About a Boy

About a Boy is clearly a text about growing up. Discuss the ways in which Marcus and Will help each other grow up, and relate your discussion to some defining realisation you’ve had in your own life about aspects of growing up (the end of innocence, need for conformity/individuality, social pressure to conform, bullying, self-discovery, dealing with parents). Use examples from the text and form your own personal experience of life to support your response.

About a boy is a novel which follows the lives of two people: Marcus and Will. Marcus is a strange kid who struggles with growing up, he is in need for acceptance outside of his own family, he is searching for his own identity, he is a victim of constant bullying and is suffering with his lack of parental care. Will is the complete opposite to Marcus. He is a 36 year old who is in his own extended childhood, he is searching for his identity not wanting to lose his youth, he �prides himself on his cool’ and simply can’t find a way to grow up. It is when these two opposing characters meet that they soon act as catalysts for each other. From their dependence on others they find independence for themselves within one another.

Like many kid’s Marcus deals with bullying. As most kids do in such situations, he views the world in a way that bullies rule his world in the same way that politicians dictate our future and the world we live in. The bullying of Marcus leads to his low self-esteem and because of this he shows depressive tendencies through his thoughts presented in the book.

If no one laughed again in the whole world for the rest of his life, he wouldn’t care.

Will tries to teach Marcus about being �cool’. It is in this that the author makes the comment that in order for Marcus to be cool he must lose his individualism and eccentricities and become what Fiona and Marcus refer to as �sheep’ or in other words, conforming with society, and in essence, becoming more like Will. As much as a reader may disagree that in order to prevent bullying one must conform, it is hard to say that it is completely invalid. Everyone, at some point in their lives deals with bullying. There is constant pressure to uphold a responsibility to act and dress in a specific manner which society deems fit. For instance, as a female teenager often those girls who do not look, act and dress in a certain feministic way are not considered as �popular’ as some of the others. Whilst in these aspects of a person is so petty and unimportant the same thing nonetheless reoccurs throughout generations. It is natural instinct for humans to compete with each other. These popular opinions can lead to self harm e.g. Anorexia and Bulimia. These phases change with every popular culture and media pressure and only dissipate when you grow up and see it for what it really is. Marcus tries to find these �popular’ qualities within himself and befriends Will as he see’s comparisons between him and the kids at school.

I know from personal experience that bullying is something that you look back on later and realise that it was one of the factors that helps lead you into your own self-discovery. In the novel, Marcus is on his own-search for self discovery in life and Will helps him along the way. Bullying brings all of your insecurities to the surface and forces you to deal with them. Will realises