Final Project

For my final project, I made a book composed of illustrations and short stories. The book is loosely based on my boyfriend’s life, it encompasses three ‘chapters’ of his life. The themes revolve around the main character’s life showing how he begins to learn more about himself, his place in the world, and what being a man means for him. These revelations are aided by his father, who gives advice and helps him along his journey of self-discovery. The story deals with several topics such as discrimination, sexual assault, and gentrification.

The outcome of my project differs from my proposal because in my initial idea, I wanted to simply focus on the recent sexual harassment and sexual assault accusations in the media, and how it can affect a young boy. As I thought more about this idea, I thought it was too limiting of a scope on a person. After all, a person is not defined by their ideas/opinions on one issue; instead they are defined by several characteristics and unique identities. As a result of this revelation, I decided to scrape my original idea, in favor of making a book that shows the story of a young boy and how he is affected by several unique circumstances, how he deals with the consequences of his actions, and how he grows as both a person and a man.

Another factor that was concerning to me while writing the story was that they were not my lived experiences, so I was a bit hesitant in transforming them into a story. I was fearful that they would not be authentic stories since I, myself, had not experienced them. However, I realized that just as a person is not defined by a singular experience they are also not defined by a single story. This book that I created does not stand in place of all Latino boys’ experiences, but simply the experience of one individual.

Here is the link: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/59602749/the-struggles-of-a-boy