Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist,” - Friedrich Nietzsche.

Do you ever feel like you can’t be yourself? Like you have to fit in with everyone else? There are messages everywhere that tell people to be themselves but some people are still uncomfortable to show their real personalities and who they really are. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan tell the story of five people named Tiny, Will Grayson, another Will Grayson, Jane and Maura. Will Grayson from a town called Naperville travels to Chicago to meet a boy he met through the internet. It turns out that the boy was his friend Maura posing as the person he spoke with. Since there isn’t a real Issac, he meets the other Will Grayson and his friends instead while he was in Chicago. Tiny and Will Grayson then begin to date. After their encounter, their lives change and they do things that they never thought they would. The characters begin to grow up and be more and more comfortable with who they are as they go through the ups and downs of going through high school. As I was reading this book, the authors tell the reader that people are different and they shouldn’t feel like they can’t be who they really are.

A theme that connects to that is finding yourself. Will Grayson (Naperville) couldn’t be happy with his life. He was depressed and didn’t like anyone. The only time he was excited or happy was when he was talking to Isaac. After meeting the other Will Grayson and his friends, he changes into a different person. He discovers that he is gay and accepts it. He becomes more open and friendly to others around him. Teenagers can feel confused with who they are and what they are going to do with their life because they are young. They eventually find what makes them happy and go with it like how Will Grayson found Tiny and it changed the way he saw himself and others. Another theme that relates to being unique is self-expression. Tiny expresses himself through a musical he made about his life. Jane has her own unique style. She and Will Grayson (from Evanston) have unique music tastes. All the characters are different from other kids at their school. Even if they are called the “outcasts”, they aren’t afraid to be different from others around them. People shouldn’t be afraid to branch out from others because there isn’t a consequence for being yourself.

Another theme that appears in the book is expectations. The authors show that there are expectations on how to dress, what people should look like and how people should act. For example, in the book, Will Grayson’s (Evanston) parents are both doctors. They want him to get into a prestigious program that will help him become a doctor. Like most parents, they set high expectations for their kids. The text states, “And I realize, too, that if I can get in, I will probably go. There are worse ways to make a living,” (Page 76). There aren’t just expectations between parents and kids but also with friends and in school. People can have the same expectations of being  “perfect”. People think that they have to be tall, skinny and gorgeous. Kids should know that they shouldn’t change who they are because it’s impossible to reach everyone’s expectations. There will also be more problems that need solutions. For example, Will Grayson (Naperville) was hurt by Maura for posing as Isaac. He had really high hopes that Isaac was real and that they would have a connection but what happened was the opposite of what he wanted. He didn’t talk to her for a month but when he did and fixed their problem even if they don’t become friends anymore. The text states, “The point is that I’m still carrying around what happened as much as she is. And I need to get rid of it,” (Page 275). Teenagers change a lot as they develop into people that are more comfortable with their bodies. Some people can be easily hurt by others that might of manipulated their differences like what Maura did to Will Grayson. People might not even know they are hurting the person and it can lead to fights. However, people have to fix the problem to get rid of it. The themes of expectations and fixing problems tell the reader that everyone deals with problems differently and no one can be perfect and live up to everyone’s expectations.

The themes in Will Grayson, Will Grayson can make people realize that it’s okay to be different. It can tell people that event though it may be hard to branch out of what many people like or how they act, everyone is different and they should feel welcome to express themselves. The book can make teenagers think about what they say and how they should feel towards differences. It can make them think about how boring the world would be if everyone acted the same.