Character Clues

Character Analysis

Sex and Love

Even the book's title has love in it, so it's definitely fitting that we learn a lot about the characters through their love lives. For example, John is:

[…] not interested in the whole idea of locked lips or proclamations of love. I can't imagine being in love with somebody, letting her touch me and tell me things I wouldn't know whether to believe. (2.11)

This tells us a lot about John and the barriers he puts between himself and the world. We also learn about Marisol and the world she lives in through her sexual orientation, even though John doesn't want to acknowledge or believe it for a while. Even John's parents are defined by their love to some degree… or lack thereof, as the case may be.

Thoughts and Opinions

Marisol has an opinion about everything from zines to lies to words. She's an individual. She can't help it if she cares about stuff that John's never even given a second thought to. All of her thoughts and opinions about the word are super important to John's (and our) discovery of who she really is underneath her zine persona. Likewise, John shares stuff with us that no one else knows about him through his thoughts. Right away, he tells us "I am immune to emotion. I have been ever since I can remember. Which is helpful when people appeal to my sympathy. I don't seem to have any" (1.1). Sounds simple enough, right? At least no one can accuse him of being indirect.