Reading Response to "Am I Blue?"

      Bruce Coville's short story "Am I Blue?" teaches readers that it takes courage to accept yourself for who you are even if your identity is unsure.  When you do accept yourself you can be so much more self-confident and less scared of other people's opinions.  Coville does this by showing Vince, the main character of his short story, to be unsure of his sexuality and being tormented for being unusual, when really being gay isn't unusual at all.
      In the beginning of the story, Vince was being bullied by Butch Carrigan because he thought Vince was gay, as well as interested in "jumping his bones."  This is significant because it shows that people can be so afraid of abnormality that they feel the need to mess up that person's life.  This is common in reality, so much that some victims have committed suicide to escape the harsh torment.
      Towards the middle of "Am I Blue?" the author shows that Vince hasn't fully accepted himself and that he is scared of being seen with Melvin, his gay fairy godfather, because he doesn't want people to make assumptions and pick on him again.  Vince does this by thinking, "How much trouble is it going to give me to be seen with this guy?"  Vince still doesn't want people to think he is gay even though he is not sure if he's gay or not.  He still feels different from everyone else and isn't enjoying it, who would?
       At the end of Bruce Coville's short story, Vince used courage to accept himself as having an unsure sexuality.  He got a little help from Melvin when he used his second wish to turn every gay person blue and found himself a lighter shade of blue meaning that he wasn't fully gay or straight.  He also found that about one third of the people he saw were some shade of blue, including Butch Carrigan.  Vince accepted himself by saving his third wish for when he really needed it like when he met, "...the girl of his dreams. Or Prince Charming. Whichever."  Vince made the first step towards more self-confidence and less hiding.
     Vince used courage to accept himself.  He had some help from his fairy godfather, Melvin.  He faced the fact that he might be gay and he might not.  Hopefully Vince can avowedly state his sexuality as being uncertain.  Now as a worldwide goal we need to accept Vince and all gay people like Vince accepted himself, and it all starts with you.