For the second part of Quiz 9:So Hard to Say, write at least 250 words on the following prompt. This is due by 5:00 pm on Friday, June 10.
Choose ONE of the following prompts to respond to; remember to use at least 2 examples from the novel to support your response:
One of the most significant literacies that we learn growing up involves the ways we learn about ourselves as sexual beings. The tragedy of Peter Pan, as we noted earlier this semester, is that he never grows up; stuck at around six years old, Peter will never know love: not love for a partner, not love for a child. In So Hard to Say, we have a group of young adults around 13 years old who are anxious about growing up. For some, like Xio and her friends, growing up means having a boyfriend, holding hands, kissing for the first time, etc. For other characters, like Frederick, it means recognizing that hes gay because hes not attracted to girls the way he is to boys. As far as we can tell, none of the young characters in So Hard to Say ever has
sex, and yet they are surrounded (as all people in every culture are) by ideas/messages/anxieties that relate to sex and sexuality. How do both the straight and gay characters in the novel learn about sex/sexuality? Where do they go for the truth about sex/uality (parents, peers, magazines, movies, etc)? And what sort of (mis)information do they get?
OR
As a problem novel, So Hard to Say focuses primarily on Frederick and his experiences with coming out (realizing hes gay) and how hard that can be for young people because it marks them as different at a time in their lives where difference can seem like the worst possible option. All around Frederick are messages, subtle and direct, that tell him he shouldnt be gay, and if he is, he should hide it. Some types of bullying are obvious (e.g., how the people at school treat Iggy), while many of the kinds of coercion in So Hard to Say are more subtle. What social pressures does the author show Frederick experiencing that work against his coming out?