59 pages • 1 hour read
Lamar GilesNot So Pure and Simple
Lamar GilesFiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Kiera as an Ideal
While she is a major character, Kiera is a symbol of Del’s ideal girl. He sees her as a pure, gorgeous, likable, kind, sassy, outgoing, and sexy young woman who would be the ideal girlfriend. Del’s fantasy, though, has little to do with who she really is. Though he learns later to respect her as a person with her own personality, needs, wants, and flaws, he first misjudges her by assuming she fits his ideal of the perfect girl. Because he thinks she’s caring, sweet, and virginal, Del is distraught later to learn Kiera is quieter, more selfish, and more sexually experienced than he believed. Though the younger pledgers admire her strong will and studiousness and believe she’s a natural leader, Kiera is secretly hard on herself and feels guilty for past mistakes. She is also devoutly religious and flags passages in her Bible; Del lacks such religious faith. When Del gets to know the real person behind the shallow fantasy, he learns they don’t have much in common or connect as he expected.
Kiera further dismantles Del’s fantasy when she confronts him about not being a virgin. She is leery and hostile toward him when he judges her or keeps pushing for a romance. In one moment, after she admits she’s not a virgin and broke their purity pledge, Del realizes Kiera’s flawless image isn’t reality: “Sweet church girl Kiera flashed her middle finger. All my anger rushed back, and I drove home saying horrible things—more horrible than what I’d called her” (321). Until he gets to know her, Del has no idea how multifaceted she is. He admits later he never really learned much about her at prom: “All the time I’d been around Kiera, I never knew she could dance. Never learned much about her at all, really. I hoped her college date was better about that sort of thing than most in her orbit were” (383). Del eventually learns Kiera is not who he expected, and he comes to accept her for herself without judgment or pressure to be with him.
Jameer’s Room
Identity formation is an important part of Not So Pure and Simple. The characters experience various forces pulling them in different directions, and each needs space to form and express their identity. With no privacy, no door, and no personal items, Jameer’s bedroom represents his parents’ rejection but more so their lack of control over who their child will become. Jameer is gay, and his parents are conservative, strict, and inflexible in their religious beliefs. Because they reject Jameer’s sexual orientation, they turn his room into a prison: “The walls were bare, except for textured wallpaper […] in vertical pastel patterns that looked like bars. There was a desk, and a bed with a comforter that matched the wall. A dresser with a porcelain dove […] That was about it. No computer. No TV. No games” (122). The word “bars” connotates a prison, a place that deprives Jameer of his individuality and personal expression. Religious fervor pushes his parents to strictly monitor Jameer lest he engage in any activities they might consider inappropriate; as a result, he can do his homework only on the family laptop downstairs while they watch. When Del visits Jameer’s house for the first time, he worries about Jameer: “His room…no doors, no mirror, as bare as frontier cabins we sometimes read about when MJ couldn’t get around state-mandated book lists. It creeped me out” (126). Because they reject this important part of Jameer’s personality, they reject anything in his room that might reflect his personality or be evidence that he’s been “corrupted” (214).
As symbolized by the bedroom, his parents’ control is only superficial. They can remove the internet and any outward sign of Jameer from his bedroom, but they cannot control who he really is. Unknown to his parents, Jameer has a boyfriend and friends (Del and Kiera, for example) who accept him. Jameer is counting the months until he can leave for college, and he plans to get as far from his parents as he can. Jameer’s identity formation—and the identity formation of all the young characters—is a culmination of personality, experiences, and life lessons; adults who attempt to control that process or dictate its outcomes risk alienating their children, who eventually will escape to their own lives and authentic identities.
Social Media
Even though social media has a reputation for superficiality, brand influencers, and carefully curated content, some content creators have fostered communities for support, connection, and education. Cressie, Taylor, Jaylan, and Del use social media for confessionals (Cressie and Del), honesty (all of them), and helping others (Jaylan). Cressie’s YouTube channel promotes for women’s rights, describes her own sexual assault in an emotional confession, and enlightens people about the problems women face. Similarly, Jaylan teaches others about topics ranging from consent for sex to mental health, and she helps her audience find genuine answers. Taylor, using platforms such as YouTube with Cressie and her own Instagram videos to fight for women’s rights, reveals Colossus is her baby’s father. She attacks him for denying the truth and not accepting responsibility for his child. Lastly, Del finally stops lying to himself and others when he confesses his entire story with Kiera and the fact he is a virgin on video. Social media, then, instead of being a source of disconnection and superficiality, provides a safe space for honesty and vulnerability, which in turn foster connection to their authentic selves and to others.
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