Reading Response on Am I Blue?

People rush to figure out who they are in life. Are they straight or are they gay? Most of them are pressured by society who thinks they are gay. Inside the person is perturbed and doesn’t even know what they are themselves. They rush to make decisions and most of the time they try to avow to  themselves they are straight so that they won’t get pressured but sometimes the truth is that they are gay. They preclude the thought that they might be gay. Later on in life they know they made the wrong decision and they struggle inside themselves when people who are gay are taking the right path of their lives. In Bruce Coville’s short story Am I Blue?, the reader learns that you can and should take your time to figure out who you are even under all the societal pressure.

            The main character in Am I Blue?, Vince is the main character who is perturbed whether he is gay or straight. One day he gets bullied by Butch Carrigan and then he meets his fairy godfather who is Melvin. Melvin shows Vince how there are other people in this world who are gay. Through all of this, Vince’s status comes up a couple of times. At one part in the beginning it says, “ ‘Me being your first case. Does that mean I’m gay?’ I didn’t mention that I had been trying to figure out the same thing myself for about a year now.” This quote means that Vince is confused if he is gay or not. Later on in the story towards the middle it says, “ ‘Gaydar,’ said Melvin, stirring his coffee. ‘Automatic sensing system that lets you spot people of similar persuasion. A lot of gay guys have it to some degree or other. If it was more reliable, it would make life easier on us—’ I interrupted. ‘Speak for yourself.’ ” This means that Vince doesn’t want to accept that he’s gay because he doesn’t even know himself yet.

            So finally everyone should take time to figure out who they are before they make conclusions like Vince learned not to do. Vince went from rushing to figure out what he was to learning to accept whatever and whenever it comes to him. The reader learned to mainly take your time to figure out who you are and accept what comes to you. Like at the end of the story Vince’s thought was, “I’ve decided to save it when I really need it— m­­­aybe when I meet the girl of my dreams or Prince Charming. Whichever.”