Hairstyles of the Damned Discussion - Assignment Example

Full Hairstyles of the Damned (An essay discussion) 26 June Question No one problem that Brian has with Gretchen is he is in love with her but does not know how to profess his love. Additionally, his complex emotional responses to Gretchen are colored by his perception that Gretchen is acting like a tomboy most of the time. She does not act feminine like most of the other girls but instead can be rough and masculine such as when twisting the arm of Amy Schaffer, give a big black eye to Lisa Hensel, or be in a hair-pulling incident with Polly Winchensky (Meno 4).

Gretchen is not like other girls.Brian loved his father because he is quiet unlike his mother who is unpredictable at times attributed to her having hot flashes at times. However, his father started sleeping in the basement which worried him about the deteriorating relationship between his parents. It is the concern of Brian about what might happen to their family if things get worse (Meno 24).Question No. 3 – Gretchen is fat by her own admission and also by that of Brian. It is symptomatic of adolescent girls who are still growing up like Gretchen and trying to define their own identities to have low self-esteem.

She thinks of herself as gross to look at and she tries to shy away from meeting other people, like eating at the Haunted Trails mall and video arcade. She is supposed to be on a diet and eat only “white” foods to reduce her weight. Her excess weight poses a problem to her possible romantic relationship with Brian Oswald. The world views Gretchens weight problem as hindrance to wider social acceptance. The rest of the world considered her as fat although she might just be plump or chubby but it is also her big size that contributed to this perception.

People usually see fat people as lazy or if it is a girl, possibly as a slut too. Being seen as fat had made Gretchen a target of cruel jokes from her classmates; there is also a subtle discrimination against her (Meno 19). Work CitedMeno, Joe. Hairstyles of the Damned. New York, NY, USA: Akashic Books, 2004. Print.Due: June 27 @ 7:24 a.m.