Undefined

Sarah Flynn 809

     In Am I Blue? by Bruce Coville, Vincent, a 16-year-old, is trying to figure out if he's gay. He's constanly bullied by a guy named Butch. It's not until his "Fairy Godfather" comes along to help him that he begins to be okay with himself. In the story, I think a main theme is "you can bring yourself down, by judging yourself and listening to what others have to say to you. Only you have the power to let yourself down, but you have the same ability to raise yourself up. You decide how good or bad you seem to yourself, and how comfortable you are with who you are."

     During the story, when Melvin (Vincent's fairy godfather) is told to stop walking so "swishy" by Vincent, he tells him how he gave his life to walk "swishy" and how no one's going to stop him. This obviosly shows that Melvin is confident and comofortable with himself. It makes you admire him for his ability to be himself. It shows that he knows not to listen to people. Melvin doesn't care what people think of him, and he doesn't listen to hate directed at him. This is Vincent's problem, which he learns to fight.

     Melvin describes in the story how he uses the insults that people would call him casually. This takes abway the bully's power over them. To do this, to be called names by his friends, you have to first accept it. You don't use it as an insult. You have to be accepting of yourself. By not making the names you are called an insult, you stop bullies from getting under your skin. You stop them from hurting.

     I think that the biggest example of this theme is when Melvin says, "I'm not going to let anyone else define me." It shows that you can decide how you want to look ate yourself. you can let someone else decide gow you look at yourself, and they can make you feel whatever they want. You become their clay, which they can sculpt to be anything they want. By letting others decide who you are, you are brought down. But you also have the same power to shut them out. You can define yourself and tell yourself that you're the best person in the world. You can empower yourself.

     I know that everyone has insecurities. Whether it's your body, your sexuality, the things you like, it's all caused by others saying who you are. If the world didn't have anyone thinking or saying about each other, we wouldn't be insecure. We would be fine with who we are. People let others say who we are, and we don't use ability to not listen.