Little Nemo, a designed absurdity

All characters in Slumberland may not have a clear origin, but they are hyper aware of their world. Since everyone in Slumberland acknowledges that they are part of a dream, no one questions the logicality of of a situation.  This means that McCay does not have to answer the reader's question of why things work, but simply show that strange things are happening. The premise of this comic tucks away the readers' urge to understand the limitations of a world and instead look forward to its absurdity; making its reader's interaction quite surreal. This is also the reason why everyone in slumberland knows Nemo, yet he is not considered the person of highest status. Although there is hierarchy in Slumberland, for instance Nemo has to be courteous of King Morpheus and the princess, everyone in Slumberland still pay a lot of attention to Nemo. They tried to get him to see the princess, get rid of Flip or simply entertain him throughout his journey. Even the purpose Flip is only meaningful when Nemo is in slumberland, because his goal is to get in Nero's way. Nemo is treated as a significant visitor in his own imagination rather than being an established regular, so that he is experiencing a new adventure every time instead of having it be a study of his own mind.

The format of this comic is a mixture between continuous and stand-alone comic.McCay designed it to make sense of its newspaper nature, because the number of pages printed each time is limited. He is given one page per week but a long term serialization. Having each event in Slumberland end with Nemo waking up helps warp up the short story and justify the absurdity of Nero's adventure with the notion of dream to new readers. As for long-term readers, McCay sometimes tells a story over a multiple span of dreams. One does not need to know the full story of a continuous dream due its spontaneuos nature, but any reader who is caught up with Nemo can grasp a bigger sense of the story.  In mere words, the story format that McCay uses for Little Nemo is friendly to both its new and long term readers by taking the abruptness yet themed quality of dreams.

What differentiates "Little Nemo in Slumberland" from other comics is its use of imagination to highlight the domestically of Nemo's real life. Rather than mention the daily struggles of a person, Nemo is placed in the wackiest situation to contrast him just waking up in a regular household. Nemo's dreams are of an enchanted reality where he is not bound to the rules of he world, but in every panel that he wakes up, he is subjected to abide by household adults' rules. That is why Nemo is heavily involved/ invested in slumberland, because he is always someone significant there (Though there are also certain dreams where he wished he didn't dream at all). Having a normal boy's  dream be fantastical adds an endearing quality to the comic, because it to how childrens' minds add life to their normal routine- and that it is possible to for our own life to have something beyond in our dreams. It is alright to get lost in your dreams and enjoy it sometimes, if it helps one break away from the confinements of real life-and despite come complaints I think Nemo is very much happy that he can visit slumberland every night.