How to Be Both

Throughout the novel, characters play with language as a means of connecting with those around them, making the manipulation of language—through translations, puns, banter, and word games—a recurring motif that represents emotional closeness between characters. George and Henry share a closeness that Francescho envies, which is symbolized by their linguistic play in misinterpreting the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones.” Similarly, H connects with Henry and cements her place within George’s life by bonding with the boy through a game of collaboratively creating absurd similes.

Language games and witty dialogue symbolizes a level of synergy and closeness between characters, and speaks to a deep or blossoming relationship. Barto and Francescho match wits near every conversation they share, and even in their first meeting Smith shows that the two are compatible and evenly matched through their rapid pun-filled tete-a-tete. Between George and H, language games are frequent. They confess to each other and share music in Latin translations, have running inside jokes about government surveillance through deliberate conflation of the near homonyms “monitor” and “minotaur,” and banter back and forth with ease.

Cameras are an important motif throughout the novel, primarily representing the surveillance and invasion of privacy that prompt George, her mother, and H to engage in acts of Everyday Resistance to Injustice. George believes that her mother was being monitored by the government before her death, and George is thus highly attuned to the possibility of surveillance. She automatically avoids CCTV cameras when skipping school, and she discusses with H the role of technology in maintaining the modern surveillance state. When George turns the tables on Lisa Goliard by subjecting her to stalking and surveillance, she does so by repeatedly photographing Lisa’s home.

While cameras can be an instrument of surveillance and oppression, they are also a means of making art. In George’s hands, a camera demonstrates The Power of Art to Transform and Preserve. Francescho admires photography as a modern form of art, and George eventually transforms her photographs of Lisa’s house into a collage. The art project ultimately brings her and H closer together and provides George with some closure over the loss of her mother. H’s admiration for the obsessive project speaks to her own artistic sensibilities. Cameras are presented as a tool to preserve valuable memories and moments, such as in the film footage of a young Carol dancing the twist, or in the many photos of her that George keeps on her wall. Although the trend in George’s school of recording the sounds of girls urinating is a gross invasion of privacy, George also recognizes that the footage captured the first moment of connection between her and H.