Agnes

I wrote my last paper of the semester partially concerning Nothing, and I can say from experience that the novel is no less shocking the second time around.  This book is, well,

Dark. Darker. Most dark.

Since the subject matter of my paper was about the protagonists of YA novels, I got to wondering, “why is Agnes the hero of this book anyway?”  Nothing is a little weird in that it’s barely concerned with its own hero.  We don’t even learn her name until we’re around a fifth of the way through the book.  The plot revolves around the class as a whole, so why is the narration tied to Agnes instead of being omniscient 3rd person?  I finally settled on an answer, and it’s because in a way, Agnes is a catalyst for the plot.

Agnes is at fault. Responsible. Guilty.

Up until Agnes’ turn to pick the next item to be added to the pile, the list was pretty simple.  D&D books, a fishing rod, a soccer ball, earrings and her sandals.  And sure, for a kid giving any of those up would suck, but it’s still pretty innocent.  But then Agnes chose Oscarlittle, the hamster.  She went from just objects to a living creature, and that was the first escalation.  It was after that that the kids expanded their thinking and started going after the things that really mattered, and started committing the real shocking acts of the novel.  It almost became a game of one upsmanship, where the kids were almost disappointed  when the next item to add to the pile didn’t outdo the last.  And it all started with Oscarlittle, and Agnes’ decision to be a jerk.  Turns out Agnes did matter to the story after all.