of mice and miranda

       Jason’s interest in publishing his poems is an incredibly fascinating and revealing piece of his character. His love of writing is a hobby that could have very easily existed privately, so the fact that he actively seeks out publication is striking. Why would Jason, a character so terrified of being perceived and being judged by the people around him, release publicly the secret he hides most. It’s not as though he receives any recognition for his poems (at least not initially), nor do they drum up intrigue or excitement from members of the community. The only real public perception I could imagine locals having on Eliot Bolivar is confusion on why this unheard of man keeps writing poems about middle school. So why publish at all?      The answer is not simply that he likes to write, I mean that is obvious. Writing gives him the control of what he can say that he lacks in everyday conversation. In conversation, he is forced to navigate around hi...

     “Is it possible to not come of age?” This was a question that was posed on the first day of class along with other debates on what coming of age means, and at the time my answer was no. I believed that because we all age, we all must come of age at some point. I would say this belief still remains in some ways, but in other ways Fun Home certainly challenged this idea for me. Up until Fun Home I found this belief to be running unopposed in my understanding of the concept of Coming-of-age. Both The Bell Jar and Catcher in the Rye affirmed this idea by showing that a coming-of-age journey was completely specific and fitted for a specific character. Everyone has a different journey, so it’s impossible to deny that somebody hasn’t already had theirs. The steadiness of my belief prior to Fun Home is really what made Bruce so interesting to me, because, when faced with the question of “Did Bruce come of age?” my immediate answer was no.       Lucki...