Becky Albertalli's novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda uses solid views on maturity, adulthood, and social conformity to depict how the main character, Simon Spier, figures out his identity as a gay teenager. At the beginning of the novel, Simon, closeted and anonymous, is secretly emailing another closeted and anonymous student at his school going by "Blue". As Simon and Blue are getting closer, their emails are found by a classmate who threatens to reveal their relationship. The novel depicts Simon maturing as he begins to understand ideas about himself and others that he'd never understood before. For example, Simon gets an increasingly clear view of what kind of person he wants to be as the novel goes on. At one point in the book, he realizes how little he knows about his closest friends so he decides to become more mindful of the people in his life, making a conscious effort to get to know them better. The book also draws a strong correlation between maturity and coming out, which is exemplified when Simon states how coming out is "the kind of process that moves in one direction. Once you come out, you can’t really go back in" (Albertalli 129). Despite this quote referring to coming out, it could also apply to maturing in general, which shows how strongly the two processes are correlated.
Conformity is another concept that Simon realizes is more complicated than he initially perceived, as his main problem surrounding conformity is that he's gay. Coming out wouldn't help him fit in with the predominantly straight kids at his school as he wants, demonstrating his realization that conformity is different for everyone but would be much easier if standards accounted for everyone's diversity. In an email to Blue, Simon notes how "the only people who have to think about their identity are the ones who don’t fit that mold", which expresses how conformity would be much more simple if uncontrollable aspects of people's identities were judged equally (147). The narrative also shows how conformity is different for people depending on personal values. For instance, Simon's friend Leah dresses extra feminine for Gender Bender Day since she doesn't care about fitting in with the rest of the school for spirit week. On the other hand, Simon worries that it would be conspicuous if he didn't cross-dress at all, showing that in this situation, he values conformity and others' judgment more than Leah.
Simon's coming of age is further illustrated by his gaining of more control over his life and new "adult" experiences such as drinking, but his worry over his parents' reactions to these changes presents an obstacle to his growth. Throughout the book, Simon expresses irritation from his parents' overreactions to his maturing. He complains that “every freaking time [he changes], I have to reintroduce myself to the universe all over again", showing that his insecurities surrounding coming of age stem in part from the exhaustion of dealing with others' perceptions of him (56).
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda very much embodies the classic YA coming of age novel but with the twist that Simon has to figure out not only maturity but also his identity being gay. This twist helps the novel broaden its explorations of conformity and identity, calling on readers to open their minds to what can be considered ideal.
I really like that you talked about this book as a coming-of-age novel because it's almost the opposite of what someone might think of as a stereotypical coming-of-age story in a sense. The book is no doubt a coming-of-age novel but the process that Simon goes through is very different than a character from a classic coming-of-age story. Like typically, the main character kind of sticks out and is trying integrate themselves into the adult society and adulthood in general, but with Simon, he's kind of struggling to break free from the chains of conformity and go on his own path because he's afraid of sticking out.
ReplyDeleteI've never read this book before, but I've heard of it being described as a coming-of-age story before. From what I've read in your blog post, that definitely seems to be the case. It seems that the main character is trying to find his place in the world by determining what his identity is and how to make that fit into society. Definitely sounds like an interesting read.
ReplyDeleteI think you captured the idea of "moving in one direction" really well. Like you mentioned, once Simon comes out, he can't undo it. I feel like the coming-of-age period is a series of firsts that a lot of teenagers are scared of approaching because you can't really "go back" after it's done. I haven't read this book but I've seen the movie, and in addition to becoming more mature by the end, Simon also seems to develop a lot more confidence which enables him to keep pursuing his own wants without being influenced by society.
ReplyDeletethe parallel drawn between coming out and maturity is really interesting to me, the last line you quote about simon having to reintroduce himself everytime he changes also reinforces the idea that the two are alike since coming out (to different people/ in different settings) is something you have to do repeatedly throughout your life- at least in today's society
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