Alex: A Battle for Self-Identity

506 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Sexuality in literature

Everyone tells Alex that she is something that she is not. Alex is just like any normal teenager. She fights with her parents and has a hard time in school. But things are a little different for her, or him? In the beginning of the book Alex enrolls herself into a new school without her parents knowledge. We then follow her quest to obtain a birth certificate, and be accepted by her parents who continue to call Alex ‘he’. We learn why she left her old school and we see new obstacles come through at her new one. Both at school and at home Alex has a hard time just being her. We see through Alex’s point of view, but once in a while the other Alex comes through, the boy Alex. She is desperate to rid herself of him, and does everything in her power …show more content…

The author has done a fantastic job conveying to the reader what is going on in Alex’s head. There is a constant sense of “what is going to happen next?,” and problems continue to pop up after every fix, or almost fix. We see Alex explore gender and sexuallity and ultimatly decide that ‘girl’ is closer to what she feels, and this is where her problems begin. ‘Alex as well’ is a fiction piece but never felt like one. Brugman has placed real world problems into this realistic life of Alex. There are secrets and cliff hangers throughout the book and Brugman has done a good job keeping readers on their toes. The author writes from the perspective of Alex but also has included writings from the point of view of the mother. Alex’s mom has a blog and she writes about her troubles with Alex. These blog snippets are scattered throughout the book and usually follow a large confrontation, or give background information that is key to knowing what is going on with Alex. It is at this point where the reader can see that Alex’s mom does not support her child. The author makes almost all readers connect with the story by adding in everyday issues. It especially relates to LGBT youth who are not accepted by their family or peers. This book is one of a kind integrating transgender, intersex, and lesbian plot lines. The book highlights social issues that are more frequent than anyone may think. Most

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Unwanteds: Island Of Graves By Lisa Mcmann

    1496 Words  | 3 Pages

    She comes in at Artíme and completely destroys everything. While that is happening, the pirates come into Quill and kidnap Aaron, who they think is Alex because they look alike. The reason they try and kidnap Alex is because he stole all of their trapped animals and took one of their slaves. This really made Alex mad even though Aaron is a really bad person. He would not wish it upon anyone to be kidnapped.

    Read More

  • The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    The main idea is to be yourself, not to change for someone else. In the beginning, Alex lived in Quill, a place where you could be anything but yourself. If you showed creativity in any way shape or form, you had an infraction. At age thirteen, those with infractions were Unwanteds, depending on how serious the infraction. Quill believed that all unwanteds were eliminated in the Great Lake of Boiling Oil- Even the high priestess.When Alex was “eliminated” he was welcomed by Marcus Today, and the world of Artimè, where creativity was embraced and taught- pretty much a polar opposite of Quill. Alex becomes good friends with 3 other Unwanteds, Samheed, Lani, and Meghan. They were all really close- until they all began Magical Warrior training- all except for Alex. Alex pulls away from the others for a while, until eventually he starts training himself. The whole group was really brought back together after the battle with Quill.

    Read More

  • Differential Diagnosis of Alex Forrest of Fatal Attraction

    1926 Words  | 4 Pages

    Alex Forrest is a Caucasian female in her mid-thirties. Alex is an editor for a newspaper. She lives alone in a spacious apartment in New York City. She is single, however she is currently involved with a married man and reports that she is pregnant with his child. She appears to have average to high intelligence.

    Read More

  • The Theme of Self-awareness in Frankenstein, Flowers for Algernon, and A Clockwork Orange

    568 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin, Alex is one out of the four characters that reveals self-awareness broadly. Alex begins by stating, “What’s it going to be then, eh” (Burgess 1). The use of this quote explains to the reader that Alex is not only self-aware of himself, but he is careless, and he is an outlaw. Another quote that Alex states throughout the novel is, “O my brothers” (Burgess 5). “O my brothers” reve...

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Sexuality and Gender in Children's Daily Lives by Thorne and Luria

    585 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sexuality and Gender in Children’s Daily Worlds article by Thorne and Luria focuses on the relationships between sexuality and gender in the experience of 9 to 11 year old children. The purpose of the authors’ analysis is to illuminate age-based variations and transitions in the organization of sexuality and gender. Throughout this paper we discover how gender and sexuality has become a social and cultural construction that is expressed through young children. At a young age we tend to define and separate ourselves by gender, boys vs. girl. These divisions are enforced around us daily. For example, teachers often tend to separate team by gender whether it’s in the classroom or the playground.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Sherman Alexie's The School Days Of An Indian Girl By Zitkala

    1344 Words  | 3 Pages

    Alexie was grew up in the Indian culture but unlike Sa he willingly leaves. Alexie specifically showcases the changes in his life throughout the structure of his text; through the idea of education. He wanted a chance to have more opportunities then what was given to him on the Indian Reservation. The structure of Alexies piece was specific and purposeful due to the fact that it truncated his life into years; the years of education. The audience is aware of the thematic shift in the seventh year when he “...kissed the white girl”(Alexie). The shift between his time on the reservation and his resilience through taking matters into his own hands despite the backlash he received through growing up. Alexie knew that he didn’t want to leave his culture willingly behind but it was something that he had to do in order to change his life and take charge of it like an “Indian” would

    Read More

  • Sexual Self-Discovery in Fun Home by Allison Bechdel

    1178 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the graphic novel Fun Home, by Allison Bechdel, sexual self-discovery plays a critical role in the development of the main character, Allison Bechdel herself; furthermore, Bechdel depicts the plethora of factors that are pivotal in the shaping of who she is before, during and after her sexual self-development. Bechdel’s anguish and pain begins with all of her accounts that she encountered at home, with her respective family member – most importantly her father – at school, and the community she grew up within. Bechdel’s arduous process of her queer sexual self-development is throughout the novel as complex as her subjectivity itself. Main points highlight the difficulties behind which are all mostly focused on the dynamics between her and her father. Throughout the novel, she spotlights many accounts where she felt lost and ashamed of her coming out and having the proper courage to express this to her parents. Many events and factors contributed to this development that many seem to fear.

    Read More

  • Mysteries Of Pittsburgh Michael Chabbon Character Analysis

    897 Words  | 2 Pages

    Unsurprisingly, the novel is a classic coming of age story which centers on a young man who is confused about himself and his sexual identity in his early twenties. This confusion about himself and his sexual identity is the driving force of his interactions with his friends and lovers. Moreover, this confusion about himself and his sexual identity also facilitates the conflict and unforeseen consequences which occur during the novel.

    Read More

  • to kill a mocking bird

    741 Words  | 2 Pages

    Scout's narration and the character's dialog prove that Alexandra is characterized by her traditional values while Miss Maudie is characterized as a modern woman. The issues of gender roles are still a large part of society today and it affects a majority of adolescents because they feel the need to conform and ignore their individualism and that is why this novel is still relevant to society today.. The lessoned to be learned here is to be comfortable in one's own skin and don't listen to negative feedback if it is not constructive.

    Read More

  • Gender Performativity In Ali Smith's Girl Meets Boy

    944 Words  | 2 Pages

    Smith has turned the gender construction made by society on its head in this paragraph where she has switched the roles of the genders as constructed by society, and she does this by describing one as the other and vice versa. The main character Anthea instantly falls in love with Robin, although she upon first glance believes her to be a boy. Anthea’s sister, Imogen, sees that Robin is a girl, but not because of her choice of clothing or her body language, but rather in the performative acts that supposedly constitutes her gender. Smith plays with the idea of what elements makes a girl a girl and what makes a boy a boy; she toys with the

    Read More

  • Alex Rider Stormbreaker Analysis

    654 Words  | 2 Pages

    If all of these events did not happen, Alex would still be a static character. Through all of his courage, he found what he was looking for. He dug deep and went to the extremes that were not normal of himself. All of his work lead to his dynamic

    Read More

  • The Strain of Mother-Daughter Relationships in Annie John

    1857 Words  | 4 Pages

    was very strong and they do a lot of things together. By the time Annie turns twelve, she starts to go through some changes which many teenagers normally goes through. In order for Annie to mature and prepare for the world, Annie's mother told her to find her own way of life. Due to these new changes, the relationship between Annie and her mother begins to degenerate. Annie now did things her mother disapproved of. At the end of the story, their relationship was okay but not as strong as it was before. After reading this book I saw that the main issue discussed in her novel, is all the stages mother- daughter relationships go through.

    Read More

  • alexclo Psychological Analysis of Alex in Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange

    1431 Words  | 3 Pages

    A Psychological Analysis of Alex in A Clockwork Orange & nbsp;       In A Clockwork Orange, Alex is portrayed as two different people living within the same body of mind. As a mischievous child raping the world, he was as seen as filth. His actions and blatant disrespect towards society are categorized under that of the common street bum. However, when he is away from his evening attire. he is that of suave.

    Read More

  • Ainu Essay

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ainu is spoken in the far northern islands of Japan in Hokkaidô. This is an island about 83,530 square feet, which is about one fifth the size of Japan. It is surrounded by coasts and has mountains, lakes, and rivers. Speakers of Ainu live on southern Sakhalin. Earlier, but they used to live in Kuril Islands and Kamchatka. They even lived in the northeast region of Honshű. Ainu is believed to have origins in Siberia and the southern Pacific (Gall & Hobby, 2009). This non-Japanese language means “human” or people (Leeming 2010). There are currently around 1,200 to 2,400 speakers of Ainu that are residing in Hokkaidô. (Leeming 2010). According to Gall and Hobby, Ainu belongs to a Paleo-Asiatic or a Paleo-Siberian community of languages. It consists of two dialects called Hokkaidô and Sakhalin, which are subdivided into other minor dialects (Gall & Hobby, 2009).

    Read More

  • Clockwork Orange Reflection

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the first chapter, Alex and his droogs assault an old man, rob a shop, and beat the shop owner and his wife. After all of this is done, Alex says, “Still, the night was still very young”(Burgess 15). This not only implies that their violent acts will continue, but also implies that this is a normal activity for him to partake in. While most kids Alex’s age go to school and do chores for their pee and em, Alex assaults people on a daily basis. Another key moment that highlights Alex’s violent nature is his interaction with F. Alexander and his wife. Alex led his droogs into the country and said, “What we were after now was the old surprise visit”(Burgess 23). A surprise visit is basically Alex breaking into a random house and assaulting whoever is inside. The fact that he has little names like “surprise visit” for his violent act shows how he just rubs off whatever he does as something that doesn’t even matter. Even at the end of the book Alex just rubs his horrific actions off as just being a part of

    Read More

More about Alex: A Battle for Self-Identity

Open Document