Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

by

Becky Albertalli

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Simon Spier Character Analysis

Simon is the seventeen-year-old titular protagonist of the novel. He's a junior at Creekside High School and is secretly gay. Emailing under the pseudonym Jacques, Simon begins an email correspondence with another secretly gay boy, who goes by the name Blue. Through their emails, Simon gradually becomes more comfortable with the idea of coming out and explores aspects of his identity he feels uncomfortable discussing with his friends and family in real life. In Simon's real life, he tries very hard to keep his sexuality a secret. He's distraught when his classmate Martin discovers Simon's emails and threatens to out Simon if he doesn't help Martin date Abby, one of Simon's best friends. Simon also struggles with his relationships with his two longtime best friends, Nick and Leah. Simon feels that because they've been friends for so long they don't need to talk about anything important, though his sense of not having much security in his friendships suggests that this isn't exactly true. Because of this, Simon chooses to come out to Abby first since he hasn't known her as long. Simon believes that Mom and Dad make a big deal out of the tiniest changes they observe in their children, which makes Simon and his two sisters, Nora and Alice, secretive about the things they’re going through. After Abby rejects Martin right before Christmas break, Martin posts online that Simon is gay. Following this, Simon comes out to his family and friends. All are supportive, and when Simon returns to school to a flurry of homophobic bullying, all of his friends stand up for him, and Martin is deeply apologetic. Throughout all of this, Simon begins to think that Blue is Cal Price, but Blue turns out to be Nick's quiet, soccer-playing friend Bram.

Simon Spier Quotes in Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

The Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda quotes below are all either spoken by Simon Spier or refer to Simon Spier. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Agency and Control Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1  Quotes

“I actually think people would be cool about it,” Martin says. “You should be who you are.”

I don't even know where to begin with that. Some straight kid who barely knows me, advising me on coming out.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Martin Addison (speaker)
Page Number: 3
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2  Quotes

“Remember the way people would look at you blankly and say, ‘Um, okaaay,’ after you finished talking? Everyone just had to make it so clear that, whatever you were thinking or feeling, you were totally alone. The worst part, of course, was that I did the same thing to other people.”

Related Characters: Blue / Bram (speaker), Simon Spier
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

If Blue were a real junior at Creekwood with a locker and a GPA and a Facebook profile, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be telling him anything. I mean, he is a real junior at Creekwood. I know that. But in a way, he lives in my laptop.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Blue / Bram
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:

Like the way you can memorize someone's gestures but never know their thoughts. And the feeling that people are like houses with vast rooms and tiny windows.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Blue / Bram
Page Number: 18
Explanation and Analysis:

Leah once said that she'd rather have people call her fat directly than have to sit there and listen to them talking shit about some other girl's weight. I actually think I agree with that. Nothing is worse than the secret humiliation of being insulted by proxy.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Leah, Alice Spier, Nora Spier, Mom, Dad
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“I completely see the appeal of being someone else for the evening (or in general). Actually, I was a bit of a one-trick pony myself when I was little. I was always a superhero. I guess I liked to imagine myself having this complicated secret identity. Maybe I still do. Maybe that's the whole point of these emails.”

Related Characters: Blue / Bram (speaker), Simon Spier
Related Symbols: Holidays, Superheroes
Page Number: 36
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

I need to spend some time in my head with this new Simon. My parents have a way of ruining things like this. They get so curious. It's like they have this idea of me, and whenever I step outside of that, it blows their minds. There's something so embarrassing about that in a way I can't even describe.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Mom, Dad
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:

But I'm tired of coming out. All I ever do is come out. I try not to change, but I keep changing, in all these tiny ways. I get a girlfriend. I have a beer. And every freaking time, I have to reintroduce myself to the universe all over again.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Mom, Dad
Page Number: 56
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

So here's the thing: Simon means “the one who hears” and Spier means “the one who watches.” Which means I was basically destined to be nosy.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker)
Page Number: 99
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

I mean, how does a person look when his walls are coming down?

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Blue / Bram, Cal Price
Page Number: 131
Explanation and Analysis:

I hate feeling so distant from Nick and Leah. It's not like keeping a normal crush a secret, because we never talk about our crushes anyway, and it works out fine. Even Leah's crush on Nick. I see it, and I'm sure Nick sees it, but there's this unspoken agreement that we never talk about it.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Leah, Nick
Page Number: 133
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

“As a side note, don't you think everyone should have to come out? Why is straight the default? Everyone should have to declare one way or another, and it should be this big awkward thing whether you're straight, gay, bi, or whatever.”

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Blue / Bram
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:

“It is definitely annoying that straight (and white, for that matter) is the default, and that the only people who have to think about their identity are the ones who don't fit that mold.”

Related Characters: Blue / Bram (speaker), Simon Spier, Martin Addison
Page Number: 147
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

It's Christmas Eve day, and something feels a little bit off.

Not bad, just off. I don't know how to explain it. We're hitting everyone of the Spier traditions.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Alice Spier, Nora Spier, Mom, Dad
Related Symbols: Holidays
Page Number: 151
Explanation and Analysis:

In this moment, all I want is for things to feel like Christmas again. I want it to feel how it used to feel.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Alice Spier, Nora Spier, Mom, Dad
Related Symbols: Holidays
Page Number: 157
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

“And you know what? You don't get to say it's not a big thing. This is a big fucking thing, okay? This was supposed to be—this is mine. I'm supposed to decide when and where and who knows and how I want to say it.”

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Martin Addison
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

The problem is, I'm beginning to realize I hardly know anything about anyone. I mean I generally know who's a virgin. But I don't have a clue whether most people's parents are divorced, or what their parents do for a living […] And these are my best friends. I've always thought of myself as nosy, but I guess I'm just nosy about stupid stuff.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Blue / Bram, Abby Suso, Leah, Nick
Page Number: 211
Explanation and Analysis:

“I feel stupid for not knowing that,” I say.

“Why would you feel stupid? I guess I never mentioned it.”

“But I never asked.”

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Abby Suso (speaker), Blue / Bram
Page Number: 215
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

“But they're supposed to be Alice and Nora. They're not supposed to be different,” I explain.

“They're not allowed to change?” Abby laughs. “But you're changing. You're different than you were five months ago.”

“I'm not different!"

“Simon, I just watched you pick up a random guy in a gay bar. You're wearing eyeliner. And you're completely wasted.”

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Abby Suso (speaker), Nick, Alice Spier, Nora Spier
Page Number: 235
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

“I owe you an apology, kid.”

I look up at him.

“What you said on Friday. About the gay jokes.”

Related Characters: Dad (speaker), Simon Spier, Mom
Page Number: 247
Explanation and Analysis:

“It's just, you know. I get that you were in a difficult position. But you don't get to make the decisions about my love life. I choose who I date.” She shrugs. “I would think you would understand that.”

Related Characters: Abby Suso (speaker), Simon Spier, Martin Addison
Page Number: 253
Explanation and Analysis:

It's weird, because of all the things I feel guilty about, it never occurred to me to feel guilty about Abby. But I'm a fucking idiot. Because who you like can't be forced or persuaded or manipulated. If anyone knows that, it's me.

I'm a shitty friend.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Martin Addison, Abby Suso
Page Number: 254-55
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 32 Quotes

But then I think about Ms. Albright making it her life's mission to get those in-tha-butt guys suspended. And how pissed off and determined she looked, slapping the handbook down on that chair backstage.

I wish I had brought her another bouquet or a card or a freaking tiara. I don't know. Something just from me.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Ms. Albright
Page Number: 261
Explanation and Analysis:

I guess I assumed that Blue would be white. Which kind of makes me want to smack myself. White shouldn't be the default any more than straight should be the default. There shouldn't even be a default.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Blue / Bram, Cal Price
Page Number: 261
Explanation and Analysis:
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Simon Spier Quotes in Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

The Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda quotes below are all either spoken by Simon Spier or refer to Simon Spier. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Agency and Control Theme Icon
).
Chapter 1  Quotes

“I actually think people would be cool about it,” Martin says. “You should be who you are.”

I don't even know where to begin with that. Some straight kid who barely knows me, advising me on coming out.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Martin Addison (speaker)
Page Number: 3
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 2  Quotes

“Remember the way people would look at you blankly and say, ‘Um, okaaay,’ after you finished talking? Everyone just had to make it so clear that, whatever you were thinking or feeling, you were totally alone. The worst part, of course, was that I did the same thing to other people.”

Related Characters: Blue / Bram (speaker), Simon Spier
Page Number: 14
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

If Blue were a real junior at Creekwood with a locker and a GPA and a Facebook profile, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be telling him anything. I mean, he is a real junior at Creekwood. I know that. But in a way, he lives in my laptop.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Blue / Bram
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:

Like the way you can memorize someone's gestures but never know their thoughts. And the feeling that people are like houses with vast rooms and tiny windows.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Blue / Bram
Page Number: 18
Explanation and Analysis:

Leah once said that she'd rather have people call her fat directly than have to sit there and listen to them talking shit about some other girl's weight. I actually think I agree with that. Nothing is worse than the secret humiliation of being insulted by proxy.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Leah, Alice Spier, Nora Spier, Mom, Dad
Page Number: 17
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“I completely see the appeal of being someone else for the evening (or in general). Actually, I was a bit of a one-trick pony myself when I was little. I was always a superhero. I guess I liked to imagine myself having this complicated secret identity. Maybe I still do. Maybe that's the whole point of these emails.”

Related Characters: Blue / Bram (speaker), Simon Spier
Related Symbols: Holidays, Superheroes
Page Number: 36
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 5 Quotes

I need to spend some time in my head with this new Simon. My parents have a way of ruining things like this. They get so curious. It's like they have this idea of me, and whenever I step outside of that, it blows their minds. There's something so embarrassing about that in a way I can't even describe.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Mom, Dad
Page Number: 54
Explanation and Analysis:

But I'm tired of coming out. All I ever do is come out. I try not to change, but I keep changing, in all these tiny ways. I get a girlfriend. I have a beer. And every freaking time, I have to reintroduce myself to the universe all over again.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Mom, Dad
Page Number: 56
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

So here's the thing: Simon means “the one who hears” and Spier means “the one who watches.” Which means I was basically destined to be nosy.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker)
Page Number: 99
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17 Quotes

I mean, how does a person look when his walls are coming down?

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Blue / Bram, Cal Price
Page Number: 131
Explanation and Analysis:

I hate feeling so distant from Nick and Leah. It's not like keeping a normal crush a secret, because we never talk about our crushes anyway, and it works out fine. Even Leah's crush on Nick. I see it, and I'm sure Nick sees it, but there's this unspoken agreement that we never talk about it.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Leah, Nick
Page Number: 133
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 18 Quotes

“As a side note, don't you think everyone should have to come out? Why is straight the default? Everyone should have to declare one way or another, and it should be this big awkward thing whether you're straight, gay, bi, or whatever.”

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Blue / Bram
Page Number: 146
Explanation and Analysis:

“It is definitely annoying that straight (and white, for that matter) is the default, and that the only people who have to think about their identity are the ones who don't fit that mold.”

Related Characters: Blue / Bram (speaker), Simon Spier, Martin Addison
Page Number: 147
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 19 Quotes

It's Christmas Eve day, and something feels a little bit off.

Not bad, just off. I don't know how to explain it. We're hitting everyone of the Spier traditions.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Alice Spier, Nora Spier, Mom, Dad
Related Symbols: Holidays
Page Number: 151
Explanation and Analysis:

In this moment, all I want is for things to feel like Christmas again. I want it to feel how it used to feel.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Alice Spier, Nora Spier, Mom, Dad
Related Symbols: Holidays
Page Number: 157
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

“And you know what? You don't get to say it's not a big thing. This is a big fucking thing, okay? This was supposed to be—this is mine. I'm supposed to decide when and where and who knows and how I want to say it.”

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Martin Addison
Page Number: 196
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 27 Quotes

The problem is, I'm beginning to realize I hardly know anything about anyone. I mean I generally know who's a virgin. But I don't have a clue whether most people's parents are divorced, or what their parents do for a living […] And these are my best friends. I've always thought of myself as nosy, but I guess I'm just nosy about stupid stuff.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Blue / Bram, Abby Suso, Leah, Nick
Page Number: 211
Explanation and Analysis:

“I feel stupid for not knowing that,” I say.

“Why would you feel stupid? I guess I never mentioned it.”

“But I never asked.”

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Abby Suso (speaker), Blue / Bram
Page Number: 215
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 28 Quotes

“But they're supposed to be Alice and Nora. They're not supposed to be different,” I explain.

“They're not allowed to change?” Abby laughs. “But you're changing. You're different than you were five months ago.”

“I'm not different!"

“Simon, I just watched you pick up a random guy in a gay bar. You're wearing eyeliner. And you're completely wasted.”

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Abby Suso (speaker), Nick, Alice Spier, Nora Spier
Page Number: 235
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 30 Quotes

“I owe you an apology, kid.”

I look up at him.

“What you said on Friday. About the gay jokes.”

Related Characters: Dad (speaker), Simon Spier, Mom
Page Number: 247
Explanation and Analysis:

“It's just, you know. I get that you were in a difficult position. But you don't get to make the decisions about my love life. I choose who I date.” She shrugs. “I would think you would understand that.”

Related Characters: Abby Suso (speaker), Simon Spier, Martin Addison
Page Number: 253
Explanation and Analysis:

It's weird, because of all the things I feel guilty about, it never occurred to me to feel guilty about Abby. But I'm a fucking idiot. Because who you like can't be forced or persuaded or manipulated. If anyone knows that, it's me.

I'm a shitty friend.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Martin Addison, Abby Suso
Page Number: 254-55
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 32 Quotes

But then I think about Ms. Albright making it her life's mission to get those in-tha-butt guys suspended. And how pissed off and determined she looked, slapping the handbook down on that chair backstage.

I wish I had brought her another bouquet or a card or a freaking tiara. I don't know. Something just from me.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Ms. Albright
Page Number: 261
Explanation and Analysis:

I guess I assumed that Blue would be white. Which kind of makes me want to smack myself. White shouldn't be the default any more than straight should be the default. There shouldn't even be a default.

Related Characters: Simon Spier (speaker), Blue / Bram, Cal Price
Page Number: 261
Explanation and Analysis: