I love this cartoon. So true.
by William Haefeli; The New Yorker July 9 &16, 2012
Nothing ruins a good joke like explaining it, but I love the contrast between the warm, cuddly scene of Mom and daughter with the dark and foreboding shadows on the wall and the existential advice. In fact the shadow of the mom is more frightening and of the girl more frightened, than their human counterparts.
So what do you do as an artist to combat the ghosts of your past?
mbwilsonart 
Cocaine.
Michael, I note that mom is opposite sagacious to her daughter in that her eyes are closed because she carries a much larger and longer darkness than her daughter. She only clues the child in that it is always with us.