Jinx by Aime Bender

“Jinxed Emotions” In the short story, Jinx, Aimee Bender focuses on two young girls, Tina and Cathy, who are inseparable. They enter a poster store to discover a very cute boy. One of the girls ends up kissing the boy and the other girl goes home. This act ends up ruining their friendship. Bender carries the reader through the life and mind of these teenage girls. The language in this story presents a sequence of emotions and issues that range from body image, insecurity, betrayal, and jealousy. Both Cathy and Tina consistently critique and judge their own bodies against what the media portrays as normal. The start of the story, “They were both wearing the hot new pants.” (178). The two girls keep up with the trends and styles of the time. Cathy in particular, seems to be insecure with how she looks and what she wears. While in the poster store, “…one girl said she wanted to look at the posters one by one, flipping those big plastic lined poster holders, because she liked to stare at her own pace…” (179). She gazed at the “…leather pants women and the leather pants men…” (179) and judged herself against them. Cathy then begins searching for her friend alone. “Cathy, teenager, out on the street alone. This is so rare. This moment is rare. This teenage girl out on the shopping street alone: rare.” (179). Normally, teenager girls travel in at least pairs. This seems to offer a sense of security. The previous quotation seems to represent that Cathy has now lost that security and the comfort of her friend being there. She is alone. Cathy feels betrayed by Tina throughout this story. “Cathy walked to the corner. She thought did Tina leave? She thought she’d head back to the poster store but she sat down on a bench instead and when the bus came she just took it.” (179). Since Tina left Cathy for a boy, Cathy feels that she would rather go home than continue to look for Tina. While on the bus Cathy thought, “Tina was somewhere left out in the stores and would they