Goddamn Lyotard!

Ross Wilcox embodies toxic male violence. Ross' violence has no purpose other than to continue a series of pointless conflicts sparked by his own fear and insecurity. The cycle of violence goes back to Ross' father, an abusive man who put his own wife in the hospital for losing a couple postage stamps. But how did Ross' father become so violent? It's likely that he also had a traumatic past that forced him into a pattern of male violence. Jason struggles to cope with Ross' ruthless bullying because it seems that there's no right way to respond: anything he does will get him more hurt. In fact, there is no possible response that could make Ross stop because he is so firmly entrenched in a violent system. Ross is incapable of gratitude, even when Jason kindly returns his wallet, because he doesn't know how to express those emotions. But no matter how badly Jason has been bullied, he is able to empathize with Ross because he recognizes that Ross is trapped. ...

Being thirteen is pretty rough, but that's especially true for Jason Taylor. His low social standing and embarrassing stammer make him incredibly self-conscious and uncomfortable in any interactions with other kids. But Jason also has a secret: he's a poet. Poetry is an outlet for all of Jason's inner thoughts that he can't communicate with others. Jason's stammer makes it difficult for him to say what he means in front of other people because he's constantly scanning his sentences for trouble words and rewriting his speech to seem normal. Poetry is the only place where Jason can confidently say the things he can't in everyday life. It's interesting to compare Jason with Stephen Dedalus from A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. They're both young men struggling to find their place in the world, and they're both talented poets, but their attitudes toward the rest of the world are completely different. Stephen thinks that his artistic tal...