An omniscient narrator is present in “Everything the White boy told you” At first it’s perplexing to decipher who exactly this narrator is, we assumed it was his ancestors warning him about dating “the oppressor” and viewed it as some type of “Colonizer vs. Colonized” inner turmoil Celio was experiencing. But eventually it is revealed to be the ex-lovers of the white boy who have a lot in common with Celio(Chicano, Working class, etc.) – an epiphanic moment we stumbled upon towards the end of the reading. Our group found it to be a thoroughly intriguing story that was so open-ended and could’ve been interpreted numerous ways because it deals not only with sexuality but race and class as well.
The term “Fetish” popped up when we noticed the commonalities of Celio and the white boy’s ex-lovers. It was apparent that the white boy has an inkling towards Chicano men and objectifies them. He solely sees them as objects for his pleasure. He doesn’t care about their life story nor does he want a relationship with them. He leads them on only to reject them once he gets what he wants. These men seem to be spellbound by him and hope for him to see them as more than just sex. They warn Celio that he will break his heart, but at the end there’s a twist. They tell Celio to try for it and perhaps he will succeed and be “the one.” It’s an incredibly poignant story that makes you feel a maelstrom of emotions. It reveals what it feels to be human and experience heartache.
We’re faced with the understanding that there may be a central (unresolved) crisis or issue at the end of the reading. The white boy has all of these photos of his ex’s that he casually shows off and we don’t know of Celio’s decision to remain or leave the relationship with the white boy. Celio may in fact want what he can’t have as well. He can have a fetish towards the white boy as well, although it isn’t suggested in the text. Due to the ambiguity of the story, we are lead to think many ideas about the overall outcome. We’ve noticed that beginning is very much the same as the ending and vice versa be it, new relationship with tales of old ones and old relationships with an overall story encompassing a new relationship.
Everything The White Boy Told You is written in a very ambiguous manner that requires a reader to really think about what’s being said. The quote “Tell him your whole story and see which one of us he comes back to.” is a line that drastically changes the message of the story and defies expectation. As a group, we discussed what this line means and what it says about the white boy, Celio, AND the exes. At first we thought the big ephiphanic moment was realizing that the story is speaking about various homosexual relationships. However, we concluded that the exes may be trying to take advantage of Celio to satisfy their own fetish for the white boy, just like the white boy uses them to satisfy his fetish for a certain kind of man. Everything The White Boy Told You is a unique story that turns itself on it’s head and delivers a strange, morally ambiguous message that leaves you thinking.
De'Anna Alston
(Please add paragraph to post. Couldn’t go in to edit, De’Anna) the other members were Rob, Marely, Daisy, Okheem, and Haynia (Matt)
We’re faced with the understanding that there may be a central (unresolved) crisis or issue at the end of the reading. The white boy has all of these photos of his ex’s that he casually shows off and we don’t know of Celio’s decision to remain or leave the relationship with the white boy. Celio may in fact want what he can’t have as well. He can have a fetish towards the white boy as well, although it isn’t suggested in the text. Due to the ambiguity of the story, we are lead to think many ideas about the overall outcome. We’ve noticed that beginning is very much the same as the ending and vice versa be it, new relationship with tales of old ones and old relationships with an overall story encompassing a new relationship.
Matthew Haynia
(like De’Anna, I don’t have the option to edit, please add this to the post.)
Everything The White Boy Told You is written in a very ambiguous manner that requires a reader to really think about what’s being said. The quote “Tell him your whole story and see which one of us he comes back to.” is a line that drastically changes the message of the story and defies expectation. As a group, we discussed what this line means and what it says about the white boy, Celio, AND the exes. At first we thought the big ephiphanic moment was realizing that the story is speaking about various homosexual relationships. However, we concluded that the exes may be trying to take advantage of Celio to satisfy their own fetish for the white boy, just like the white boy uses them to satisfy his fetish for a certain kind of man. Everything The White Boy Told You is a unique story that turns itself on it’s head and delivers a strange, morally ambiguous message that leaves you thinking.
Robert Finletter Jr
(As my peers said I don’t have access to edit the post)
Everything the White Boy Told You isn’t a story where it would be a easy read. The text is complex to the naked eye and if you have the eye for it you would catch the faint moments in the text. This text seem to put you at the beginning of the race bring you all the way to the end just to put you back at the start. At first we had the impression that the climax was realizing that the story is speaking about different homosexual relationships. But that wasn’t the case. We concluded that the White Boy’s exes were trying to take advantage of Celio to satisfy their own fetish for the man they can’t seem to get away from. If the white boy could use them to satisfy his fetish then why can’t they do the same. But we realized the exes wanted the white boy to feel what they felt so he would come back to one of them. Everything the White Boy Told You is a remarkable read that takes a twist and leaves you hanging on to your seat wondering what’s going to happen next.