I am currently reading the book, "It's Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned Vizzini. In this book, the main character Craig struggles with depression. The first line of the whole story was, "It's so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself." This line really stood out to me. As I continued reading the book, it became clear that Craig is seriously depressed, and carefully chooses what aspect of that to share and what not to.
Craig has to see a weekly shrink. Even though Craig is depressed, and he chooses to keep many things secret, he does tell Dr. Minerva a fair amount about his thoughts. He told Dr. Minerva about how he woke up from a dream, and he had an awful realization that he was awake. He then goes to say that "Life is a nightmare". Clearly, he's not hiding the fact that he's depressed. At the same time however, he's not telling her everything. "There were more things to tell her, things I held back: like the fact that I was hungry in bed this morning. I hadn't eaten the night before. I went to bed exhausted from my homework and knew as I hit the pillow that I would pay for it in the morning, that I would wake up really hungry, that I would cross the line where my stomach gets so needy that I can't eat anything. I woke up and my stomach was screaming, hollowing itself out under my little chest. I didn't want to do anything about it. I didn't want to eat. The idea of eating made me hurt more." Craig seems to have a really serious problem with eating, which is extremely dangerous. What I find interesting is that he says he doesn't want to have to go to therapy. To Dr. Minerva he says, "I want to not have to come here." Dr. Minerva knows he's depressed, Craig knows she knows he's depressed, and he wants it all to stop, so why doesn't he just tell her everything?
What really struck was indeed, the first line, which was, "It's so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself." This stuck out to me because I really understand what he means by it. I also think it is one of the main reasons why he isn't telling his shrink about his eating problems. When talking about his previous shrinks, he mentions one who asked him if he was abused. "Of course I wasn't abused. If I were, things would be so simple. I'd have a reason for being in shrinks' offices."On top of all of these emotions he's feeling, he's not even confident in his being depressed, he feels he has no reason. Adding on to all of the original problems factoring his depression, his depression is one of them. Craig probably feels like his depression has such an incredible weight. It's like he has a huge secret, but by opening his mouth just a little bit, it won't be able to escape. He has to make the effort to open wide and spill it all out. But Craig doesn't. Because "it's so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself."
I think that everyone can relate to this. Everyone has problems that they choose not to tell, for some reason. If you think about it, we would all probably be so much better off if we just got it off our chest, but we choose not to. Whether it's because it's embarrassing, or we think we deserve whatever it is, or we don't want to hurt someone, or anything; for the most part it's not great to keep things bottled up inside of you. I can especially relate to this feeling. Last year, I was really stressed out because of all of the school work and pressure to do well, and I wasn't getting much sleep. There were points throughout the year where I was pretty depressed. Sometimes people, or my parents, would ask, "Are you okay?" or "How was your day?" or things like that. Part of me would just want to get it all off of my chest, but when I opened my mouth I found myself just saying, "Yeah" or "Fine". Now that that year has passed, I feel so much better. I can't help thinking what it would've been like if I had really talked to someone. It's so much easier not to say anything, but I think people really need to make the effort of expressing their thoughts, even if it requires a great effort.
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
The Transferrable Seed of Paranoia
In the book "Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children" by Ransom Riggs, Jacob finds himself amidst a confusing, somewhat unasked for adventure.
Ever since Jacob was a child, his grandfather, Abe, has been telling him stories. "He always obliged, telling them like secrets that could only be entrusted in me." Abe's stories consisted of monsters, wars, riding on horseback, circuses, and most of all, peculiar children. Abe had escaped Poland from the Germans in World War II. When Jacob was younger, he had asked Abe why he had abandoned everything to escape. Abe always replied: "because the monsters were after me." The so-called monsters were "awful hunched-over ones with rotting skin and black eyes,". As Jacob said, "It wasn't long before I had trouble falling asleep." From there, Abe was sent to an orphanage with extremely "interesting" inhabitants. He described it as "an enchanted place, designed to keep kids safe from monsters, on an island where the sun shined every day and nobody every got sick or died. Everyone lived together in a big house that was protected by a wise old bird." He also talked about his fellow orphans. One was invisible, there was a girl who could fly, a boy who had bees living inside him,a brother and sister who could lift boulders over their heads, and a boy with a second mouth on the back of his head. Jacob became fascinated with these stories, as I'm sure any young child would at hearing of such a magical place. At such an early age, Jacob believed him one hundred percent. Abe planted a seed inside Jacob's head that had already been blooming in his own since he was a child.
Jacob believed for awhile, until it started to cause him problems. One day in second grade, Robbie Jensen pantsed him at lunch in front of a table of girls and announced that he believed in fairies. After that, Jacob declared that he no longer believed in the stories, the price was too much to pay, and he was getting too old. When he told hid grandfather this, Abe simply replied, "Okay". As Jacob got older, he talked to his father about the stories that Abe had told him. According to Jacob's father, the stories his grandfather had told him weren't lies, but exaggerated versions of the truth. "Grandpa Portman's childhood wasn't a fairytale at all. It was a horror story." Abe was sent on a one-way ticket into the arms of strangers, never to see his soon-to-be dead family ever again; "killed by the monsters he so narrowly escaped." As Jacob's father said, "these weren't the kind of monsters that had tentacles and rotting skin, the kind a seven-year-old might be able to wrap his mind around---they were monsters with human faces, in crisp uniforms, marching in lockstep, so banal you don't recognize them for what they are until it's too late."And so the seed of paranoia and dementia was forcefully planted inside of young Abe's head.
As Grandpa Portman got older, he started to become slightly senile. Every now and then he would completely freak out, call one of the family members (typically Jacob) and yell that the monsters were coming to get him. He even had a stock of weaponry in which he would defend himself with. They eventually had to take the key to that safe away because they didn't want to risk harming others. On the day of Abe's death, he called Jacob, having a typical episode in which he said the monsters were there, and they were coming to get him, "if he could only find that goddamn key!". He was so incredibly scared of the monsters that had been haunting him all of his life.
After Jacob left his job to come check on his Grandpa, he goes to his house and sees he is nowhere to be found. Nervously, he goes into the woods by his grandfathers house, with his friend behind him. Eventually, he comes across a scratched and bloody Abe lying on the ground. He had clearly been deeply injured. Jacob looks around to see what had done such an awful thing to his grandfather: "There was something in the woods, all right--- I could feel it.... I knew just when to raise my flashlight and just where to aim it, and for an instant in that narrow cur of light I saw a face that seemed to have been transplanted directly from the nightmares of my childhood. It stared back with eyes that swam in dark liquid, furrowed trenches of carbon-black flesh loose on its hunched frame, its mouth hinged open grotesquely so that a mass of long eel-like tongues could wriggle out." This part of the story really stuck out to me (apart from creeping me out!). Here Abe is lying down on the ground at his death bed, the epitome of all of the fantastical stories and imaginary creatures that had lead Jacob's life for so long, and what does he see standing near the scene? The very monster that had been haunting Grandpa Portman all of his life.
Whether or not the monster was real, it triggered a thought for me. If the monster hadn't been real, then that means that Jacob must have been imagining it. His grandfathers stories had impacted his thoughts so much that they come to life. Soon after this tragic episode, Jacob tries to tell people about the monster that had supposedly killed his grandfather. His parents eventually get him a psychiatrist, and Jacob is supplied with numerous issues regarding this monster that Abe had been dreading all his life. When reading about the chain of events that impede's Jacob, I tried to think back to the cause. All of this had started with Abe's stories. These clearly extremely emotion-racking events that maimed Abe's psyche, Abe chose to share with Jacob. He took his own personal problems and embedded them into Jacob's mind. Generally people need to share such tragic experiences with someone, to prevent it from causing further damage. Although he lightened up the story, these monsters will probably have a role in Jacob's life for a long time. Was it really right for him to chose to tell it to a young child? To take a seed from his already blooming emotional instability and place it in Jacob's mind to further grow and develop?
Ever since Jacob was a child, his grandfather, Abe, has been telling him stories. "He always obliged, telling them like secrets that could only be entrusted in me." Abe's stories consisted of monsters, wars, riding on horseback, circuses, and most of all, peculiar children. Abe had escaped Poland from the Germans in World War II. When Jacob was younger, he had asked Abe why he had abandoned everything to escape. Abe always replied: "because the monsters were after me." The so-called monsters were "awful hunched-over ones with rotting skin and black eyes,". As Jacob said, "It wasn't long before I had trouble falling asleep." From there, Abe was sent to an orphanage with extremely "interesting" inhabitants. He described it as "an enchanted place, designed to keep kids safe from monsters, on an island where the sun shined every day and nobody every got sick or died. Everyone lived together in a big house that was protected by a wise old bird." He also talked about his fellow orphans. One was invisible, there was a girl who could fly, a boy who had bees living inside him,a brother and sister who could lift boulders over their heads, and a boy with a second mouth on the back of his head. Jacob became fascinated with these stories, as I'm sure any young child would at hearing of such a magical place. At such an early age, Jacob believed him one hundred percent. Abe planted a seed inside Jacob's head that had already been blooming in his own since he was a child.
Jacob believed for awhile, until it started to cause him problems. One day in second grade, Robbie Jensen pantsed him at lunch in front of a table of girls and announced that he believed in fairies. After that, Jacob declared that he no longer believed in the stories, the price was too much to pay, and he was getting too old. When he told hid grandfather this, Abe simply replied, "Okay". As Jacob got older, he talked to his father about the stories that Abe had told him. According to Jacob's father, the stories his grandfather had told him weren't lies, but exaggerated versions of the truth. "Grandpa Portman's childhood wasn't a fairytale at all. It was a horror story." Abe was sent on a one-way ticket into the arms of strangers, never to see his soon-to-be dead family ever again; "killed by the monsters he so narrowly escaped." As Jacob's father said, "these weren't the kind of monsters that had tentacles and rotting skin, the kind a seven-year-old might be able to wrap his mind around---they were monsters with human faces, in crisp uniforms, marching in lockstep, so banal you don't recognize them for what they are until it's too late."And so the seed of paranoia and dementia was forcefully planted inside of young Abe's head.
As Grandpa Portman got older, he started to become slightly senile. Every now and then he would completely freak out, call one of the family members (typically Jacob) and yell that the monsters were coming to get him. He even had a stock of weaponry in which he would defend himself with. They eventually had to take the key to that safe away because they didn't want to risk harming others. On the day of Abe's death, he called Jacob, having a typical episode in which he said the monsters were there, and they were coming to get him, "if he could only find that goddamn key!". He was so incredibly scared of the monsters that had been haunting him all of his life.
After Jacob left his job to come check on his Grandpa, he goes to his house and sees he is nowhere to be found. Nervously, he goes into the woods by his grandfathers house, with his friend behind him. Eventually, he comes across a scratched and bloody Abe lying on the ground. He had clearly been deeply injured. Jacob looks around to see what had done such an awful thing to his grandfather: "There was something in the woods, all right--- I could feel it.... I knew just when to raise my flashlight and just where to aim it, and for an instant in that narrow cur of light I saw a face that seemed to have been transplanted directly from the nightmares of my childhood. It stared back with eyes that swam in dark liquid, furrowed trenches of carbon-black flesh loose on its hunched frame, its mouth hinged open grotesquely so that a mass of long eel-like tongues could wriggle out." This part of the story really stuck out to me (apart from creeping me out!). Here Abe is lying down on the ground at his death bed, the epitome of all of the fantastical stories and imaginary creatures that had lead Jacob's life for so long, and what does he see standing near the scene? The very monster that had been haunting Grandpa Portman all of his life.
Whether or not the monster was real, it triggered a thought for me. If the monster hadn't been real, then that means that Jacob must have been imagining it. His grandfathers stories had impacted his thoughts so much that they come to life. Soon after this tragic episode, Jacob tries to tell people about the monster that had supposedly killed his grandfather. His parents eventually get him a psychiatrist, and Jacob is supplied with numerous issues regarding this monster that Abe had been dreading all his life. When reading about the chain of events that impede's Jacob, I tried to think back to the cause. All of this had started with Abe's stories. These clearly extremely emotion-racking events that maimed Abe's psyche, Abe chose to share with Jacob. He took his own personal problems and embedded them into Jacob's mind. Generally people need to share such tragic experiences with someone, to prevent it from causing further damage. Although he lightened up the story, these monsters will probably have a role in Jacob's life for a long time. Was it really right for him to chose to tell it to a young child? To take a seed from his already blooming emotional instability and place it in Jacob's mind to further grow and develop?
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Finding Your Obssesion
I've just started reading, "The Rules of Survival" by Nancy Werlin. In this book, the main character Matt is writing to his youngest sister Emmy about the "truth and history of our family", seeing as she was too young to understand it at the time he writes it. Matt, Emmy, and the middle sibling Carrie, have a very destructive mother and live in terrible conditions. Life is pretty grim, and Matt doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about his life as much as protecting his sisters from their own mother; but when he sees a random stranger stand up for a little boy as he is about to be abused by his father, he become fascinated.
Matt's mother is dangerous. She's a drug addict, and completely unstable. "I remember one night, when I was little. I waited until our mother had gone to bed, and then I sneaked into the kitchen. There was a package of Oreos there. My plan was to take one of them back to bed with me... I made it all the way back to bed with the cookie. I was beneath the sheet, in a little tent, with the cookie flat on my palm and my nose pressed to it- when she whipped back the covers. "Thief!" our mother yelled. "Cookie thief!" She burst into giggles. She had the big kitchen knife, and it was pressed to my throat. And as she laughed, I could feel it shake in her hands, and push against my skin. She cut me that night. Just a little. Just to teach me not to steal, and not to sneak." This unpredictability has forced Matt and his sisters into a life of constant fear. His only thought is protecting his sisters, survival. His dream of dreams would be to stand up to his mother, to banish her for good from their lives.
When he sees a mystery man protecting a child from an abusive parent, it basically encapsulates his worries/hopes in a nutshell. "I stood in that convenience store on that hot summer night and stared after him, and I thought: I have to know that man. There is a word for this feeling, Emmy. It's called obsession." Seeing something that is so relatable to him makes him enthralled. Matt becomes a bit obsessed with this man, who he later finds out is named Murdoch. I think he basically thinks of him as an idol. Murdoch protected a child from an abusive parent, which is what Matt wishes he could do for his sisters. He wishes to be Murdoch, wishes he could act like him; so he becomes "obsessed". When people find something that just encapsulates them, or expresses their hopes or dreams, we tend to become fascinated.
I'm not that far into the book, but I know that Matt and his sister find Murdoch, and he accidentally ends up dating their mother. Their mother tries her best to act normal for as long as she can. For about three months, Matt, Carrie, and Emmy soak up their "miracle" as much as they can, as Murdoch is everything they wished they had as a parent. He is everything Matt wishes to be. As most things do come to an end, Murdoch and "Nikki" don't stay together forever, and Matt's miracle bubble is popped, leaving things back (nearly worse) to where they were before they even met Murdoch.
When we find something that perfectly yields to our personalities or dreams, something that fits us like a glove, we tend to become obsessed. We never knew something could attune to us so well. We can't help but obsess over it! It's like when you find a new band that you've never heard before, and you fall in love with their music; everything they write describes you, and you feel like you found some place you belong. What do we do? We watch all of their music videos, buy their albums, posters, everything we can do to become closer to them. You look back at all of the other music you used to listen to, and realize that it wasn't as good as you thought it was.
In this way, I don't think it is weird that Matt becomes obsessed with Murdoch. Matt was just at the convenience store with his sister, when suddenly, a man demonstrates his whole life's basis. Everything he tries to do, wants to be, wishes to be, is bluntly defined by that one action. He must've been in awe. I think we all have these things we become obsessed with, and I think each thing gives a big look into each individual's personality and wants/hopes/dreams.
Matt's mother is dangerous. She's a drug addict, and completely unstable. "I remember one night, when I was little. I waited until our mother had gone to bed, and then I sneaked into the kitchen. There was a package of Oreos there. My plan was to take one of them back to bed with me... I made it all the way back to bed with the cookie. I was beneath the sheet, in a little tent, with the cookie flat on my palm and my nose pressed to it- when she whipped back the covers. "Thief!" our mother yelled. "Cookie thief!" She burst into giggles. She had the big kitchen knife, and it was pressed to my throat. And as she laughed, I could feel it shake in her hands, and push against my skin. She cut me that night. Just a little. Just to teach me not to steal, and not to sneak." This unpredictability has forced Matt and his sisters into a life of constant fear. His only thought is protecting his sisters, survival. His dream of dreams would be to stand up to his mother, to banish her for good from their lives.
When he sees a mystery man protecting a child from an abusive parent, it basically encapsulates his worries/hopes in a nutshell. "I stood in that convenience store on that hot summer night and stared after him, and I thought: I have to know that man. There is a word for this feeling, Emmy. It's called obsession." Seeing something that is so relatable to him makes him enthralled. Matt becomes a bit obsessed with this man, who he later finds out is named Murdoch. I think he basically thinks of him as an idol. Murdoch protected a child from an abusive parent, which is what Matt wishes he could do for his sisters. He wishes to be Murdoch, wishes he could act like him; so he becomes "obsessed". When people find something that just encapsulates them, or expresses their hopes or dreams, we tend to become fascinated.
I'm not that far into the book, but I know that Matt and his sister find Murdoch, and he accidentally ends up dating their mother. Their mother tries her best to act normal for as long as she can. For about three months, Matt, Carrie, and Emmy soak up their "miracle" as much as they can, as Murdoch is everything they wished they had as a parent. He is everything Matt wishes to be. As most things do come to an end, Murdoch and "Nikki" don't stay together forever, and Matt's miracle bubble is popped, leaving things back (nearly worse) to where they were before they even met Murdoch.
When we find something that perfectly yields to our personalities or dreams, something that fits us like a glove, we tend to become obsessed. We never knew something could attune to us so well. We can't help but obsess over it! It's like when you find a new band that you've never heard before, and you fall in love with their music; everything they write describes you, and you feel like you found some place you belong. What do we do? We watch all of their music videos, buy their albums, posters, everything we can do to become closer to them. You look back at all of the other music you used to listen to, and realize that it wasn't as good as you thought it was.
In this way, I don't think it is weird that Matt becomes obsessed with Murdoch. Matt was just at the convenience store with his sister, when suddenly, a man demonstrates his whole life's basis. Everything he tries to do, wants to be, wishes to be, is bluntly defined by that one action. He must've been in awe. I think we all have these things we become obsessed with, and I think each thing gives a big look into each individual's personality and wants/hopes/dreams.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Hiding Our Emotions, Expressing Our Inner-Wallflower
I just finished reading "The Perks of Being A Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky. In this book, the main character Charlie, thinks a lot. Some people (like his English teacher, Bill) would say too much. Charlie observes a lot of things and takes time to understand and question them. And with all of the problems he's surrounded with, it's not very hard for him to find something to think about. One of the many things he sees is people hiding their emotions, and in turn, he questions it.
One of Charlie's friends, Patrick, is gay. He had a secret boyfriend named Brad, who hadn't come out of the closet and didn't intend to. Eventually Brad's father caught Patrick and Brad together and started beating Brad. After that, it went without saying that they could no longer be together. For a week or two, Brad stayed out of school. When he came back, "He looked very different. It wasn't that he was bruised or anything. His face actually looked fine. But before, Brad was always this guy who walked down the hallway with a bounce. I can't really describe it any other way. It's just that some people walk with their heads to the ground for some reason. They don't like to look other people in the eye. Brad was never like that. But now he is. Especially when it comes to Patrick." Here Brad is, just coming back to school after his father (and mother?) have probably been abusing him physically and emotionally, and not only that, he's no longer allowed to see the person he loves. And yet, only a few people know what really happened. No one else knows what's going on inside his head, and how terribly he's feeling. If he could only talk to someone about it, the weight he was feeling probably could've eased quite a bit, but he chose to bottle it up inside him, and let it eat at him.
On the other side of the relationship, Patrick is feeling extremely disheartened as well. Charlie, being a good friend, hangs out with Patrick as much as possible. Patrick starts to show Charlie part of his world. One night, Patrick takes Charlie to a park where "men go to find each other", so Patrick can try and move on and find someone else. While they were there, they see Brad kissing some unnamed man.
The next day, Charlie sees Brad, expecting him to look different after what he had seen the weekend before. "I saw Brad in detention the Monday after I saw him at the park. And he looked just like he always looks." Even though this such a small excerpt compared to the whole book, it really stood out to me. Charlie had expected Brad to have changed. After Charlie had seen what Brad had been doing, he interpreted what was going on inside Brad's head, and expected it to show. He was surprised to see that Brad looked just like he did every other day. Does this mean that that is how he feels every day? Or does it mean he just hides his emotions?
I think this is a universal point, and that everyone can relate. Imagine looking into someone else's thoughts; maybe for a day, maybe for an hour, or even just a second. You would probably discover so many things about that person that you had never even thought of, or never expected to be there. Imagine if someone looked inside your head. All of the things you've never told anyone and have wanted to tell, or haven't. All of the feelings you've had that no one even knew you were feeling. It's incredible how much information someone can hold, and how many thoughts can go through someone's head, however happy, sad, angry, or all of the things in between.
So in that sense, I think we all have a little bit of "wallflower" in us. In the book, Patrick described "wallflower" as, "You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand." Every single person in the world has those things that we choose to keep quiet about. We all have thoughts that weigh us down, and naw at us slowly, but for some reason, we choose to keep them to ourselves. So I guess the next question would be, Why?
One of Charlie's friends, Patrick, is gay. He had a secret boyfriend named Brad, who hadn't come out of the closet and didn't intend to. Eventually Brad's father caught Patrick and Brad together and started beating Brad. After that, it went without saying that they could no longer be together. For a week or two, Brad stayed out of school. When he came back, "He looked very different. It wasn't that he was bruised or anything. His face actually looked fine. But before, Brad was always this guy who walked down the hallway with a bounce. I can't really describe it any other way. It's just that some people walk with their heads to the ground for some reason. They don't like to look other people in the eye. Brad was never like that. But now he is. Especially when it comes to Patrick." Here Brad is, just coming back to school after his father (and mother?) have probably been abusing him physically and emotionally, and not only that, he's no longer allowed to see the person he loves. And yet, only a few people know what really happened. No one else knows what's going on inside his head, and how terribly he's feeling. If he could only talk to someone about it, the weight he was feeling probably could've eased quite a bit, but he chose to bottle it up inside him, and let it eat at him.
On the other side of the relationship, Patrick is feeling extremely disheartened as well. Charlie, being a good friend, hangs out with Patrick as much as possible. Patrick starts to show Charlie part of his world. One night, Patrick takes Charlie to a park where "men go to find each other", so Patrick can try and move on and find someone else. While they were there, they see Brad kissing some unnamed man.
The next day, Charlie sees Brad, expecting him to look different after what he had seen the weekend before. "I saw Brad in detention the Monday after I saw him at the park. And he looked just like he always looks." Even though this such a small excerpt compared to the whole book, it really stood out to me. Charlie had expected Brad to have changed. After Charlie had seen what Brad had been doing, he interpreted what was going on inside Brad's head, and expected it to show. He was surprised to see that Brad looked just like he did every other day. Does this mean that that is how he feels every day? Or does it mean he just hides his emotions?
I think this is a universal point, and that everyone can relate. Imagine looking into someone else's thoughts; maybe for a day, maybe for an hour, or even just a second. You would probably discover so many things about that person that you had never even thought of, or never expected to be there. Imagine if someone looked inside your head. All of the things you've never told anyone and have wanted to tell, or haven't. All of the feelings you've had that no one even knew you were feeling. It's incredible how much information someone can hold, and how many thoughts can go through someone's head, however happy, sad, angry, or all of the things in between.
So in that sense, I think we all have a little bit of "wallflower" in us. In the book, Patrick described "wallflower" as, "You see things. You keep quiet about them. And you understand." Every single person in the world has those things that we choose to keep quiet about. We all have thoughts that weigh us down, and naw at us slowly, but for some reason, we choose to keep them to ourselves. So I guess the next question would be, Why?
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Different Shades of Blue
In the story, "Am I Blue" by Bruce Coville, Vince is a 16 year old boy struggling with his sexual orientation while getting constantly bullied. Soon after a rough encounter with Butch Carrigan in which he is thrown into the mud, a flamboyant fairy godfather named Melvin appears to help him out. Melvin offers Vince three wishes, and Vince eventually decides to use a wish to turn every gay person blue for a day, one of the great gay fantasies.
Melvin is allowed to give Vince three wishes, and teach him along the way. While talking to Vince, he asks if Vince knows the three great gay fantasies. Vince says he doesn't. Melvin then replies, "Skip the first two. You're too young. It was number three that I wanted to tell you about anyway. We used to imagine what it would be like if every gay person in the country turned blue for a day... So all the straights would have to stop imagining that they didn't know any gay people... and survived the experience just fine thank you... The hiding would finally have to stop." Melvin then offers Vince the "sight". He lightly touches Vince's eyelids lightly, and when he opens his eyes, there are shades of blue all around him.
Later, Vince uses one of his wishes to turn everyone gay blue all over the country, just for twenty-four hours. Once everyone who is gay turned blue from coast to coast, people realized what it the significance of the coloring was. "The reaction ranged from panic to hysterical denial to dancing in the streets." When Vince is awarded the "blue sight", (a few hours before everyone else, mind you) he constantly describes the different shades of blue he sees. "Some were bright blue, some were deep blue, some just had a bluish tint to them." When Vince asked his fairy godfather Melvin about the shading, he responded, "It's an indicator of degree. The dark blues are pretty much exclusively queer, while the lighter ones are less committed- or maybe like you, trying to make up their minds. I set it up so that you'll see at least a hint of blue on anyone who has had a gay experience." I really like this line because it's so meaningful. The author didn't just say, "People turned blue all over the coast," or something along those lines. Instead, he made the effort to express that everyone was a different shade, some more than others. If he had made everyone just "blue" it would've really created a separation between blue and non-blue, or gay people and straight people.
I think the different shades of blue is such an important part of this story. It represents the fact that no one is one thing or the other, we're all different and no two people are exactly the same. It also reminds of the saying, "There is no black and white, but many shades of gray in between." When everyone was awarded the blue sight, it would've prevented people from saying that people were gay, or blue, because what does that really mean? There were so many different versions of that. The definition of "gay" is "of, indicating, or supporting, interests or issues of pertaining to, or noting the same sex". That exact definition of course, does not apply to everyone. It's impossible to define a group exactly to the point because no one is the same.
People need to stop giving each other labels, because they are rarely one hundred percent true. We, people, need to stop judging and comparing ourselves to other people and everyone in general, because no two people are exactly the same and there never will be. This reigns true in so many parts of everyday life. If we all just stopped trying to categorize everybody else, we could all just accept each other for who we really are.
Melvin is allowed to give Vince three wishes, and teach him along the way. While talking to Vince, he asks if Vince knows the three great gay fantasies. Vince says he doesn't. Melvin then replies, "Skip the first two. You're too young. It was number three that I wanted to tell you about anyway. We used to imagine what it would be like if every gay person in the country turned blue for a day... So all the straights would have to stop imagining that they didn't know any gay people... and survived the experience just fine thank you... The hiding would finally have to stop." Melvin then offers Vince the "sight". He lightly touches Vince's eyelids lightly, and when he opens his eyes, there are shades of blue all around him.
Later, Vince uses one of his wishes to turn everyone gay blue all over the country, just for twenty-four hours. Once everyone who is gay turned blue from coast to coast, people realized what it the significance of the coloring was. "The reaction ranged from panic to hysterical denial to dancing in the streets." When Vince is awarded the "blue sight", (a few hours before everyone else, mind you) he constantly describes the different shades of blue he sees. "Some were bright blue, some were deep blue, some just had a bluish tint to them." When Vince asked his fairy godfather Melvin about the shading, he responded, "It's an indicator of degree. The dark blues are pretty much exclusively queer, while the lighter ones are less committed- or maybe like you, trying to make up their minds. I set it up so that you'll see at least a hint of blue on anyone who has had a gay experience." I really like this line because it's so meaningful. The author didn't just say, "People turned blue all over the coast," or something along those lines. Instead, he made the effort to express that everyone was a different shade, some more than others. If he had made everyone just "blue" it would've really created a separation between blue and non-blue, or gay people and straight people.
I think the different shades of blue is such an important part of this story. It represents the fact that no one is one thing or the other, we're all different and no two people are exactly the same. It also reminds of the saying, "There is no black and white, but many shades of gray in between." When everyone was awarded the blue sight, it would've prevented people from saying that people were gay, or blue, because what does that really mean? There were so many different versions of that. The definition of "gay" is "of, indicating, or supporting, interests or issues of pertaining to, or noting the same sex". That exact definition of course, does not apply to everyone. It's impossible to define a group exactly to the point because no one is the same.
People need to stop giving each other labels, because they are rarely one hundred percent true. We, people, need to stop judging and comparing ourselves to other people and everyone in general, because no two people are exactly the same and there never will be. This reigns true in so many parts of everyday life. If we all just stopped trying to categorize everybody else, we could all just accept each other for who we really are.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)