Am I Blue? Response

    I recently finished reading "Am I Blue?" by Bruce Coville. Through much detail and dialogue the story displayed two themes. These  themes are don't judge a book by it's cover, and it's okay to be different. In the story Melvin, who is Vincent's fairy godfather, takes Vincent on a journey through gay radar. Gay radar is this thing you can have to tell if someone is gay. If they're blue, or somewhat blue than they may be very gay, or just a bit, depending on their shade of blue. This shows how many people are gay, and how many straight people know gay people. Vincent is always getting bulled by this kid named Butch, and is afraid that if he comes out of the closet he will be bullied even more. 

     The first theme I found in this short story was not to judge a book by it's cover. I think this is one of the themes because on page 12 Vincent still has gay radar, so Melvin and him go to the library. When he gets there Ms.Thorndyke, the librarian, who everyone "knew" was a lesbian, didn't have a trace of blue on her. I guess everyone didn't know, they just thought they did because of her looks, and maybe actions. Melvin says; " Can't tell without the spell, straights are helpless at it. They're always assuming someone is or isn't for all the wrong reasons." This line really stood out to me, and I feel like this is when the theme really gets stated. I agree with this theme becuse it's true, people need to stop judging people based on the way they look, because that doesn't matter. It's the inside that counts. 

      The second theme I found in this short story is that a lot of people are different, and  that's okay. I think this is the second theme because on page 15, right after Vincent makes his second wish, which is to give everyone gay radar from coast to coast, the radio reports what is going on. By one o'clock every station was on full alert, and it didn't take people very long to figure out what the blue stood for. At first, the reaction ranged from panic to hysterical denial to dancing in the streets. I think this began to show how people at first were scared, but then the gay people were finally able to no longer have to hide the sex they were into. People are learning in a matter of minutes that it's really okay to be different.
     I think that these themes taught me really good lesson. My friends and I always assume someone is gay, based on how they dress. For example, whenever we saw a guy with a scarf and a designer jacket, we immediately jumped to the conclusion that he was gay. Most of the time we were wrong anyway, and it really wasn't right. I mean like "so what" if he's gay, he's still the same as everyone else. There is nothing wrong with being gay, so we shouldn't separate gay people like that.