How Do Different Looks Look?

Cover of Looks by Madeleine George

In Looks by Madeleine George, the story is told in the perspective of two different teenage girls who attend Valley Regional High School. Although the author tries to make it seem as if the two girls have very different views and lives, I think that their perspectives are actually more similar than they seem. They both have many traits in common. The two girls are Meghan, a very overweight girl, and Aimee, a somewhat anorexic girl. Although they almost sound as opposites (and I believe they are supposed to), I managed to find many similarities between their characters.

The main similarity I found is that both girls try to make their selves smaller, and not only physically (although they do), but mentally too. In school, both girls try to hide themselves. For Meghan, hiding is a matter because she is bullied badly, so she hides to find a safe and comfortable zone where she can just be her. I think this is because overall Meghan needs an escape, and that relates the story back to Aimee. Aimee mentions throughout the entire story that she needs an escape from not eating, and although I'm not exactly sure how because I've never been in that position, I can understand how having an escape might be necessary. They both need escapes from the ton of kids at school, and I see how that may end up causing stress on a person. Sometimes, I get nervous before tests or drama performances or interviews or even essays. A thing you can do is to take a break from stressing over what you are nervous of and instead have a relative escape. Things I like to do are read, run, play soccer or even just go on walks or be with my friends, simple activities, otherwise that anxiety can build up and overrule someone. I think that's how Aimee and Meghan both feel, how they both need an escape and something they can do but they just can't find one. Because of this, they both try to make themselves invisible and not noticeable, but end up feeling ignored and sad. This is a cycle they're both going around, just in different ways.

Although I notice similarities, I also noticed a few subtle differences. Throughout the plot I've noticed Meghan has tried to take everything in and in someway tries to get everyone to like her and be her friend. She tries hard to make everyone like and appreciate her. I noticed Aimee has a very different attempt on high school. Instead of trying to make everyone like her or try hard to make friends, Aimee pushes people away and they end up trying harder to be her friend. The first year at camp, when trying to make friends, many people tried to push others away because of many different reasons. Others tried harder to make pals so that they wouldn't have to be alone. I admit I was one to kind of let people come to me instead of being the outgoing one in the situation, but that may have just been because I was shy. This reminded me of the way Aimee lets people come to her, and Meghan tries harder to befriend many.

Not Out of the Blue -- "Am I Blue?" by Bruce Coville

Cover of Am I Blue by Bruce Coville

I recently read the short story "Am I Blue?" by Bruce Coville. While reading, I recognized that a big part of the story was how the protagonist, Vincent, started to develop and evolve. In the beginning of the story, Vincent was lonely and different, and I think in a way this made Vincent feel ashamed about the way he was. Towards the end of the story, Vincent grew into a whole other person. I think in a large way, Vincent developed over his internal conflict of doubting himself. In the exposition, Vincent shows that he is vulnerable to Butch Carrigan and the other bullies when he is pushed face-first into the puddle. In that excerpt, Vincent doesn't stick up for himself. I think this is because he's full of doubt and maybe he's not okay himself with who he really is. When Vincent pushes himself away from the doubt, you can see he's seeing his sexuality and bullying and just the world in general in a new light. 

I think the climax is when Vincent states, "It was like seeing the world through new eyes." He is referring to his "gaydar," or vision that makes everybody who is to some degree homosexual turn blue (or at least some light shade or tint of blue.) But as he sees all of those others that are blue, I realized that Vincent starts to become more okay with being homosexual or at least somewhat. I think this may because he no longer feels alone. When he says that it was like seeing the world through new eyes, I don't think he was necessarily only talking about the blue. I also think Vincent's perspectives had changed and he saw the world in a different way. I also think Vincent reached a change when he gave everyone the vision for 24 hours. My first reaction was to question his motives of doing this. I realized after some speculation, that Vincent didn't want to be different anymore; he wanted it to be acceptable to be gay.

In the resolution of the story, I really noticed the change from Vincent's beginning character and Vincent's character at the end. I feel as though at the beginning, Vincent couldn't and wouldn't stick up for himself because he really felt that the way he was was wrong. I realized that Vincent had changed when, in the end, he wrote: "If I caused you any trouble with Blueday, I'm sorry. But not much. Because things are never going to be the same now that it happened." I think this is a valid example of Vincent sticking up and being able to defend his actions, simply something he wasn't capable of carrying out in the exposition of the story. I really think this shows a vivid character change from beginning to end in this short story.

Once I finished the story, I began thinking about how this connected to the world. I think a lot of high schoolers and middle schoolers can find themselves in situations like these at any given school or time or place, and I think the reason Vincent was given the blue vision was so that he would feel less lonely and know that there were others in the same situation as him. I realized there are a lot of ways that kids who are bullied can be helped to feel less lonely, even if one of the ways isn't blue vision.