The Parallels Between Benji Cooper and Jason Taylor
Benji, 15 years old in 1985. Jason, 12 years old in 1982. These two young boys are the same age. But that is only the beginning of their similarities. Although these two are separated by class, race, and location (living completely across the ocean from one another), they relate to one another in spookily noticeable ways throughout the novel. The first, most obvious, thing that is a shared similarity between them is their rather aggressive friend group circle. I am of course, in Jason’s case, referring more to before his “friendgroup” turned into vicious bullies. I think a feature of both of these friendgroups is their idea of practicality, how they are not necessarily friends by choice, but instead because options are so limited they are forced to hold onto this friendship. For Jason, it's because he goes to a small school, and needs to stick with the “cool” group to avoid harassment. For Benji, he must decide between hanging with the fellow Sag ...