#The Boy and the Dragon Gay: A literary Analysis

[sylvianasart]

Read some stories to my chat. They were enraptured.

[ffxivxd]

A literary analysis of the Boy and the Dragon Gay exists. It describes the story as an adaptation of an Ishgardian myth. It tells the story of a young boy who is caught by bandits and saved by a dragon. However, it states that the boy was given dragon blood and became a minion.

[twink-frank]

hi i’ve noticed the pencey prep gay conversation going on over on @awsugar and i have spent lots of time dissecting pencey prep lyrics and subjecting nathan @faggot-frank to my deranged ramblings so Here is my pencey prep super ultra mega gay lyrical analysis masterpost. it’s very long so its all under the cut but i will include a TL;DR for those who dont wanna read paragraphs of my deranged ramblings: Pencey prep uses lots of themes of: heartbreak, forbidden love, keeping love a secret, and toxic relationships. which none of that is gay on its own but combined with them almost never using gender indicators in their songs and the “nail in the coffin song” of 8th grade it ends up being a very Fruity Album.

I will be going through heart break in stereo in order and pointing out which lyrics and elements of certain songs jump out to me as Super Mega Gay and then summarizing my conclusions at the end <3

1 ) PS Don't Write

PS don't write is about leaving a toxic relationship, it has notes of moving on and leaving someone behind. "packed up all my shit / stole back all my tapes / left your spare key under the mat / this is not a joke / you'd better learn to take a hint / 'cause i'm not coming back / maybe you'll understand / when you're waking up alone / in a cold and empty bed." it has no gender indicators or pronouns which is the case in a lot of pencey prep songs, and something i'll bring up quite a bit. it also has general "coming of age" themes, something common in lots of pencey prep songs. which Yeah apply to straight people to but read in this context combined with future evidence can be pretty Fuckin Gay. "somewhere along the line / i found a hidden strength / i didn't know i had / standing on my own / cutting all the strings / that you used to control / surprise surprise / i am long gone / if you thought you could hold me down / by holding me up / you were wrong / you don't call the shots anymore." not to say only gay people can find inner strength and the room to love themselves but combined with other context it is a really poignant message about accepting yourself for who you are.

2) Yesterday

Yesterday is very repetitive and has a lot less to analyze, but the constant themes of wanting to "run away" strike me as very Fruity. once again, not saying gay people are the only people who can want to run away or escape from something But Combined With Other Context. and once again a song with no gender indicators, doesnt specify who the speaker is running away with or what they are running away from. just that they want to Leave. "i wanna run with you / i don't care what we do / gotta get out of this place / because it feels like yesterday." also saying "it feels like yesterday" could mean that the town feels backwards or old timey in its beliefs, implying homophobia. how the speaker wants to run away from an old fashioned town.

3) Don Quixote

i'm going to bring up the cultural significance of this title and literary reference first. Don Quixote is a classical novel by Cervantes which is about a crazy dude who thinks he's a knight, and goes on weird adventures with his best friend. It's typically used as a symbol of following your dreams and breaking free from what people expect of you. In the context of the song its used as a symbol of following your dreams with Someone. once again this someone is given no gender indicators. "you say it's not worth it / been burned too many times / if your spine's receding / you can borrow some of mine / don't go and quit right now / cause i'd follow you through hell." "you say so many things / and not a word of it was true / if you're still in that state of mind / i'd still vacation inside of you / cause i think you're worth every minute / and every dime that i spend / i'd spend all my time fighting dragons / just to keep you alive and talking." it's about wanting to spend time with someone, wanting to be with them no matter what. and its also about how this person feels unreachable, like being with them would be a fairytail but the speaker Still Reaches for it. "your imaginations running wild / round your deceptive heart / this is my crusade / and you're the unreachable star / but i'm reaching." talking about this person being unreachable and unattainble. which isnt gay By Itself  but again combined with the other context. FRUIT BEHAVIOR.

4) 10 Rings

another breakup song once again with no gender indicators, are you guys sensing a theme here? anyways this song is about someone cutting you off and then coming back suddenly wanting to talk again after breaking your heart. it has a sense of forbidden love, like this person Told the speaker they cant be together for Whatever Reason ;] and is now trying to come back and repair their mistake when the speaker is already hurt and reeling. "learn to live with decisions you make / i learned things from the break i can't forget / catch you doing drive-bys at 1 AM / it must kill you to know we can't be friends." "end of the summer you cut me off / i cut you out all the pictures i have." which this Isnt Gay By Itself. but bringing that phrase back with other context this is such a uniquely gay experience. being in love with someone and they cut you off Because theyre weirded out by that and then they try to come back, convince you it meant nothing.

5) The Secret Goldfish

my FAVORITE pencey song. this one has a lot. it's another breakup song about heartbreak and loss and im not even gonna dwell on the no gender indicators because yall see the theme now. it has themes of heartbreak and losing someone who is very close to you and having to let go of them and having to accept that this person cant be yours and you cant be with them. "land of the lost / i found myself in nothing / this time, promises broken find me / clutching to you for something / something that you're not / believing in what you say / it makes me lie awake at night / the truth, the truth is not what scares me / it's why you have to lie / all the time." here we see these themes of having to let someone go because they just Aren't The Same as you. "clutching to you for something / something that you're not." maybe like chasing after a straight boy and getting rejected? also the repetition of "heartbreak is forever" when you're young and gay losing that first person you felt some kind of love and attraction to can feel like the end of the world and can be a huge deal because of the lack of representation and guidance young gays get. and the themes of nothing lasting forever, the fact that gay people never get promised eternal love the same way straight people do.

6) 8th Grade

this song is the nail in penceys fucking coffin honestly. the rest of these songs have a lot of plausible deniability, just vague enough to maybe Not Be Gay. but framed in the context of 8th grade they all start to get a lil fruity. Im just gonna go through lyric by lyric for this one. "caught staring again / like a deer in the headlights / when you can't move fast enough / i take a hit for the team / pretty girl is blushing / i can't tell if she's disgusted / laughter starts to swell / someone gets the joke." this kid was staring at some cute boy ass and got caught and everyone is laughing at him for being gay. the "pretty girl" here is what most people think he's staring at but with the rest of the song it's obvious she's not the one he's looking at. "bells ring, i make my escape / helps a little, but doesn't save / beat downs a common thing / with us every day / maybe im just strange / cause i dont change schools / so maybe i like the abuse / or maybe i just like you." literally This is the nail in penceys fucking coffin. "maybe i like the abuse or maybe i just like you." this kid purposefully takes beatings from his bully who is Obviously male if you take into context the next verse. because he Likes Him. "maybe im just strange / cause i dont change schools" literally willingly taking beatings from his bully bc he has a crush. "another confrontation / you've got something to prove / your girl can't tell how tough you are / when you beat me up in the boys room." this just confirms that the subject of the song is a boy, and a tough macho boy with something to prove. maybe also hiding his own internalized homophobia through bullying? "well i made a big mistake / but i can't help who i like / this may not cost my life / but i am branded forever lame." LITERALLY ITS RIGHT IN YOUR FACE. "can't help who i like" "branded forever lame" do i even need to fucking explain this oh my god. he got outed as gay, he Can't Help Who He Likes and is now branded forever as "the gay kid." the rest of the song is general "im gonna get back at my bully" stuff but literally THIS. THIS is the song that brands all penceys other very vague songs as 100% verified super mega ultra gay.

7) 19

this song has a lot less, and is more about internal struggle than anything. but it is the only song with a "she" pronoun in it. but there is one thing i wanna mention. "I scream out loud / but no one hears a sound / i take my life with lack of sleep / i believe the things i feel / the things i see are fooling only me." this song is about not believing what the world shows you, believing what you think is true in your heart and what You feel. not what anyone else tells you. which is a gay experience. believing in yourself and your heart and your feelings, believing theyre right and theyre true and valid. Also this song has a significance in coming right after 8th grade on the album, going from being 13 to 19, from being unsure in your feelings and angry about the people who dont like you to lost and hopeless but somewhat grounded in yourself.

8) Trying To Escape The Inevitable

this song is about an abusive and toxic relationship, knowing you Need to escape it but being so infatuated with the person you literally cant. “i have this reoccurring dream / you make it hard for me to breathe / i gave you everything i could / i gave up everything i owned / and when you smile it’s not for me / you offer little sympathy / your grasp so far exceeds your reach / i wake up, this is not a dream.” “i have this reoccuring dream / where you admit that you’re not happy / i know that you will never leave / you’re here just to torment me.” which like again this isnt an exclusively gay experience but it is very interesting when framed that way. in that gay people are way more likely to throw themselves into abusive and toxic relationships because they dont feel like they can get anybody else. the repetition of “i know i should run” makes it seem like the speaker Knows he should get out but he just Cant because what if he never finds love again? and the little reprise in the middle “i have a new dream / and everything is perfect / the sky is pink, yellow, green, blue, and orange / and all the past has been forgotten / and we fell in love / and we fell in love / and we fell in love / and i fell into your trap.” implying that even if he escapes, even in his dreams he still falls for this person because he feels like he cant have anything else.

9) Lloyd Dobbler

another love song about wanting to have someone but not being able to because of Unspecified Forbidden Reasons. “why are you so far away / even when you’re standing next to me? / your eyes give you away / telling secrets your mouht don’t feel like talking.” falling in love with someone, maybe sensing that they like you too. that they Are Like You and that they have a Secret they dont want to vocalize. do i even need to explain it at this point? and in the chorus “That I’ll be your lloyd dobbler / with a boom box out in the street / and i’ll be there if you need someone / even if he isn’t me.” saying you’ll be there for someone even if that person isn’t you, also the use of Pronouns which is big for pencey prep. which yes the use of “even if he isnt me” could imply a straight girl ooorrr....Fruit Behavior. also this line “There’s a norman rockewll painting / of two kids sitting on a bench / it reminds me of all the stupid things / i’d like for us to share, but i dont care.” normal rockwell is a painter that paints traditionally “american” scenes. like the american ideal, that maybe he wants with this person. but he knows he cant have, but its stupid and domestic and he wants it but he Cant Have It because of FRUIT BEHAVIOR.

10) Florida Plates

another of my favorite pencey songs, and this one brings back those tragic “love but we cant have it” themes, except with a more somber tone. instead of being angry or resentful or spiteful in the face of adversity. its an Acceptance, of what they had and how good it was and how it just Cant Last. “kiss a mouth to open eyes / stall one last moment before goodbye / drive in different cars in different directions / never write all the letters full of good words, better intentions / it’s for the best although we don’t know it / paper words will cheapen the moments we shared / it’s better if i say nothing at all.” it’s about knowing you have to leave someone, even if having them in the moment is great they Can’t Stay and you can’t even talk or write about the moments you had. which do i even need to explain it at this point? forbidden love, not being able to have each other, not even being able to Talk about it. its a secret, and painful one but its beautiful while you have it. Conclusion alright!!! thank you so so much if you read all the way through that i Know it was long i Know it was a lot of repetition but i wanted to make my point. pencey prep has very big gay themes in their music. with forbidden love, letting go, heartbreak, keeping secrets, toxic realtionships. which none of it is gay on its own but in the context of: almost none of the songs having clear gender indicators and always speaking really vaguely about the subject and Eight Grade the “nail in the coffin song” you can see my point thank you and goodnight.

[est-infernae]

"It sounded fun at first, but now that I'm here, I'm starting to have second thoughts." -From Hots, ofc

@hottataru

"Gotta admit, don't know why you decided to accompany me... here. To a forbidden library, containing tomes of eld that you /wish/ you had the capacity to read." Ven hisses, pulling something bound in red chains, aetherical in nature. Hurriedly, he stuffs the book entitled "Advanced Protective Red Magic" into his pack, takes a cursory glance about to ensure no slumbering Voidsent are roaming the interior of Gubal. He's more than capable of taking them on himself, and he huffs at the notion that Hots should try to assist him.

Satisfied with what he's gleaned, he steals away with a copy of "A Literary Analysis of The Boy and The Dragon Gay" as well, though that's with the primary purpose of making the more conservative Ishgardians squirm.

[cosmosogler]

hi guys. i don’t really know how to write about how i’m feeling right now. like, i have a lot of words and not enough energy to type all the words i think. i’ll try.

woke up basically on time, although i think i woke up during the night at some point. the clean bedsheets helped i think. i was gonna get rolling around 9:30 but i felt sick after breakfast and kinda just wanted to listen to music so i didn’t leave my apartment until 11:30. i sat and worked semi-diligently until 1 when i had lunch with harrison. i hadn’t really felt good about preparing my own lunch so we got subway, which is always a downgrade from literally anything i could bring myself. it made me sick. i talked to harrison about my various therapy experiences. i’ve had good ones and bad ones... i talked about why i still recommend it despite all the complications and the fact that it’s REALLY difficult to get quality treatment when you have serious problems that require treatment, but much easier to get treatment when you’re feeling on the better side. not feeling “good,” but... it’s different. you gotta be proactive to get the best experience / switch out therapists when you are not getting along and most people seeking therapy do not have the energy to be that proactive.

when we got back keegan wanted to play smash. i was kinda having fun but i was also making really risky moves that i hadn’t practiced and i lost basically every fight. i won one of them, but i came in third (or fourth, when taylor was playing) the rest of the time. it got frustrating... harrison just does the same thing over and over and i can’t figure out how to work around it on the competitive stages. i can do it just fine on any other stage, but those flat ones where nothing is moving just give him a huge advantage because i can’t approach safely without getting clotheslined by keegan.

i studied for another ~hour and then i took a quick break and then i biked up the hill to go check out creative writing club.

it was basically nothing that i wanted it to be. i was the first one there. eventually the club secretary showed up. she talked at me about her family and how successful they all are. i asked about what she’s writing and she talked to me about her trilogy idea and how she and her co-author have planned a sequel trilogy to go with it and they are halfway done with the first book of the six. she told me that the club basically just has a group project they always work on as a huge collaboration, and for the summer the theme / universe was summer camp.

she didn’t ask about my writing.

when the two boys (president and vice) showed up the president asked what the last book i read was. then he asked what i was hoping to get out of club. when i said i was kind of thinking it would be a place where we each brought in our own work and swapped it around to give feedback he stared at me until i brought up the collaboration. we jumped right in with that. without letting me read half the character list he started asking me for character ideas. 

i was kind of at a loss. i was still trying to change gears from “oh they are not going to read or even ask about my work or care” to “GUESS I’M JUMPING ON BOARD A PROJECT I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT.” 

one thing i picked up on while he scrolled rapidly through the document is that every character is a hilarious sociopath. most of the character quirks were edgy or “lol xd so ran dom” sort of humor. i tried to get the core of a character going, that i liked, but within five minutes i realized that i was going to have to pick a joke and hammer it repeatedly if they were going to write down any of my ideas. (they didn’t write down a bunch of things i suggested.)

the secretary had told me that the president was super gay and it would be obvious as soon as he walked in. but when i suggested the character i made was gay they seemed to act like i was breaking some kind of rule, or being somehow more risque than them. 

the vice president seemed to think i was freaking hilarious and got a huge kick out of several of my jokes (that the other two didn’t write down). i was getting along with him ok but i was also having the most trouble following his character ideas (he hit a lot of the same notes over and over and over). 

i asked if we were ever going to do anything besides make characters and the president said we’d be making a story outline once we had enough to work with. i kind of stared at the document (it was on the projector so i didn’t have free reign to see whatever i wanted). we had 17 characters and they are all fairly one-note. that’s too many characters for any kind of story besides like an ensemble with disconnected chapters. also almost every one of those characters is a self-centered asshole. i don’t know what we are going to do with this story but i don’t anticipate it being very fun for me.

i know... what they’re doing. this club isn’t a class. they’re not meeting every week to hone their craft. they’re just having fun and screwing around. and... there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that. i worry what it says about me that i’m so disappointed though. 

i feel like... i had invested a lot of hope into this idea that there would be a place i could go to talk about fiction, and other people’s fiction, and my fiction, and maybe meet some other dedicated people and write some critiques. get my literary analysis hat back on. haven’t been able to do that in so long. does that make me a tryhard? does it make me pretentious? have i become an “i don’t know how to have fun” sort of person, that i don’t fit into this club? i can’t see myself making it work. 

i wanted to have fun in a way that i know how and makes me feel good. i know it’s not necessarily healthy to only have fun when i also feel like i’m being productive in some way. but that’s what i wanted out of this. i wanted it to be easy to have fun and feel like i was spending my time in a way that improves myself or my abilities. that’s how i have fun, i think... most other ways of having fun leave me feeling empty afterward. like today.

i had fun for a little while. why am i so sad anyway?

i’m running out of resources. there’s only one “creative writing club” on campus. i can’t go to the OTHER creative writing club where they do the things i wanted to do. this is what i have, and it’s not really what i expected or helpful to me. 

if there’s a club for this out in the town community? what am i gonna do, go show a bunch of older people my fan fiction comic? my convoluted other comic script that badly needs major revisions? my zombie story? my dragon story that also needs huge revisions? what am i even doing?

what the hell am i doing. why did i let so much ride on this commitment. i’m planning on going next week, one more time... just to see if things can be different, i guess. 

but between this and the new counselor i’m kind of frustrated and confused about what to do next. i’ve had the rug pulled out from under me so many times in the last few months... the last year... the last two and a half decades. so many dead ends and NO SOLUTIONS! NOTHING IS MAKING ME HAPPY. NOTHING IS SATISFYING ME. 

i don’t expect the psychology clinic to be able to help me either. i filled out the paperwork anyway, but... i don’t see what the point of consciously hoping is. i’m gonna hope anyway, because i can’t seem to not hope, and it hurts, but it’s what i do and i can’t seem to change it. 

i’m really upset. i don’t know who else to go to. i don’t know what else to try. i don’t know where the community i’m looking for is hiding. i don’t know the magic study strategy that will let me pass my exams. i feel so stuck and alone. i feel like this is my fault because nothing is good enough for me i guess. why can’t i just be happy with what i have. i always need more and i’m never gonna get it.