Jason Being True to Himself
For most of the book, Jason continually tries to conceal his identity by pretending to be cool, mixing in with the "tribe of hairy barbarians", afraid of what they'll do to him if they find out who he actually is. Some of his secrets include going to the movies with his mom, his stammer, and probably most importantly, his poetry. While hiding his real self may work temporarily, his secrets eventually spill out and cause massive trouble for him (as in the case with the stammer). Weirdly, when Jason is true to himself and sticks up for himself, fighting off bullies and embracing his faults, he gains respect for his actions and falls on the social ladder how he should. For example, Holly likes how he sticks up for himself and from this, he gets his first kiss. Jason's identity is generally split between two people: his poet-self Elliot Bolivar and the popularity seeking Jason Taylor. Unfortunately, both these identities can't really exist simultaneously without taki...