Since godless a teen coming-of-age novel, appearance is definitely an issue. Jason Bock spends a fair amount of brain power considering how others may perceive him based on his size and "mountain troll" appearance, but not a lot of thought about the charisma he possess that causes his friends to follow him, a lá the pied piper, up the local water tower for a midnight mass.
He also tends to evaluate and categorize his peers based in part on appearances, and then interact with each accordingly. Sometimes the characters act in line with expectations, sometimes in contrast—but that's informative in its own right for us as readers.
Questions About Appearance
- Jason never says outright that he likes Magda. How do his descriptions of her reveal his feelings?
- Jason says even the way Dan Grant looks is ordinary—a composite picture of a bunch of students' faces ends us bearing a strong resemblance to Dan. Is there such a thing as looking ordinary? Why do you think Dan didn't see his resemblance to the picture?
- What are some examples of Henry's behavior contradicting his appearance and the image he projects?
- Do you think Jason's size matters to his friends? To Magda?
Chew on This
Jason has developed his charisma and humor to compensate for his insecurity over his size.
Jason knows who he is and says it like it is. He's not hung-up on his size and doesn't think about whether others are or not.