Jack Holmes And His Friend

Doc Bolton
Response: Jack Holmes and His Friend
10/23/12
In the beginning of this book I was genuinely interested. I figured Jack was gay before it actually was acknowledged in the book becauseof the way he talked about his roommate, first, because he examined every little detail as if his body were some phenomenon of nature and was spectacular in every way. The next indicator of Jack’shidden sexuality was the way he described the women in his life. He uses minor detail and talks only about the unappealing traits that stand out. But the fact that he had hidden homosexual feelings wastruly revealed to me was when he was describing sex, and how he admired his own body while it was happening and he thought little of the woman. The story is incredibly intriguing and I like the wayWhite describes his characters with details from their past, as if you can tell everything about someone by knowing the family they come from. Though that’s probably the way it is in some circles ofincredibly wealthy people.
At first I felt sorry for Jack, because he had to hide his sexuality from everyone, worrying that if people knew they would never treat him the same. But after part one, whenwe get Will’s inner thoughts and feelings his life doesn’t seem so happy-go-lucky because he’s straight. He is unhappy with the woman he married, and he wants a complete change in his sex life. Somuch to the point that he has an affair with a woman he met through Jack. I think the whole point of the book is to break down the idea of having a black and white definition of sexuality. Jack is fuzzyon his sexuality at first, but he is willing to learn about himself throughout the course of his early adulthood. He eventually becomes comfortable with it to the point of coming out among hisprofessional and non-professional relationships. Will on the other hand allows himself the luxury of saying he’s straight and never questions that. Eventually he becomes unhappy with his life, until the...