Blog 2: The Secret of Life

All but the last three sentences of “The Secret of Life, According to Aunt Gladys” deserved an A from my personal rating scale. This short story, written by Bruce Coville, approaches a serious matter that few people have actually had to encounter or deal with. Though I believe the intention of this short story was to pull apart the reasoning behind secrets and hiding the truth, this author takes a leap of faith to write about transgenderism (this is a word, I swear). What made this story interesting was the development of the main character. For instance, when I first started reading this article, I thought that the narrator was around ten years old. Soon after she spoke as if she knew exactly what a transvestite was, I had the impression that she was an adolescent teen. In fact, this brings me to my next topic. Does this text position adolescents in a situation in which they can learn?

            What I found interesting in this article was the growth and character development of Randy. She seemed vey unsure about her uncle that she began to ask herself questions. For example, she says, “I was beginning to wonder what the guys were going to say about this.” This makes me feel that she senses the awkwardness and uniqueness of the situation that her family is in. Though the awkwardness carries on throughout the whole story, I felt especially moved when Randy said, “maybe it was because she was being so mean to him that I started talking to him more myself.” She develops into a character that understands the situation that is at hand and finds ways to better the situation. I felt that after reading this, adolescent readers are positioned in ways that they are eager to want to “do the right thing.” Although I feel that some readers may learn from this story, I also feel that some adolescents might not take it as seriously considering that it involves a very controversial topic, and I believe they know that as an adolescent. I also enjoy the concept of truth and realness that is grinded out from Bruce Coville. The last two pages merely reflect the concepts of truth/honesty and what it is like to be “normal.” However, one question that I would like to discuss about in class is what is it like to be normal? Personally, I have grown up around several people that have felt that they do not fit into the normal society, similar to Aunt Gladys.

            As I mentioned in the first sentence of my post, this short story deserves an A with a small asterisk by it. I learned so much from this story, and I strongly stand by the idea that adolescents could learn from it too. However, I was literally mind blown in the last three sentences of the story. It got me everywhere from confused angry, and frustrated. Especially with the last sentence, “Besides…what’s the point?” Admitting that I was frustrated with the last few sentences of this story does not remove the fact that adolescent students can quite possibly learn about transgenderism, truth, and family.