Characterization - Main Characters

The three main characters of Bitter Medicine: A Graphic Memoir of Mental Illness. Characterization page by Thong Truong

Clem Martini
He is the one writing the memoir. All the emotions in the memoir are expressed through Clem’s perspective as two of his brothers suffer from mental illnesses at different times. Readers are able to mostly see Olivier and Ben’s life and their growth over time rather than Clem’s.

As a kid, he was skinny and wore glasses. According to one of Olivier's drawings of Clem, he is bald, stern and has glasses.

Olivier Martini
He is the second oldest of the four brothers. He also was diagnosed with schizophrenia after Ben’s death. Olivier also does the visuals for the memoir. The difference between Ben and Olivier is that Olivier wasn’t stubborn. He was willing to get treatment. This might have been the fact that he saw how Ben went through mental illness and how rough it was for him. Seeing what happened to him, he wanted to take a different path in hopes of getting better. Constantly coming in and out of the hospital, he has a strong fighting spirit and wants to try different possibilities to stop his hallucinations.

Ben Martini
The youngest of the brothers, he is the first to be diagnosed with schizophrenia. As a kid, he was considered as the smartest out of his four brothers. By the time he graduated high school, mental illness started to come down on him which altered his personality. He became stubborn, started to argue, and refused to seek help at a hospital. When he started taking his prescribed drugs, he completely changed again. He was withdrawn and refused to speak to anyone. With the mental illness weighing him down, he then committed suicide.

As a kid, he looked different from his brothers. He was generally more good looking and had the good genes from his parents

Useful Links
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml

https://www.webmd.com/brain/what-are-hallucinations#1