Navigating Early and the Second Self -Elise Gunteski #6

 In Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool, the two "main" characters act as second selves. Jack Baker and Early Auden are complimentary and potentially therapeutic to each other. They have both lost people. Jack's mother died earlier which is part of the reason he got sent to the military school. Early's brother is believed dead, and they let him stay at the academy in his brother's memory. Jack is lost. He lacks the training and treatment of most of the other boys. He is also drifting without his mother. He acts more externally in some ways than Early. He is more physically able to prepare for the journey they are about to take. He goes by the book and tries to fade into the background of his surroundings. Early is dealing with the loss of his brother in his own way. Rather than going along with the rules of the school, Early has his own set of regulations. From what music he listens to on rainy days to who he decides to be around, Early sets his own rules. He is grounded in his set routine while Jack drifts through the routine set for him. They are instantly drawn to each other. Jack is a listener and Early is a storyteller. Early is more connected to what seems to be the spiritual than Jack. Early reads numbers as a tale, and uses pi as a form of prophecy. Throughout their journey Early teaches Jack the importance of faith and Jack assists Early with the actual physical demands of their journey. Early seems to exist in a mystical, parallel world, but people try to force him into the physical world. Jack tries to exist in the physical world of "fact", but he is undeniably drawn to the strange spiritual world that Early lives in. They help ground each other in the different worlds.

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