Sexuality, isolation, anti- gay discrimination

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The entirety of this novel presents to the reader the importance of sexuality, anti-gay discrimination, and lastly isolation. Benjamin Alire Saenz creates a novel that encourages readers to dive deeper than the surface, and truly understand the complexities that comes along with discovering adolescent's sexuality, and emotional feelings. Ari is a teenage boy who has perfected the trait of being isolated from those around him, and this is a common issue that arises when it comes time for him to analyze is growing feelings for Dante. For Ari, isolation is a mechanism that he has carried from his childhood and believed in "... a rule that it was better to be bored by yourself than to be bored with someone else. I pretty much lived by that rule. Maybe that's why I didn't have any friends." In the novel, Saenz uses Ari's reasoning to help him come to terms with the fact that his behavior is why he failed to make connections with other teens except for Dante. While slowly emerging from the isolated cocoon that Ari has created, questions concerning his sexuality arise. Saenz creates Ari and Dante to represent the importance of emerging sexuality among teens. In the novel we are reading about two separate characters exploring their growing sexuality at different paces. The importance of how the two boys approach these feelings highlights the desperate need of acceptance from Dante and the toxic masculinity from Ari. In reality both sets of parents accepting their sexuality is a gift that most adolescents struggling with homosexuality do not receive. This brings up the next recurring theme of anti- gay discrimination. In his novel Saenz shows to lights on the reactions of LGBTQ teens. Dante is accepting of his love for Ari and this causes him to be attacked which is sadly normal for most teens coming out to their peers.

Comments

  1. NoahGoodwinSeptember 18, 2019 at 7:58 PM

    Tiara,

    I appreciate how you point out Saenz's choice to portray Ari and Dante's journey to discovering their individual sexuality in an almost dichotomous fashion. The desperate need for attention and acceptance is a stark difference to Ari's mindset of toxic masculinity; he almost feels like he doesn't need any acceptance of his feelings because he doesn't even approach them himself. I think it is also important to tie these concepts back to Ari's isolation and wonder how different things might've turned out had he not isolated himself so much.

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