It Gets Worse Themes

Shane Dawson is the New York Times Bestselling Author of I Hate Myselfie and recently made the list again with his second book, It Gets Worse. It Gets Worse is a collection of essays, all in which describe traumatizing events in Dawson’s life. While the book contains many literary themes, the best conveyed are problem and solution, conflict, and motivation. Through these themes, the reader experiences Shane’s deplorable life first hand. In one of the book’s earliest chapters, Dawson addressed openly coming to terms with his sexuality, using problem and solution. Though Shane knew he identified as bisexual as an adolescent, he recognized that this was not news to be disclosed. “I had two crushes: one on a boy and one on a girl. And I could tell no one. Instead of talking about my feelings to my family and my friends, I just bottled them up inside and pretended they didn’t exist. This became a common theme” (Dawson 9). The reader can comprehend from the excerpt that Shane’s solution, for the time being, was to snub his feelings. He did so in an effort to still be included in his loved one’s lives, for it could all be at stake due to their religious beliefs, in relation to homosexuality. After years of suppressing his emotions, Shane decided he did not enjoy living a lie and came up with a new solution to come out as bisexual.

For example, after directing his movie, Not Cool, Dawson was submerged in obnoxious reviews such as, “comedy that only date-rapists, racists, and sociopaths could love” (Los Angeles Times), and, “No one involved (with Not Cool) should ever be allowed to work in the movies again” (The New York Times). Unexpectedly, Dawson used the critiques of others as motivation to work diligently at creating original and joyous content, suggesting for his viewers to do the