Is there anything left to say about Ghost World?

To say that Ghost World is as crude as reality may be an overstatement. Yet through his novel, Daniel Clowes achieves to wake in the readers, some feeling of self-identification with the universe contained in it, its characters and their unique traits. How everything is laid out and how the reader can relate in one way or another to the adventures of Enid and Rebecca and, at the same time, feel puzzled because neither the main characters nor the reader know where everything is going, make Ghost World a great reflection of what transition is like for us at any given moment of our lives.


Although I wasn't really able to identify myself with any of the characters and their issues, one thing that called my attention was the evident lack of clarity in the future of Enid and Rebecca, while it seems like all the characters who surround them have already settled for something to live and work for.


This blurriness brings to my head one issue that is really common nowadays. Here in Chile, and in many other countries, there's a group of young people that neither study nor work. In our country, according to INJUV and the CASEN survey, around half a million men and women between 20 and 29 years old are unemployed and don't belong to any kind of educational institution. (lun.com) This is certainly more complicated for women, who represent 72% of that half a million (universia.cl), because quite often teen pregnancy happens and they have to make themselves responsible of their children. Then it is more difficult for them to find a job or enter an educational institution and take proper care of their children.

Although Enid and Rebecca had just finished school, there is the possibility that they end up becoming part of this group. Throughout the whole novel, they seem to be enjoying their apparent "freedom" from responsibility, school and work and, despite their certain eagerness to arrive to adulthood, they appear scared sometimes.

Toward the end of the novel, though, we can see that in a certain way, Enid and Rebecca end up accepting whatever comes, no matter what that is. They seem to have settled for something, which is definitely better than nothing, and keep on with their lives, that still are left in blurriness for the reader.


(Best) References (Ever)

www.lun.com
www.universia.cl