Popcorn

“I feel something in my stomach twist. It’s nerves. Anxiety. But it feels like there’s a fussy iguana in there.”

Throughout the novel, Harrell uses literary devices to describe Andrew’s mental health conditions. For example, the simile comparing the boy’s nerves to “a fussy iguana” in his stomach captures some of the uncomfortable physiological effects of anxiety. This gives the reader an idea of what the narrator experiences on a daily basis and how he uses humor to cope with mental health challenges.

“Not long after that she had to move in with us, and I let her have my room because of course that’s what you do, but it means I have to sleep on the stupid fold-out couch in the front room with the sun coming through the blinds at the crack of dawn and I have to keep my clothes in the coat closet and she’s super messy and sometimes she stays in the bathroom for forever and we don’t know if she’s actually doing something or she’s zombie’d out and just staring off…and I really miss my room and my stuff and my space and…Sorry. I love G, but…Wow. I guess I needed to get that out.”

Most of this excerpt is a single run-on sentence, a stylistic decision that conveys Andrew’s frustration at how his life has changed since G moved in as well as the way that he kept his negative feelings pent-up for a long time out of a sense of politeness and responsibility. Polysyndeton is the stylistic addition of coordinating conjunctions where none are grammatically necessary. The author uses this literary technique in the phrase “my room and my stuff and my space” to emphasize how Andrew struggles with losing his privacy. These changes are particularly difficult for Andrew because his OCD and anxiety mean that he needs consistency and order to feel at ease.