Of False Identity In M. E. Kerr's Gentlehands

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Recommended: Coming of age as a theme in literary texts

The novel GentleHands, by M.E. Kerr, reveals the false identity that the protagonist, Buddy Boyle, has assumed. Buddy is a young boy who is on the lower end of the social class. He couldn't afford nice clothes and did not really care what he looked like. However, when Skye Pennington is introduced to his life, a girl much higher in wealth then Buddy, it creates a drastic change in Buddy, giving him a desire to be someone different than himself, Buddy clearly matures towards the end of the novel. Ultimately Buddy learns that one must stay true to the person he is as he realizes individuals that he looked up to are not who the seem. The beginning of the relationship with Sky Pennington has started to twist Buddy’s perspective on his . Buddy’s …show more content…

Buddy matures to a extent where he realizes that the summer he spent with Skye Pennington needed to come to an accelerated end as he is stuck in a turmoil state of mind. Buddy exaggerates “I knew that is was almost six, and that soon my father and mother and Streaker would be waiting for me down at the end of the driveway”(201). Kerr is explaining to his readers that this is Buddy Boyle’s last time in his grandfather’s home. It clarifies his parents are driving him home, not Skye Pennington in her fancy Jensen. It shows the growth of maturity from Buddy because he understands that his family, no matter what car they drive or where they live is where he is best fit. Buddy is now able to accept the fact that having nice clothes, such as a cashmere sweater is not a necessity to have. While Buddy is going through his final walkthrough of the Trenker home, “I saw the navy blue cashmere sweater Skye had given me, in a heap on the rug, with the twisted tapes of Madame Butterfly, La Traviata, Tosca and Louise wound around it. I thought of picking up the sweater to take with me, but i didn't i just wanted to leave everything about that summer behind me”(201). Buddy knows that this summer was a resemblance of something to not be proud of. When he sees the sweater it is with maturity that he

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