How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"Do you think I should give him some of the books I've read?"
"I thought you had stopped, Ellen. Reading is not going to explain Link to you."
"Maybe he doesn't know that it's not a big deal to be gay."
"It's a big enough deal," James says. "My parents make me see a shrink because they're worried I'm gay."
(7.43-46)
It's sweet but a bit naïve to think that the books (which, remember, even Ellen didn't think had the answers she was looking for) would solve all of Link's problems. If he is truly struggling with his sexual identity, then sure, maybe the books might help him gain a little perspective (he's not the first conflicted guy to deal with these things, after all), but the ones she's found probably don't really fit the bill.
Quote #8
"I've noticed you're reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles," Dad says. "How are you finding it?"
Tess of the d'Urbervilles is the novel by Thomas Hardy which James and Link hated. It is totally incomprehensible. So far, Tess has been raped, married, and abandoned. In order to know as little as that, I have had to read almost every page twice. In addition to laying out his plot, Hardy is busy making points about religion, politics, and class warfare. I don't know what the points are. Just that they are being made and I am missing them."The book has its rewards," I say, which is not a lie. I don't like reading it, but an unmistakable self-satisfaction occurs every time I figure out the plot.
(16.2-3)
Sometimes reading a book that is just a bit too mature for you can turn you off it entirely, which is tragic, in our opinion. What Ellen needs is a really good English teacher (Or a Shmoopologist) to help guide her through Hardy's intricacies, because Tess is a darn good book.
Quote #9
"My English teacher spent the whole semester making us read books and plays that she never wanted to discuss properly. Thinking for her was a waste of time."
Dad asks for examples, and I give him a little tirade about reading Ethan Frome and then never talking about repressed sexual desire. The absurdity of reading The Crucible and acting like it can only be about Communists in the 1950s.
"It is about Communists in the 1950s," Dad says as if he is going to have to explain McCarthyism to me.
"That's how it was written," I say, "but there's no reason why it can't be read with the plight of gay people coming to mind." (16.12-15)
Do we think that Ellen is saying this just to get a rise out of her dad? Obviously, anyone can interpret works of literature in their own way (that's what makes it so much fun), and the idea of a "witch hunt" out to persecute gay people isn't that far off.