Flamer

Curato uses Aiden’s failed efforts at orienteering as an analogy for how lost he feels in life. The series of small, consecutive panels depicting Aiden looking increasingly lost and confused convey his struggle to find his way, and the full-page image of him sitting alone in a clearing emphasizes how isolated he feels (198-99). As Aiden sits alone, his tears reflect not knowing how to process the emerging realization that he is gay. He is lost in a metaphorical wilderness.

Ted is the only adult that recognizes what Aiden is going through. When he finds Aiden crying alone, he talks to him on two levels: Superficially, he helps him orient his compass to find the true north of the map, but more importantly, he provides the emotional guidance and support Aiden needs. Aiden’s frustration with the idea that there are two norths (magnetic north and true north) reflects his confusion about feeling one way but being told he should feel another. Ted’s response—that “[t]here is no ‘right’ north” (203)—is his way of providing Aiden with reassurance and validation. Their ability to superficially talk about one thing while meaning something completely different reflects their experiences as closeted gay males in an extremely prejudiced culture.

In Ted, Aiden has found a role model he can identify with. He recognizes that Ted is different, like him, but also sees how confidently Ted carries himself. His attempts to emulate Ted’s hairstyle mistake the source of Ted’s confidence: Ted is confident because he is at peace with who he is as a person, and emulating Ted’s hairstyle will not grant Aiden that same Self-Acceptance. This becomes clear when, after getting into a fight with Mark, Aiden yells a series of anti-gay slurs at him. This reflects the explosion of self-hatred that has built up inside of him after years of bullying. It’s the first time he utters any slur, which reveals just how angry he is—and not just at Mark. He’s angry at the world, and angry at himself and the fact that he believes his life will never be easy. It’s the realization that finding the kind of confidence and self-acceptance that he sees in Ted will take a lot more than superficially copying someone else, and that there will always be people like Mark who are unaccepting and hateful.

While Aiden is not happy about the fight, the other boys support him, and standing up for himself for the first time builds his confidence. This, along with the taste of victory from their camp-wide games, means that he goes into his night with Elias riding a wave of positive feelings. Aiden misunderstands the signals: He and Elias bond over their taste in music, they each share their anxiety over the future, they each express how much they like one another, there’s safe physical contact, and Elias even tells him it’s fun to break rules. All this makes the symbolic fire within him burn brighter.

After Aiden kisses Elias, the rift between them is conveyed by the art and layout on pages 248 and 249: They lie in the dark, facing away from one another, with their beds separated onto different pages by the gutter in the middle.