“In your sixth grade social studies class, fourth hour, when Mrs. Perry assigns the group project on European world capitals, don’t look at Mark. Don’t look at Jared…If you could avoid working on this project with those two boys, you could avoid all of this” (520).
These first couple of sentences in Van Meter’s essay set the tone for the entire piece, and introduce his unique narrating style for the essay. Van Meter’s chooses to use the somewhat uncommon 2nd-Person narrative style, referring to the reader as “you” throughout the piece. This essay is narrated by a young boy afraid to show his true feelings and two other boys who mock and bully him because of it. Since these topics are so personal for the narrator, using the 2nd-Person enables him to connect with the reader on a more personal basis. The narrator cautions the reader throughout the entire piece on why he/she should not put themself in the situation that he put himself in working with those two boys, and tells how he carries the incident with him for so many years after it even happens. They find out that he is homosexual and bully him into admitting it to them, pretending to kiss just to see his reaction. The narrator feels so disturbed and upset by this that as he carries it with him, he feels the need to also warn others to prevent the incident from happening to anyone else. Van Meter uses 2nd-Person narrative in his essay to give the reader a personal sense of what it is like to be in the narrator’s position
Annie's English Journal 