Welcome to the first in a sub-series of posts about some of the fictional characters who I carry with me and who inspire me every day. These posts will probably be a little shorter than most of my others, but I hope you'll be able to find something for you in them. It is easy to be frustrated by the media sometimes, so it helps to look for individuals who you can learn from to see your own world in a new light. Given that London Pride is happening this weekend, I thought now would be a good opportunity to talk about The Miseducation of Cameron Post. I gave this book a read about a year ago, and since then the film version has found its way to Netflix, and if you haven't experienced this story yet, I would encourage you to dive into either of these mediums. On the surface, it's the story of a young girl from southern USA who is unceremoniously outed as gay and sent away for 're-education.' Dig a little deeper, though, and you'll find the story of an ordinary person encountering the obstacles we all must face on the path to forging our own identity.
Cameron is what you might have called a 'tom-boy' in the mid-nineties setting of the story; a girl who often displays masculine characteristics. She prefers to go by 'Cam' and is often chastised for this by her older peers as the name has 'masculine connotations' and fuels her 'gender dysphoria.' While the story centres entirely around her, it is structured around the characters she meets along her journey, each of which provide another obstacle that she must overcome in forming her own identity. As well as each of these characters possessing a quality which Cameron finds attractive, they also harbour one major flaw which forms a major obstacle in her journey. Three of the most noteworthy obstacles we meet are Coley, Jamie and Lydia. While trying not to spoil the plot for you as much as possible, Coley is a girl who Cam falls for, and while the pair have chemistry, Coley is held back by her traditional Christian views. Jamie is Cam's male best friend who has strong feelings for her, but fails to empathise with her when he learns the truth. Lydia is in charge of God's Promise, a boarding school that helps to put 'confused' teenagers 'back on track' and help them form a new identity, and while she stays true to her own beliefs, her attempts to try to impose them on Cam and the other students inevitably backfire. All of these characters have at least one quality that directly mirrors Cameron and one that is in total juxtaposition with her. Throughout the narrative, Cam meets many different versions of herself, each presented by a character she encounters. The version she is introduced to by Coley is an idealistic version where she never has to face her problems, able to live in blissful ignorance of her past forever. In Lydia, she finds the version that wants nothing more than to appease others and appear totally inoffensive to everyone. Through Lindsey, a friend she meets at swim practice (a part of the story that, despite being an integral part of Cam's identity, is omitted from the film), she is introduced to lesbian culture, a world she feels drawn to but never entirely at home in. Like Cameron's obstacles, each version of her has her strengths and flaws, and her ultimate test lies in finding the best part of each; the confidence of Lindsey's version and the care-freeness of Coley's version, for instance. Whether or not these versions form a part of who she chooses to be, they are integral to her journey.
Cameron Post is one of my literary heroes because she's not perfect. She gets things wrong, and lets people get the better of her sometimes. She's scared by the world, and often struggles to come to terms with the fact that when bad things happen, they're not her fault. She shows us that sometimes the world can be a very hard place to deal with it, but if you take the time to learn from it, you'll find the best version of yourself. Her story is one that I believe all young people need to experience; it's not just an LGBTQ+ story, it's a human story. She is female and she is gay, and while these elements are a big part of her identity, they are not factors she chooses to define her, like Lindsey and Lydia do respectively. Stories like this remind us of why it's important to be proud of who we are, whatever factors we choose to define ourselves, and let us know that it's okay if there are times when we're not. Whatever happens, and whatever obstacles stand in our way, we all have the strength to perceive the world around us in the best way to uncover our own identity.
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