Tell Me Where It Hurts by Steve Almond

Amanda Linthicum

Close Reading Essay

Patton

ENGH 201-029

“Tell Me Where It Hurts” By: Steve Almond

        When analyzing any piece of literary work, as a reader, I automatically look for a connection between the main character and myself. In order to establish a deeper connection with the story, you must be able to imagine yourself in the place of the character. In a sense, you’re putting yourself in their shoes and observing their emotional reactions to the situations that they’re put into by the author. In this particular story, Earl plays this role. In the beginning, he’s a teenager, barely fifteen years old, traveling with his step father across the country to sell lamps. The start of this journey with Earl and Jamil represents his confusing journey as a teenage boy in a general sense. As the reader, I was pulled in by Earl’s awkward past and his becoming of age while growing up in a household that was predominately female. “I’d grown up with just my mom, which I suppose was pretty clear to the kids in school, who used to tease me because I carried my books clutched to my chest in front of me.” His unsure attitude about life sparked my interest greatly because I can see myself in his actions and how he carries himself.  The author does an acceptable job of setting the scenes of Earl’s childhood, but is able to keep the reader interested by jumping back and forth between his first sexual experience and the events that led up to it. Earl represents the awkwardness of all teenagers in this story, which is why he becomes so relatable right off the bat.                 

        Earl’s journey along with Jamil represents many things. Earl experiences bullying, scarring and being made fun of all his life simply by how he conveys himself from the background he was brought up in. Because of this, the author uses Jamil, a rugged, hairy, version of a step dad to represent a dominant father figure in his life. The trip they take together isn’t just to sell lamps, but ties into a bigger story of how Earl becomes a man by the help of his step father. If anything, the manufacturing and selling of the lamps is just another factor into Earl becoming a man alongside Jamil. This seems to be Jamil’s role in the story as the father figure towards Earl. He needed some sort of testosterone in his life, and Jamil seems to know this as well. “He also liked to hunt, something that drove my mother crazy, and made it instantly attractive to me. For my twelfth birthday, Jamil proposed that he take me with him on a trip.” Initially, Earl was conveyed as an unsure teenager, but in this situation, the act of hunting with his step dad is a symbol of his young, teenage mind being intrigued by activities that are stereotypically known for being a male sport. This example of wanting to rebel against his mother and learn about hunting with Jamil shows his extreme desire to shy away from his feminine image and how he is perceived by those around him. This is just the tip of the iceberg of his change in character with the help of Jamil.

        When Earl and Jamil finally made it to L.A., they checked into a crappy hotel, and in Earl’s innocent mind, he thought he was traveling alongside Jamil for business purposes. It’s up until this scene do you really start to realize what the story is actually all about. Leading up to this point, Earl is painted as a sexually frustrated teenager with absolute confusion about his own sexuality and everything that had to do with girls. Jamil goes about finding a young woman to sleep with his step son. Initially, this seems unusual for a parent. A father figure such as Jamil to want his son to lose his virginity for the first time with a strange woman in a hotel room doesn’t seem like the most responsible thing in the world. Even so, this is the peak of Earl’s character change from a timid teenager, into a man. The scene is set so quickly and casually through the perspective of Earl. “This was all happening very fast and between the drink and her body and that warm too-close room, I started breathing a little too deeply.” The scene comes up very quickly, much like losing your virginity, which makes the tone of the story quickly change to extenuating the presence of Earl’s nerves. For the entire telling of “Tell Me Where It Hurts”, Earl’s background and characterization led the reader to believe that he could possibly be gay or sexually confused. Earl’s virginity being taken by this young woman is the prime symbol of his character change from boy to man.