direction: By adopting the public, accusatory form of an open letter, Lawson shifts from personal vulnerability to political indictment, revealing that individual resilience is insufficient when institutions deny care.
Evidence leads:

Ch. 11: The company denies antidepressants, rheumatoid arthritis treatments, and a noninvasive depression procedure; Lawson pays out-of-pocket and vows to speak for those who died.
Ch. 11: She notes that the company’s language “echoes depression’s lies.”
Ch. 13: The fight for insurance approval of TMS underscores the systemic barrier; she documents the bureaucratic process.
Ch. 8: Life insurance denial because she is a “bad risk” parallels the health insurance pattern.

6. “These Truisms Leave Out a Lot of the Truth”: Subverting Platitudes with Dark Humor
Why this prompt matters: Chapter 10 presents a series of inspirational sayings that Lawson rewrites into darker, more honest versions. This prompt explores the role of subverted platitudes in the memoir’s thematic structure.
Sample thesis direction: Lawson uses dark humor to reject the false comfort of simple truisms, arguing that acknowledging pain and imperfection creates a more genuine path to hope than forced optimism.
Evidence leads:

Ch. 10: She rewrites “Believe in your dreams” to exempt nightmares, and “Live as if it’s the last day of your life” to “live as if it’s Saturday.”
Ch. 10: The defaced book passes to a friend who finds it “more helpful” because it validates negative feelings.
Ch. 2: She tells readers to “forget your perfect offering” (echoing the epigraph) and to “be good. Be kind. Love each other. Fuck everything else.”
Ch. 26: She dismantles magazine relationship tips with absurd examples (Norwegian death metal massage, fake bubonic plague).

7. The Dove, the Shadow, and the Magpie: Recurring Symbols of Brokenness and Collection
Why this prompt matters: Several physical objects—the stone dove, the self-portrait shadow, the button collection—recur across the book. This prompt asks you to analyze how these symbols form a cohesive visual argument.
Sample thesis direction: Through the dove (broken and repaired with gold), the shadow (depression rendered as a drawing), and the magpie impulse (collecting buttons and stories), Lawson constructs a symbolic vocabulary that equates breakage with beauty, memory, and legacy.
Evidence leads:

Ch. 25: The dove shatters; Lawson decides to keep it as art; Victor suggests kintsugi.
Ch. 25: She draws herself as a shadow “when I’m broken more than usual”; the drawing becomes a talisman of survival.
Ch. 33: She collects buttons from estate sales, linking herself to forgotten women; “I am a magpie, but not alone.”
Ch. 30: The childhood fad of eraser branding—deliberate scars as badges of coolness—reinforces the idea that damage makes things real.

8. “I’m Not Going Outside Anymore”: Social Anxiety as a Structural Force
Why this prompt matters: Lawson repeatedly describes being unable to leave her room, canceling plans, or avoiding people. This prompt examines how social anxiety shapes the memoir’s structure and tone.
Sample thesis direction: Lawson uses the physical inability to leave a room (ch. 6) or a house (ch. 12) as a structural metaphor for mental paralysis, yet she transforms these isolated moments into opportunities for dark comedy and communal connection.
Evidence leads:

Ch. 6: In New York, she stands at the hotel door unable to exit; from the window she sees a rainbow mist only she can observe.
Ch. 7: “All of the Reasons Why I’m Not Coming to Your Party” is a list of awkward statements she uses to justify staying home.
Ch. 12: After the cockchafer misidentification, she declares “I’m not going outside anymore.”
Ch. 18: The introvert quiz and the description of imagined social exhaustion; she connects with readers through writing rather than physical interaction.

9. The Ending: Souls and Beasties—From Personal to Universal
Why this prompt matters: The final two chapters (38 and 39) move from specific anecdotes to a sweeping metaphor about glass spheres and inner monsters. This prompt asks you to evaluate how the book concludes its argument.
Sample thesis direction: In the final chapters, Lawson shifts from memoir to manifesto, arguing that brokenness is a universal human condition and that embracing one’s “beasties” transforms individual suffering into a shared, beautiful burden.
Evidence leads:

Ch. 38: Souls are glass spheres that crack; people search for shards (songs, love) to fill holes; brokenness can be beautiful in the right light.
Ch. 39: The cover painting of a child holding a demon-like monster reveals that “beasties” are part of what makes a person unique.
Ch. 37: The mantra “it won’t always be like this” and the wonder of “trees raining” remind her there are still things she hasn’t seen.
Ch. 25: The broken dove becomes a talisman; “she is shattered but she is special.”

10. “Am I Even Still Alive?”: The Domino Effect of Illness and the Toll of Constant Management
Why this prompt matters: Chapter 20 catalogs a cascade of diagnoses (TB, RA, lupus, pinworms) and treatments that interact disastrously. This prompt explores how Lawson renders the exhaustion of chronic illness without losing her comic voice.
Sample thesis direction: Lawson uses the absurd image of “buttworms” and the mundane nightmare of false-positive test results to illustrate that chronic illness is not a single battle but an endless series of interconnected crises that erode the self.
Evidence leads:

Ch. 20: Positive TB test turns out to be false; latent TB requires nine months of treatment with no alcohol, causing RA to return.
Ch. 20: Digression about family pinworms (buttworms) undercuts the medical seriousness with grotesque humor.
Ch. 8: New diagnoses of low testosterone, pre-diabetes, anemias pile up; she imagines immune cells as Samuel L. Jackson soldiers.
Ch. 13: TMS treatment diary shows the daily physical pain of the procedure, yet she persists.

11. Text Messages, Tweets, and Lists: How Digital Communication Shapes the Memoir’s Form
Why this prompt matters: Lawson frequently incorporates text conversations (with Victor, Lisa, Hailey), Twitter threads, and listicles. This prompt asks you to consider the function of these digital forms in the memoir.
Sample thesis direction: By embedding real text messages and viral tweets, Lawson simulates the fragmented, immediate nature of online connection, demonstrating how digital spaces can serve as safe havens for shared vulnerability.
Evidence leads:

Ch. 9: Text conversation with sister Lisa about dog penises and bearcats; they coin “PoMoRo” (Postmodern Romance).
Ch. 15: The #YouToo airport-tweet thread goes viral; strangers share awkward stories, creating a community of “artless misfits.”
Ch. 4: The list “Six Times I’ve Lost My Shoes While Wearing Them” structures the chapter around numbered, ridiculous incidents.
Ch. 36: “Business Ideas to Pitch on Shark Tank” lists 23 absurd products, satirizing entrepreneurial culture.

12. “Rainbow Fire”: Anxiety as a Source of Unique Vision
Why this prompt matters: Chapter 6 describes a fountain that produces a rainbow mist visible only from Lawson’s hotel room. This prompt explores how she reframes anxiety as a lens that offers insight others cannot see.
Sample thesis direction: Lawson transforms the isolating experience of anxiety into a metaphor for hidden beauty, arguing that the “crack” of mental illness allows access to perspectives—the rainbow mist—that remain invisible to the well-adjusted.
Evidence leads:

Ch. 6: She watches the fountain, seeing a rainbow no one else notices; she concludes anxiety “offers unique perspectives.”
Ch. 6: As a child, she hides in a toy box; later, mother changes jobs to support her—anxiety shapes family choices.
Ch. 23: The lost-watch story reveals that paralysis can be a form of protection against bad decisions.
Ch. 37: The snow in Texas brings communal joy and reveals animal tracks; she realizes “there are things I haven’t seen yet.”