Perpetual Love

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Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda is a coming of age story that reveals the struggles of young love, stepping out of one’s comfort zone, and the difficulties of being yourself in a world that does not have the same views as you. This story reminded me of all the other love stories that I have read and watched on TV; the only difference is that that the main character (Simon) is gay. Towards the end of the book I could not stop smiling, every page was so sweet and his love for Blue (aka Bram) was inspirational. A major theme in the book that I noticed is perpetual love; this is shown throughout the book between not only Simon and Bram but also through Simon’s family and friends. Despite the hardships that Simon is faced with, his feelings for his secret lover remain constant and his friends and family support him the entire time.

The theme of love is shown from the beginning of the novel to the end with Simon’s friends and family. His friends show their love for him on his birthday. “…Leah has composed what appears to be a haiku.” (Albertalli 82). Though Leah’s haiku is humorous, you can see the love and thoughtfulness of her gift. Abby, another one of Simon’s friends, makes him a paper folded bow tie that is colored in with gold crayon. “Golden bow tie for your golden birthday…Seventeen on the seventeenth.” (Albertalli 83). Though this is another comical gift, it is very thoughtful and shows that she cares about him. Alice, Simon’s sister shows her love for him when she says, “You’re always awesome, bub.” (Albertalli 95). Simon explains that things are more perfect when Alice is home (she no longer lives there due to college.) Another major part where Alice reveals her love for Simon is at the end when she gets Theo, her boyfriend, to tell Simon not to come eat with them after the talent show. (Albertalli 292). She does this to give Simon alone time with Bram. As a sister myself, I know that this would be tough to do, but she does it out of love and knows that it will make Simon happy. Especially knowing that he has just found out who his secret lover is after months of communicating over email. Simon’s dad’s love is beautiful to me. He not only apologizes to Simon about his gay jokes over the years but says, “…In case the message got lost somewhere. I love you. A lot. No matter what… I know I didn’t make it easy for you to come out. We are very proud of you. You’re pretty brave, kid.” (Albertalli 247). Throughout the book, Simon’s family and friends are supportive of him before and after he comes out. To me, Abby seemed the most excited, she was so happy for him. I think that it is important to discuss his friends and family when discussing the theme of love because not only is this a romantic novel about two boys falling in love, but also about the support he is given along the way.

Simon and Bram’s love for each other is my favorite part about the book and shows the best examples of perpetual love. I think that it is so sweet when Bram, better known as Blue in this part of the story (his fake email name), delivers Simon a t-shirt with his favorite music artist on it. He leaves a note on the t-shirt saying, “I’m assuming Elliott understands that you would have made it to his shows if you could have.” (Albertalli 212). Simon has never wanted a shirt of Elliott because the artist died before he was able to attend a show. As a reader, you can see just how much Blue loves Simon because he remembers this fact about him and explains to him why it is okay to wear a shirt to honor his favorite late musician. Love is shown throughout Simon’s fantasies of Blue. (Albertalli 79). Throughout all of the judgment passed between people at school, Simon’s love never weakens for Blue. This is best shown through this quote, “The way I feel about him is like a heartbeat- soft and persistent, underlying everything.” This shows that throughout all that he has been put through from coming out and being exposed by Martin, his love is still continual. If you read the last few chapters and are like me, you will smile throughout because of quotes like, “My boyfriend. My brown eyed, grammar nerd, soccer star boyfriend. And I can’t stop smiling. I mean, there are times when it’s actually more work not to smile.” (Albertalli 277).

I was so surprised that the novel focused more on perpetual love rather than stereotypes against LGBTQ individuals. I am glad that these were included into the novel, but they were not a sole focus in the piece. Even when this couple went through hardships, they made it through. To me, their love story is very inspirational; both of these young men are very brave and fight for what they want.

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