Analysis of simon vs. the homo sapiens agenda by becky albertalli

In Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, Becky Albertalli presents a myriad of clues, in order to make the reader think about Blue, and his identity. For a brief period of time, Simon is convinced that Martin Addison, his blackmailer, is Blue. When it is revealed that Blue shares a name with a president, Simon is baffled, until after a run of the play it hits him, that Martin shares a name with “ Martin Van Buren. Our fucking eighth president”. Despite the fact that he did not think Martin could be gay, as he wanted Simon to add in a good word about him to Abby, Simon reflects back upon how much time they spent together following his blackmailing, and realizes that “ he was actually starting to like him before things fell apart”. Simon then ponders the possibility that Martin spending all this time with him and Abby was actually a ruse, so he could spend more time with him, since he always regarded Martin as a “ geeky straight boy in Advanced Placement”. Despite the fact that Martin shares a first name with a president, Simon still simply cannot fathom the thought that Martin is gay, and that the fact that he “ never got the vibe that Martin liked him”, leading him to conclude that “ Martin can’t be Blue”. Simon also had “ this feeling in his gut that Blue is Cal Price”, due to the fact that he found him so cute. When Simon initially engages in conversation with Cal, they come across as a bit flirty. One day in play practice, he sees Cal drawing superheroes, and he realizes that “ Blue loves superheroes”, making the connection between the two even more evident to Simon. At this point, Simon is “ 99. 9% sure that Cal is Blue”. Despite this evidence, it was revealed later that Cal was not Blue, when Simon told Blue these traits of Cal’s: “ 1. You share a first name with a former US president. And a comic book character 3. You like to draw 4. You have blue eyes 5. And you once pushed me down a dark hallway in a rolling chair”, to which Blue verified only two. It was Simon’s desire for Blue to be Cal that led him to these assumptions, despite the fact that there was little evidence of this. Due to the fact that Simon is constantly thinking of Blue, it is natural for him to think of Blue as a very attractive, flirty guy, like Cal. The purpose of providing these red herrings was to make the reader realize the reality of the situation with Blue that although Blue could turn out to be a very attractive person who is perfect for Simon, he could also even be an elaborate joke that someone is playing on Simon. By doing this, Albertalli makes it evident that this whole relationship with Blue may not end well for Simon, something the reader would never have thought.

Leah

Leah, Simon’s best friend since middle school, has been a consistent source of support and encouragement for Simon. However, when Abby moves to Georgia from DC, Leah is unhappy with the fact that Simon is spending so much time with Abby, and less with her. This leads to Leah and Simon becoming more and more “ irrelevant” in terms of their relationship. When Simon, Nick, and Abby hang out at a football game without her, Leah is very upset. However, their relationship appears to be ruined when Leah confronts Simon about not inviting her to hang out in Midtown with him, Nick and Abby, because the group felt as if “ her presence changes everything”. This results in a confrontation between Leah and Simon, culminating in Leah pushing past Simon, “ straight through the door”. When Simon chose to come out to Abby instead of her, Leah did her best to understand him, rather than just get upset. However, after Simon discovered that Blue was Bram, he went to try to apologize to Leah for the way he had been treating her recently, determined to regain the relationship that they used to have. Leah eventually forgives Simon, and tells him that “ she really loves him”. The progression of Leah over the course of the story play into the theme that change is not always negative. Despite the fact that Leah and Simon are no longer as close as they were, they are still close, and surrounded by many other friends as well.

Simon’s parents

Jack and Emily Spier, Simon’s parents, present an interesting perspective on parents. Rather than being focused on his grades or his theater performance, his parents try to be “ Cool parents” by making jokes, and trying to be funny. However in this case, this actually harms Simon. When his father refers to a male character on The Bachelorette as a “ one man pride parade. An eternal flame”.

Simon also is tired about how his parents are obsessed with his life, and that this was their “ way of ruining things”. He feels as if they obsess over every little thing that he does, and the prospect of coming out to them terrifies him. Part of the reason why Simon was so scared of change is because of his parents obsession with his life. He feels that with every little thing he changes about himself he is “ reintroducing himself to the world”. Simon feels that because of this, “ nothing about him is allowed to change”. And when Simon does come out, his parents reacted in the exact way that they expect, with his mother asking about his feelings, and his dad asking him which one of his past girlfriends “ turned him off women”. Despite the fact that his parents are “ cool”, he is absolutely floored when they ground him for drinking. Later, Simon admits to his parents how he is tired of them obsessing over every little detail of him. While they apologize, they do not make any significant change in the way they act. However, towards the end of the novel, Simon realizes that it is normal for parents to be a bit obsessive over their own child’s life, and that at the end of the day, they will always love and support him. Simon’s dad even becomes aware of the ignorant remarks that he has made about gays and personally apologizes to Simon, even shortening his punishment for drinking, causing the relationship between father and son to grow infinitely closer.

Nora

The relationship between Simon and Nora is complex, for Simon always viewed Nora as a bit of a question mark, who always “ gets squirmy” when she is the center of attention. Although she care for Simon deeply and is constantly asking him about his life, Simon finds it “ kind of awkward” talking about things with her. When Martin reveals that Simon is gay, Nora is the first to tell him about it, being fully supportive of him. Despite the fact that Simon finds that talking about things with Nora is often awkward, he admires that she has a kind of “ under the radar cool”, which saves her from the embarrassment of middle school that he went through. Over the course of the novel, Simon learns more and more surprising things about her, culminating in when he found out during the talent show that Nora is the guitarist of her band, resulting in Simon feeling as if he “ doesn’t recognize her”. Simon realizes after this, that he overlooks many aspects of Nora, and her many talents.

In Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda, Becky Albertalli presents various different aspects of Simon’s life in order to emphasize the sheltered environment in which he lives, as well as the hardships that the LGBT population faces on a daily basis. Every day, Simon spends an ample amount of time with his friends, all of which have enough respect for him to be supportive of him, regardless of what he does. When he comes out to his family and friends, all of them are completely supportive of his decision, telling him things like “ I love you”, as well as looking out for him more often. By portraying Simon’s friends and family in this manner, Albertalli emphasizes how small the world that Simon lives in really is, as Simon’s daily life mostly revolves around his friends and family. Albertalli also shows the importance of surrounding yourself with people who genuinely care and look out for you. However, Albertalli portrays other groups of people in Simon’s life as being more critical of his coming out. The novel takes place in Georgia, a historically conservative state with a smaller LGBT population. The ignorance of part of the student body is made evident when Simon’s emails and sexuality are revealed in the Creeksecrets blog, causing an uproar within the school. The Creeksecrets post exposes Simon to a larger world than the one he is accustomed to: one where not everyone will respect his sexual orientation. Albertalli portrays Simon’s school as a “ stereotypical” high school, in order to present the dynamics within the student body, with all of the different cliques having different reactions to his coming out. On his first day back to school, a “ football player that he hardly recognize(s)” goes up to him and “ grabs him by the cheeks and pulls his face in like he’s going to kiss him”. Through this incident, Albertalli introduces the stereotype of the jock, and how they are generally very ignorant.

However, Albertalli proceeds to show that kids that are not completely ignorant are wholly supportive of Simon, with “ a couple of people randomly giving him these huge smiles in the hallway”, “ these two lesbian girls I don’t even know come up to him at his locker and hug him”, and “ at least a dozen straight kids make a point of telling him that they support him”. While this incident shows that there are a lot of kindhearted students, Albertalli also uses it to portray how coming out garners so much unwanted attention. During Garrett’s party, Simon emphasizes how much he hates getting so much attention, and how every time he changes, he has to “ reintroduce himself to the universe all over again”. Simon believes that the decision to come out should not be made such a big deal, as he is still the same person that everyone knows him as. However, the whole Creeksecrets incident also serves as a learning experience for Simon, as it broadens his perspective on the world around him, and teaches him to not take the ridiculing of a few to heart, as many people have his back.

Over the course of the novel, the character of Simon Spier develops a great deal as the plot progresses. At the beginning, he believes that he is unimportant in the grand scheme of things, and that “ he didn’t really think of himself as interesting until he was interesting to Blue”. Simon also hides the fact that he is gay because he believed that everyone, including his best friends are hiding certain parts about themselves, and that being gay was just another secret that should never be revealed. Simon, at the beginning, valued secrecy and security above all else. The emails between him and Blue also represent security, as Simon could pour his heart out to Blue without having to deal with the social pressures of meeting him in person. As the story progresses, Simon becomes cognizant of the fact that this “ secret” he is hiding is in fact a big deal. Before he revealed to his parents he was gay, he “ didn’t think it was going to be a big deal”, despite the fact that it is a very big deal, and could potentially change the relationship between him and his parents forever. Thankfully, Simon’s parents were wholly supportive of his decision. However, Simon realizes how important this is, and that he had been concealing this aspect of him for his whole life. Through this experience, Simon also realizes that not all change is bad. Prior to his coming out, Simon felt uncomfortable with the prospect of it, because would cause him to “ reintroduce himself to the universe all over again”.

Towards the end of the novel, as he is dating Bram, Simon realizes that no one should have to feel so uncomfortable with themselves that they can’t even share a secret, and that everyone should be comfortable with themselves, regardless of sexuality or gender, and that instead of avoiding change like he did in the beginning of the novel, all change is something to be welcomed and embraced.