Analysis Of Me And Earl And The Dying Girl 'And Over My Shoulder'

The book Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews and the song “Over My Shoulder” by Rudderless both strongly show the theme of how important it is to have friends to help guide you through life. In the book Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the main character, Greg, is struggling to get through high school while also experience the tragedy of his friend, Rachel, having leukemia. Greg and Rachel both help each other greatly in different ways. The song, “Over My Shoulder”, is from the point of view of this guy who is struggling with making the right decisions, but he will always have his friend to stay by his side and help him through life, not matter what decisions he makes. The author and the songwriter both convey the same message throughout both of these texts using similar skills, such as dialogue and symbols, even though they use these skills in different ways.
In the book Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the author uses dialogue to show how much Rachel improves Greg’s life.
In the book on page 249 Greg’s friend says, “That girl you like so much doesn’t care, but Rachel does and you are too blind to see that.” This dialogue really shows how much Rachel cares about Greg and improves his life. This also shows that Greg doesn’t even realize at first that Rachel means a lot to him and cares about him. In addition to this, by using dialogue between Greg and his college professor, the author also shows the theme of how friends extremely important in life because they improve us. Greg is talking about how Rachel gave him the courage to go to film school and he says, “I feel like there is a good chance I might make a really good film.” He goes from being totally unconfident in himself to being courageous and confident after being friends with Rachel. The author portrays the theme in that one sentence by showing that friends can change a whole aspect of you that contributes to you being a better
person. Furthermore, the theme I was talking about earlier is also shown in the song
“Over My Shoulder” by Rudderless by the use of dialogue. The songwriter shows how much a friend means to this person in a short amount of time just by the use of dialogue. The songwriter makes it sound like this person is talking to their friend when they sing, “If I'm wrong or right, you stand by my side”. I think this represents how important friendship is to this person and how a good friend will stay by you even through tough situations. This compares to Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, as it shows how a friend can change a person. The author displays the theme using that one sentence of dialogue and he clearly shows you the relationship between these two people without having to give background history. As well as the use of dialogue, the author of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl also uses symbolism to portray the effects a friend can have on a life. This book uses the films Greg and his friend Earl create as a symbol for how you have to make mistakes in order to grow up. Greg hates the films he made and was scared to make them, even though he loved making films, but soon he realizes that he shouldn’t be afraid of making them. I think that Rachel was the whole reason that he overcame his fear. She not only encouraged him to keep trying, but she genuinely likes the films. She affected him in so many ways, and all while she was dying. I think this really shows the true power of a person who cares about you can have. The songwriter also uses a huge amount of symbolism in order to show meaning in the song “Over My Shoulder”. The author uses the symbol of the angel and the devil on your shoulder as a way to show how much a friend can help you in the choices you make, but also how you can have a good side and a bad side to you which can both influence your decisions. The song says, “The devil never knows the angel in disguise” and I think this means that his friend is and angel in disguise and the devil, or the bad part of him, doesn’t realize how much his friend is helping him make good decisions and making him a better person. This also compares to Greg and how he didn’t even realize that Rachel was helping him. Whenever the singer sings about this “angel”, the song becomes more upbeat like this “angel” is making the singer’s life better and he really loves this person for that reason. All of these components to the song show how important this friend is and how much a person can change your life and the way you think about the world. Throughout the song “Over My Shoulder” and the book Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, the songwriter and author use craft such as dialogue and symbols to show the importance of friendship and how a single person could completely change your outlook on life. Jesse Andrews rights about how a friend can change you without you even knowing, especially in the darkest of times, and the songwriter of “Over My Shoulder” writes about how a friend can help navigate you through the twists of life. Each of these texts imply that you don’t have to be alone, because a friend in your life could help make you the person you always wanted to be and more.