I Never Loved Your Mind

The novel “I never loved your mind” by Paul Zindel, suggests that even though two people may have different minds, actions, and feelings, they can still get along well. The book has two main characters. Dewey Daniels, a high school drop out and “life to [him]” is “too short” to stop and smell the flowers. Work, and Yvette are the only things that matter to him. While Yvette, who is also a high school drop out, lives her life as if “Every day was [her] last”. She lives in a commune with “House dwellers” and “Land squatters”. Inetween saving the rain forest, and going on a “starvation strike” to promote “freedom of animals”, you can find her working at the local community hospital, along with Dewey. Although at there work, they must create a peaceful and happy environment for there patients, the two are always fighting. Weather its about “[who] stole the oxygen tanks” or simply which type of garden seed is better. The physical and mental differences always seem to be the source for their arguments. The only choice to stop the bickering is for someone to change their minds, actions, and feelings.

Easy going, hard working, and “easily influenced”. These are three words that can best describe Dewey. All day it seems that everything “absolutely terrible” happens to him. Like being robbed, or having his hair lit on fire. But when Dewey was growing up eith his parents, he was taought just to “move on with [his] life” as if it never even happened. As well, ever since he was a kid, “running [his] own lemonade stands”, he was a very hard worker. That’s the difference between himself and Yvette. She only has one highly noticeable trait, and that is that Yvette is very loyal. Loyal to her beliefs and values, and loyal to her roommates “The Electric Love Stallions”, and band in which one of the members is Yvettes brother. Although Dewey is just as easy going as Yvette is loyal, the couple always end up having some arguments.

Through out the novel, Dewey and Yvette have a lot of disagreements, which lead to fights. For instance, when Yvette got kicked out of her house, she blamed it all on poor Dewey, when it clearly “didn’t have anything to do with [him]. They are continuously try to fix things up in the relationship, but no matter how hard either one of them tries, it just makes it worse. During an argument once, Yvette told Dewey that her “first impression” of him was that “[he] looked lazy” and that he acted like a “self conceded spoiled punk”.