While reading Boy Meets Boy, it slowly made sense to me that it was a utopian society, as I thought to myself for the 10th time, “Where do they live????” because, sadly, it is certainly uncharacteristic of any place here in the United States that I know of! Paul’s kindergarten teacher writes on his report card, “Paul is definitely gay” (Levithan 8), which started me wondering where this place was. But the moment Infinite Darlene showed up at homecoming with her big dress and football jersey, I realized it must be utopia, or “no place” (Pattee 161), because it is unlikely that she would be so widely accepted anywhere here, at least in this time period.
What struck me in Pattee’s article was her relation of gay YA literature and gay pornography. I’m still not sure I understand how she is connecting the two, or why. But I did like her comparison of this novel to the “traditional” romance novel, in which the love of two heterosexual people is depicted. Boy Meets Boy reminded me of one of these novels, without the sex. I loved how love was portrayed between these two gay kids, Paul and Noah, and sex was really never entered into the equation. It was just love between two people, and it was sweet. I think about all of the hype about gay marriages and how it is such a hot button issue for people for whatever reasons (some religious, some political). But reading a gay novel where two people fall in love and fight to keep that love alive, I almost forgot I was reading a gay novel. It makes me sad to think that people can’t accept gay love as the same kind of love as heterosexual. Love is love. It shouldn’t be held to different standards based on sexuality. But I do not want to start a rant here!
The other night I was talking to a 6th grade and 5th grade teacher in the area. When I mentioned that I was reading such books as Forever and Boy Meets Boy (to which one of the teachers cocked his head in confusion at the title as if wondering if I meant to say Boy Meets BOY.) Upon mentioning the themes in these books, the immediate response was “that book would be banned. You wouldn’t be allowed to teach it, although you could have it in your library.” It didn’t matter that Boy Meets Boy was not sexually explicit in any way. It was just the fact that it was about gay teenage boys. This bothered me tremendously because I can’t imagine how we will every become a society accepting of gay people if we aren’t sharing books like Boy Meets Boy with young people, a book that depicts gay love as normal. Young people, who are impressionable and the future of our society, should be exposed to such literature so that they can start to see that it is okay to be different, and that even though they have different sexual orientation, homosexuals love just like heterosexuals. I would like to teach this book (quite possibly only in a utopian school district would I be allowed to!).
What Do You Mean No More Books?!?!
13 years ago
I agree with your idea about it being a Utopian society. I had often thought about that while I was reading the novel, as well. What is this place, because I know at my old high school, kids like Paul and Infinite Darlene would not be that accepted. And it was a constant theme throughout the novel. I'm a little curious as to why Levitham decided to write the novel this way since it does seem to be so uncharacteristic of the Western Culture.
ReplyDeleteI agreed with your point about how sweet the love between Paul and Noah was in this novel - the author did a great job of expanding the concept of love without the sexual tension involved in so many YA novels.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your conversation with the other teachers! I think in some schools this would be banned, even though it is not explicit. I would like to talk to English teachers at my husband's school, because apparently their school is very liberal even though it is a public school. It would be interesting to get their feedback about whether they think they could teach this in class. Maybe it's the area, maybe it's the individual schools, but I agree, it's disturbing that a book with no explicit scenes would be banned because it is about love between two boys.
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