User:Jackie.m617/Student Draft of Boy Meets Boy

Plot Summary
On a Saturday night in November at 9 pm, Paul and his friends (Tony and Joni) go out on the town like they do every Saturday night. Since Tony’s parents are extremely religious, they must convince them every time they plan to go out that they’re either doing study group sessions or not doing anything homosexual. So his parents also don’t get suspicious, regarding the novel, “Tony has to be home by midnight, so we are on a Cinderella mission. With this in mind, we keep our eye on the ball.” Upon going into a book store, Paul finds his ‘boy’, Noah. As it is described in the book, “His hair points in ten different directions. His eyes are a little close together, but man, are they green. There’s a little birthmark on his neck, the shape of a comma.” Paul thinks that he is perfect. They find that they have a lot in common and eventually start going out. Noah teaches Paul about the things that he likes to do in his spare time while Paul teaches him about the town.

As they start to really become closer, Paul and Noah actually begin to grow apart because of problems that arise for both of them; mentally and socially. It gets harder for them to spend time together, especially on Saturday when they watch The Breakfast Club at Noah’s house because in the novel he confesses to Paul, “It’s hard for me to watch that movie. . .The first time I went over to...well, Pitt’s house, we watched it.” Noah becomes wary of their relationship because he doesn’t want the same thing that happened with Pitt to happen again. Kyle also plays a key role in their rocky relationship as he addresses all of his issues to Paul. From having to apologize about how he treated Paul, talking about being bisexual, and having his aunt die almost at one time. After finally deciding on how to help Kyle with his problems, while they were in the Janitor’s closet, Paul kissed him for comfort. Noah states, when Paul finds him taking pictures outside during lunch, that he wants to slow down their relationship because he doesn’t know what Paul wants from him and vice versa. Somehow, Noah heard a rumor about a kiss Paul had shared with Tony and in a note that he had slipped into Paul’s backpack, responded, “I can’t believe you kissed him.” Paul tries to reason with him about it and the truth gets out that he had kissed Kyle, not Tony; for Noah had heard a rumor about Paul and Tony’s relationship. This only makes matters worse as Noah breaks up with Paul.

Paul feels that he needs to set things right not just with Noah, but with all of his friends. Tony isn’t allowed to see him, Joni is ignoring him because of criticizing Chuck, Noah and Claudia are avoiding him, Kyle keeps getting in the way, and on top of that, he has to deal with planning the Dowager’s Dance with a committee that can’t agree on anything. Because fixing his relationship with Noah was a top priority, Paul was set on showing how much he loved him instead of just telling by, “On the first day, I give him flowers and time. . .On the second day, I give him words and definitions. . .On the third day, I give him space. . .On the fourth day, I give him a song. . .On the fifth day, I give him film. . .On the sixth day, I write him letters. . .On the seventh day, I give him me.” During the week, Paul gave Noah little trinkets that meant a lot to him and this instantly got them back together again from Noah’s overwhelmth. Now it was down to the dance since Tony wanted to go but his homophobic parents wouldn’t let him. Feeling bad about this, Paul got all of his friends to form a plan to get Tony’s parents to let him go with all of them as his date. They agree but with clear disapproval of the whole idea as it states, “His father looks torn between dogma and helplessness. As a result, he simply walks away. . .Tony beams with relief. His mother does not, not even when he leans over to kiss her good-bye.” On a Saturday night in November at 9 pm, Paul and his friends spend a little time in a clearing surrounded by trees and bushes and as he watches everyone have a great time, he thinks to himself, What a wonderful world.

Characters

 * Paul, an openly gay sophomore in high school, is the protagonist of the novel. Most of his friends are also gay and he goes through the novel learning more about himself in his relationships. Paul is also usually accepting of others and in this fictional town. Gay people and straight people sort of blend together and he thinks it’s for the best, for homosexuality is humbly accepted and embraced in the town this novel is set in. Paul knows he was gay since he was in kindergarten because his teacher had put on his report card, “Paul is definitely gay and has very good sense of self.”


 * Noah, the new kid in their town, is the boy that Paul falls in love with and eventually starts dating for a while. Noah has “crazy hair and points in ten different directions, green eyes, and has a birthmark on his neck in the shape of a comma”. Noah is described as usually a nice, easy going type of boy and he loves to take pictures.


 * Kyle, Paul’s ex-boyfriend, is said to have some issues with his sexuality and social flexibility that he drags Paul into. He doesn’t like being bisexual, nor does he even like the word; he hates labels. He believes that when he is dating girls, he should be dating guys, and when he is dating guys, he should be dating girls. He starts out hating Paul but after talking to him about this particular subject of social confusion, they become closer.


 * Tony, listed as one of Paul’s best friends in the novel, has very strict religious parents that, before he told them that he was gay, wouldn’t let him even shake hands with a girl. In the time of the novel, if they think he is leaving the house with a girl or going to do something that isn't homosexual or anything relating to it, they practically kick him out of the house with a big wad of crumbled cash in hand.


 * Joni, Paul’s one true friend that’s a girl who is also the first person that he came out to besides his parents, has two relationships in the book. The first is in the past with Ted when they were dating on and off until she started going out with Chuck and stayed with him throughout the novel.


 * Infinite Darlene, a side character that who considers herself Paul’s friend, is transgender and used to be a man named Daryl Heisenberg. She is homecoming queen as well as the football quarter back. She is first described as, “. . .a six-foot-four football player scuttling through the halls in high heels, a red shock wig, and more-than-passable make up.”


 * Chuck, Joni’s second boyfriend in the book, is also on the football team at their school. After having his feelings for Infinite Darlene rejected, Chuck holds a big grudge against her. Ironically, Paul has a grudge against Chuck when he and Joni grow close.


 * Ted Halpern, Joni’s ex-boyfriend that has broken up with her up to twelve times in the book, usually refers to Paul and his friends as “Gay Boy” instead of calling them by their actual names. “[He] is smart and good-looking, but he doesn’t use it to good effect, like a rich person who never gives to charity.”


 * Jay, Paul’s older brother, plays a lot of tennis. He usually arrives home “leaving a trail of tennis sweat.” He has no problem with Paul being gay but he’s always longing for Paul to have a “cute girl that could desperately fall in love with [him].”


 * Claudia, Noah’s little sister, gets very lonely most of the time since Noah’s parents go out all the time and Noah and Paul are spending time together. She doesn’t like to admit it so she acts like she doesn’t care either way. When she is introduced she is wearing “a lethal combination of pastels" that makes her look "like she could be a hostess on the Pillow and Sofa Network.”

Major Themes
Boy Meets Boy focused on the gay community through a teenager's eyes through a "delightfully reversed, pro-gay high school" setting. To say the least, "[the book is] an upbeat story about acceptance and teen love long before the all-singing, all-dancing cast of Glee arrived on TV", seeing as Boy Meets Boy was published back in 2003.

Reception
Boy Meets Boy received many reviews that focused on the nature of the book compared to reality.

David Levithan, the author of Boy Meets Boy, said, "I try to disprove the cliche as much as possible." He said that writing books about teenagers in the gay community "[is] not the scary unknown anymore." Being gay himself, Levithan tried his best to have "the chance to connect to his readers" by feeling "as if [his] readers are happy to explore wherever [he] want[ed] to go."