Messina High School In Bleachers Critical Analysis

The equality of genders in Messina High School in Bleachers by John Grisham is completely nonexistent. The females in the high school will do anything to be with a Spartan. They would completely objectify themselves just to have the so-called pride to have given up their virginity to a Spartan. Neely Crenshaw was one of these Spartans who had women thrown at him. Cameron was Neely’s high school sweetheart until he became a glorified all-star quarterback. She was never okay with the objectification of women in the town, as she suffered ten-year heartbreak because of it. This led Cameron to hold a grudge she thought she would never get over until Neely tried to make things right again. With Neely now having ended one conflict, he had to finish another that he had been …show more content…
Screamer could be considered the front-runner of repressed women. She thinks of herself as nothing but what she has to offer physically. Cameron points this out to Neely bluntly, “you became this great football hero, and everybody wanted a piece of you. Especially Screamer. She had the longs legs and cute butt and short skirts and big chest and blond hair” (Grisham 183). All of the girls in Messina High School were practically throwing themselves at Neely for the lone fact that he was the starting quarterback for the Spartans. Women treated themselves like property to be with a Spartan. They wanted to have that label as a girlfriend of a Spartan. They would do anything for that. Cameron was not part of this group at all. Once her heart was broken by Neely, she wanted out of that town as soon as possible. Cameron held that grudge for ten years, and it ate her up just thinking about it. For ten years, she never forgave Neely for what he did to her. It also ate up Neely. He hurt every time he thought about Cameron. Neely knew he made the biggest mistake of his life by leaving