him, she merely suggests “Maybe next time you [Geryon] could / use a one-dollar bill instead of a ten for the hair” (35). Although Geryon is making a waste of a fairly significant amount of money, his mother does not stop him. He creates his autobiography as he wants it and on his own terms. Geryon is not being objectified in his autobiography by being told how to create it. Geryon truly writes his own autobiography. Geryon is a subjective character. He is removed from the rest of the world and is therefore not subject to its reality. He is subject only to his own. This is immediately apparent through the fact that he is red and has wings. Geryon is the only character in the novel who is physically different from the others. It is not a feasible idea to have a person who is red and has wings. This makes him a subjective character because he is unlike the rest and challenges the convention of the typical human character. Even the reality of a corridor is a completely different reality for Geryon: “Between Main Door and Kindergarten ran a corridor. To Geryon it was / a hundred thousand miles / of thunder tunnels and indoor neon sky slammed open by giants.” (24). What is for most a simple corridor is extremely terrifying for Geryon. The objective reality of the corridor as merely a walkway between the main door and kindergarten becomes a subjective reality to Geryon when he perceives it was a frightful nightmare. This corridor is too difficult for Geryon to manage, and ultimately he finds his own way into kindergarten. He would “position himself in the bushes outside Kindergarten. There he would stand / motionless/ until someone inside noticed and came out to show him the way.” (24-25). Geryon refuses to follow the objective route into the classroom. He finds his own way and creates his own subjective reality. As Geryon waits outside the windows, the “first snows of winter / ...
