Spectrums and "Normal"

Over time society has discriminated against certain groups of people because of behaviors or characteristics that society doesn’t see as normal. One of these groups is homosexuals who are harassed to the extent of occasionally committing suicide. This is the issue Bruce Coville tackles in his short story, “Am I Blue?”, which is about a sixteen year old boy named Vincent who’s determining his sexuality with the help of his fairy godfather, Melvin. Vincent is uncomfortable facing the situation. He feels as though he would be in the unpopular minority if he was gay. Because of this he tries to hide the possibility that he might be gay from the people that view homosexuals differently. He tries to conform to what society sees as normal, to avoid discrimination, because he doesn’t realize until the end of the story that “normal” is a spectrum.

In the story Vincent tries to act like he’s straight when he’s still determining his sexuality. For example, after Vincent meets Melvin they decide to go to a café to discuss things over. When walking, Vincent notices that Melvin has a certain “swish” to his walk and says, “Do you have to walk like that?” Vincent is embarrassed being seen with a person that is openly gay and therefore tries not to be seen with Melvin. Another time Vincent tries to act straight or conform to society’s idea of normal is when Vincent and Melvin are in the café. Melvin begins to tell Vincent how he was killed by gay bashers, and that the reason for his visit was to make Vincent more comfortable with deciding his sexuality. However, right after, the atmosphere between Melvin and Vincent drastically shifts. Melvin, “leaned back in his chair, glanced around the room, then winked at a nice-looking college student sitting about five tables away from us.” Seeing this Vincent becomes suddenly anxious and  responded to Melvin’s action by saying in a firm tone, “Will you stop that!” Clearly, Vincent was “afraid of guilt by association” and did not want to be seen as homosexual. He was worried that if he did, he would be discriminated and possibly even gay bashed.

In the beginning of the story Vincent is baffled. He has mixed emotions about his sexuality. This is all before Melvin makes Vincent more comfortable with the idea that if he is gay he wouldn’t be alone. Melvin proves this to Vincent by giving him gaydar, which allows him to see gay people with blue faces. Astonishingly to Vincent he sees more people than he ever would have expected to be blue. This comforts Vincent into making him feel that he’s not alone.  In the end, Vincent realizes that one person may have one idea of normal and the other might have a completely different idea, but its ok because there is no one idea of normal.