Textual Analysis Of Rickel's Short Story 'Pass'

Josh Mann
Wendy Pawlak
9-22-11
Textual Analysis “Pass”

There is a time in everyone’s life where they discover their sexuality. Boyer Rickel’s short story “Pass” demonstrates the beginning stages of a boy discovering his sexuality. The main character is a 10-year-old boy who finds himself “always in the company of men never with women” (315, Rickel). These masculine environments influence his sexuality and his understanding of his sexual preference. At one point in the narrative the boy finds himself fascinated with the male physique and realizes that he is defying social norms. In “Pass,” the protagonist discovers his preference towards boys through his multiple surroundings in the story, such as Rays Barbershop, the Pool house, and the
He participates on the tennis team and everyday he showers with the other boys. This is the most critical stage in which the protagonist realizes his sexuality. In this environment, he finds similarities between Rays and the locker room. They both have “quick insults and sarcasm” and “ each comment an attempt to top the one before” (316). The protagonist doesn’t feel comfortable with these conversations, and attempts to be a part of them by “snort[ing] at appropriate moments” (316). The protagonist feels out of place in this setting, he doesn’t feel as if he fits in with the other boys and their masculine traits such as their sarcasm and attempts to top each others’ comments. This is evident as he begins to come out to himself as a homosexual. Another reason he doesn’t feel comfortable in the Locker Room is because as he is in the locker room he stares at “what interested and confused me most: the other boys’ bodies” (316). During this point in his life, the protagonist is in high school, and these times are a critical point for him discovering his sexual preference. The main character realizes he’s attracted to men and in his head, he feels as if he is an