Young Gary's 'Insecurity As Depicted In The Jacket'

Throughout the story, "The Jacket", Young Gary's jacket represents many emotions. The main two I got from the reading was poverty and the young boys insecurity once he began to wear the jacket. When young Gary first walked into his bedroom and saw the new jacket on his bedpost he immediately disliked it. One of the representations of the jacket is poverty. He says, "I wanted to cry because it was so ugly and so big that I knew I'd have to wear it a long time." Towards the end of the story he says, "I wore that thing for three years." Another representation would be his insecurity. You know the young boy is insecure of his new jacket because at one point he says, " I sat on the bed, stood against the bed, and combed my hair to see what I look