The Theme Of Mean By Myriam Gurba

In the memoir Mean, by Myriam Gurba, the role of female friendships is explored. This can be seen in many of the passages throughout the book, but especially in “Bonnie.” This passage details Gurba’s experience with her new friends at her private high school, and has led me to the question, What role do female friendships play in this story? In this section, Gurba describes her new friends in detail, noting their heritage and characteristics beyond that. She feels more closely connected with friends that share her similar Mexican roots, stating that “One of them, Frida, was half Mexican. That attracted me to her” (42). This is a common theme throughout the book, with Gurba feeling more closely connected to people who come from similar backgrounds

After this, the winner of the Miss America pageant comes to visit their high school on a tour, and this upsets Ashley.

While the girls were hanging out at school that day, Ashley makes fun of the winner, who is hard of hearing, by imitating a deaf voice, and Gurba describes that as “Ashley’s cruelty [giving her] goosebumps” (42) Gurba continuously chooses to surround herself with girls who don’t have the best reputations, as she hung out with “hos” in middle school, and describes her friends now in high school as “ not all [being] hos. Some were drunks and fools” (42). Gurba finds comfort in these nontraditional girls and their meanness. Ashley continues to make fun of the girl’s deafness, and Gurba agrees with her, saying “we nodded to show Ashley that we

They see a lot of different people here, but one that sticks out to Gurba are the “politically minded assholes [who] were registering voters” (46). Then they split up into pairs to go off and beg for money so they can enjoy the market, since they didn’t have any money themselves. Frida and Gurba pair off and walk around window shopping and gossiping insensitively about a baseball coach and Sunday school teacher who molested the kids he taught as was arrested. Gurba shows little to no compassion for these boys, despite them being children that she knew personally and grew up with. She writes that “my heart refused to have compassion for those involved in our local chomo mess. Compassion was too risky.” Her and Frida continue to joke about the situation, the girls poking fun at it in a mean way. This goes back to these girls not being the best for nicest girls, but still finding a way to bond with each other through their harder exteriors. They then find a hippie and ask him to give them money for the market. When he obliges, Frida suggests that Gurba blow him as a thanks, and Gurba responds saying that she’s gay. The hippie says she’s too young to know that about herself, and Frida responds by “[putting] her arm around me. I could feel her big breast press my bicep. ‘They start pretty young these days” (48). After this, the hippie smirks and Gurba says that the