What's the big idea?

Gender equality symbol from ReligiousTolerance.org

     One of the major ideas in the novel is the idea that people are extremely biased in their thoughts because these thoughts are heavily influenced by our upbringing and surroundings; Frank is an example of how a very small view of the world can be fatal. Ze constantly justifies hir actions by bringing hir own moral framework into things, but in the end everything ze used to justify hir actions and everything ze believed is revealed as a lie. This theme also extends to how influential people in our life can have an unhealthy power over our thoughts: Frank’s father lied about who Frank really is and this is what rocks Frank’s foundation to the very core of hir being. Frank even mentions that ze knows hir father lies about most things, so it is obvious that this was a very intentional inclusion in the book’s overall theme. The book also criticizes how society views violence, gender, and social ideals in this manner; we base our morality on our feelings and we glorify things without any real basis. Misogyny is revealed as ridiculous, because even though Frank professes how weak women are, ze was born a woman and is the complete opposite of how ze stereotypes women. The book shows that children aren’t as innocent as we would like to believe, because they are just as vengeful as the older crowd; violence is still portrayed in a negative light, however, as the book does have an anti-military feel to it. Frank’s fanatic adherence to hir rituals are reminiscent of the rituals that religious people often adhere, because these rituals are based on superstitions and are ultimately performed for the sake of tradition. Ultimately, the book serves to criticize the way humans justify things and how we strive for ridiculous ideals, and Frank represents all of because ze clings to ideals that have no real basis other than hir own biases and selfish, primal desires.