48 pages • 1 hour read
Shattering Glass
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The Superficiality of Materialism
At the beginning of the novel, Simon is described as “textbook geek. Skin like the underside of a toad and mushy fat. His pants were too short and his zipper gaped about an inch from the top. And his Fruit of the Looms rode up over his pants in back because he tucked his shirt into his tightey-whiteys” (1). This description defines Simon as a geek not because of anything Simon has done, not because of his personality or lack thereof, but rather because of the way he dresses and his physical appearance. This idea is furthered when Young says, “It was retro-cool in our part of Texas to wear loafers or Top-Sider boat shoes without socks, but Simon wore crepe-soled black lace-up wingtips” (1). This focus on materialism and its influence on popularity is a theme throughout the novel, and it ultimately leads to many characters deriving a false sense of security from the superficial.
Simon is introduced as the most unpopular guy in school for superficial reasons, and he grows to popularity in the same way. The first step in Rob’s plan to make Simon popular deals with giving him a clothing makeover, changing his hairstyle, and making him lose weight. Immediately after getting a new wardrobe and haircut, students at school take notice of Simon in a positive light for the first time. After considering him popular, many students, including Coop and Bob, put their guard down around Simon and treat him like a friend. However, by the end of the novel, it’s clear that Simon has a dark side and can’t be trusted. In fact, Simon ends up using the weaknesses of those around him to his advantage, like doing favors for Young and then blackmailing him or revealing Rob’s secret. Because the main characters were blinded by Simon’s physical transformation, his wealth, and his extravagant car, they failed to see his true personality.
Moral Ambiguity
The novel opens with the idea that the main characters will kill Simon, and that fundamental reason why is because he “was easy to hate” (1). This establishes the predominant tension of the novel: what made Simon so hated? And could it justify his murder? While the answer to this question might be obvious to readers, for the main characters in the novel, it becomes a source of moral ambiguity. Coop is the only character that demonstrates any remorse for Simon’s death, while Bob, Rob, and Young never do. In this way, it can be said that Bob, Young, and Rob are morally-ambiguous characters; by the end of the novel, it’s difficult to know what they consider wrong or right.
Despite their differences, Simon and Rob can be considered parallel, amoral characters in that they both appear to be friendly and caring but inwardly they are self-centered, if not sociopathic. Rob not only manipulates his friends into doing what he wants regarding Simon, but he sadistically tortures a frog, and he is the one who kills Simon. However, despite these obviously wrong actions, Rob never shows any remorse. The same can be said for Simon: although he publicly humiliates the most unpopular girl, Alice, blackmails Young, belittles Bob, and reveals Rob’s secret, he never shows remorse, either. While Rob’s actions are undeniably worse, in that they result in murder, Simon never feels bad for the wrong he does towards other characters.
While Simon and Rob are two more obvious illustrations of the moral ambiguity that is present in the novel, perhaps most alarming is Young’s own ambiguity, as Young goes along with Rob’s plans despite feeling like he shouldn’t. Young allows Rob to presumably get a substitute teacher fired, boss Coop and Bob around, insult everyone around him, torture a living animal, and ultimately kill Simon, without ever stepping in to intervene. In this way, despite Young’s internal objections to Rob’s actions, his willingness to follow Rob calls into question Young’s sense of morality. By the end, it’s unclear if Young is a moral character, considering he never shows remorse for the part he played in Simon’s murder.
The Search for Self
Each major character is either confused by, afraid of, or encountering a change of identity throughout the novel. In this way, the search for identity is a constant theme that connects each of the characters.
Simon’s transformation from least to most popular is the most obvious illustration of a change in identity. Not only does Simon dramatically alter his appearance, becoming popular allows Simon to move from awkward and quiet to extroverted and witty. By the end, he fully embraces his new self-assured identity to manipulate those closest to him, an action that would have seemed impossible for him at the beginning of the novel.
Another and perhaps more nuanced demonstration of a search for identity can be seen with Coop. For most of the novel, he’s terrified of becoming like his father, an ex-athlete who pumps gas for a living. He continually struggles against the identity that his dad has prophesied for him.
Finally, Young is consistently confused about his identity. When Rob reads Young’s autobiographical story, Young implies that he is afraid of what the trauma means for his identity; that is, he’s afraid that because he didn’t stop the sexual abuse, he might have a secret desire for men. While Rob quells these fears, thus resituating Young’s identity and giving him permission to date Ronna, throughout the novel Young remains confused about who he is in relation to those around him. Examples of this can be seen in Young’s interactions with his dad and Rob. Young’s dad wants him to pursue the medical field, and instead of standing firm in his identity as a creative writer he goes along with what his dad says. In the same way, Rob wants Young to help him make Simon popular, even though Young doesn’t want to, but just like with his dad, he never says no. For Young, his desires don’t match up with how he presents who he is to the people around him.
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