Blue's Philosophy
The narrator muses on his immediately connection with Blue. And then gives a second-hand glimpse into the philosophy of he espouses:
“He talked about the ocean between people. And how the whole point of everything is to find a shore worth swimming to.”
What teenager of substance wouldn’t be seduced by such poetry?
“because your glasses make you look like Harry Potter”
Simon is reminded of the one time—the ONE time—he said this about a friend. That’s the trouble with being a teenage. Pop culture allusion invades every aspect of your life and your best friends will never let you forget when you use the metaphorical comparison to make a burn on another friend. Even if you only do it once.
The Whole Character in a Movie Deal
At one point Simon admits to a feeling that has occurred to probably every American teenage since the 1930’s at least. Some feel it constantly. For sufferers of Borderline Personality Disorder it is a chronic feeling that pervades their life. Few, however, probably experience like the narrator; his placement of himself into the plot is psychologically telling:
“For the next few days…it felt like I was a character in a movie. I could almost imagine a close-up of my face, projected wide-screen.
It’s strange, because in reality I’m not the leading guy. Maybe I’m the best friend.”
A Harmless Bit of Goobery Nerd
The metaphor above is, of course, pure teenspeak. An example of slang revealing of a certain point in time, perhaps, but revelatory enough to translate easily. Martin, the class clown, is the character so described. Except that Martin turns out—like so many other class clowns—to have hidden levels of darkness of within. Had Simon not been so quick to dismiss his clowning as harmless, he might possibly have picked up this through paying closer attention to the kind of humor expressed. Because his radar didn’t pick upon on it, the harmless goobery nerd becomes big trouble.
The Trouble with Being Socially Conscious
Simon’s narrative is distracted briefly by the sight of his friends drinking from Chik-Fil-A cups and he remembers that he hasn’t eaten there since learning about the company’s anti-gay political agenda. Like so many others who have made the decision to express socially conscious activism through boycotting, he experiences a momentary lapse of regret as his thoughts recall—in metaphorical form—what he’s been missing, their Oreo milkshakes that “are giant vessels of frothy deliciousness.”
