Am I Blue?

In the short story "Am I Blue?" by Bruce Coville the main character, Vincent, gets beat up because he might be homosexual. Vincent meets his fairy godfather, Marvin, after being pushed into a mud puddle and gets three wishes. He uses one on the "Gay Fantasy #3", which exposes every gay person, turning them blue for a day. Vincent has trouble deciding and admitting whether or not he is gay, and he is afraid of the consequences. A big concept of this story is accepting others and accepting who you are. It's also about being able to control how you think of yourself.

One part in the story that shows control is when Melvin tells Vincent his story. Melvin called Vincent a faggot casually.When Vincent asked him about it, Marvin replied that he and his friends called each other that to "take the words away from the people who want to use them to hurt us." Melvin and his friends were stepping up and taking control of what people could call them, and how much it would hurt them. By taking the word 'faggot' and using it as a casual term they were less offended by it when people tried to hurt them with it.

 Another part where Vincent learns about recognition is when Marvin gives Vincent "gaydar", the ability to see gay people blue. Marvin talks to Vincent about how many gays there are, and how no one knows about them because they are afraid of getting beat up. Marvin says gays want the Gay Fantasy #3 "so all the straights would have to stop imagining that they don't know any gay people. They would find out that they have been surrounded by gays all the time, and survived the experience... The hiding would finally have to stop." This quote also shows how not only are gay people afraid of being beat up, straight people are afraid to admit that they know gay people. If they would both accept each other there would be no reason to hide. In the end of the story, the guy who had bullied Vincent also turns out to be gay. So, this story is about how everyone is afraid to show who they really are. 

Two of my mom's closest friends are lesbian, and they live together. I love going over to their house and seeing them. They don't act different than anyone else I know. They are so happy together, it's sad to think of the people like Vincent and Marvin who had trouble coming out. One of my cousins on my mom's side, who is around my sister's age, also discovered she was a lesbian. We all still love her, and accepted her decision easily and quickly. She even found a girlfriend at college. If only more people were accepting and understanding, gay people like Vincent would be able to live happily and safely, with a boyfriend, maybe.