Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover: The Importance of Looking Beyond Physical Appearance

The saying, “do not judge a book by its cover” is a commonly used saying throughout the years. However, what does the saying really mean? Of course an individual should not be choosing the novel they wish to read just based on the cover of the book. Figuratively speaking, the saying means that one should not prejudge the value of someone just by their physical appearance alone. For many people, the root of their anxiety stems from the fear of others judging or evaluating them because of they way they look or act.

The short stories “Am I Blue? ” by Bruce Coville and “Hum” by Naomi Shihab Nye both illustrate the uselessness of judging a book by its cover. In the short story “Am I Blue? ” by Bruce Coville, Vince, the main character, discovers that people are not always what them seem. In this story Vince, who is questioning his sexuality, is the main target for harassment because his classmates think he is gay. When Vince receives his very own fairy godfather, he makes a wish that turns everyone who is gay the color blue.

Vince is surprised when he sees that many people turn even the slightest shade of blue. The darker the shade, the more gay they are. Vince’s fairy godfather tells him, “my friends and I called each other ‘faggot’ and ‘queer’ for the same reason so many black folks call each other ‘nigger’ –to take the words away from the people who want to use them to hurt us” (Coville 10). People who are gay often say words such as, “faggot” and “queer” to mask themselves or make those words less hurtful to them.

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As Vince walks around town, he sees all sorts of people who are all different shades of blue. Vince says that “it was like seeing the world though new eyes. Most of the people looked just the same as always, of course. But Mr. Alwain, the fat guy at the grocery store, looked like a giant blueberry—which surprised me, because he was married and had three kids” (Coville 12). When Vince returns home and turns on the television, he is enraged when he sees “the congressman [on TV was the shade of a spring sky], who happened to be a notorious republican homophobe” (Coville 13).

Vince even discovers that the bully picking on him for being gay is also gay himself. People fear others judging or evaluating them because of they way they look or act, so they often put on a facade. How someone acts or looks is not an accurate reflection of who they truly are. In the short story “Hum” by Naomi Shihab Nye, Sami, the main character discovers what it is like to have others judge him because of the way he looks. Sami and his family move to America from Palestine a few weeks before the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Sami and his family think their lives are improving. Sami is making friends and adjusting to his new life in America. When 9/11 occurs, it shocks Sami and his family. Sami says that “his family had always spoken out against the suicide bombings that killed Israeli civilians [in Palestine]. Many Palestinians did. But who could hear them? They were regular people, not politicians. No one quoted them in the news” (Nye 74). Sami knows his people are not murderers. No one says the hijackers are Palestinian.

Yet because Sami looked so similar to the terrorists in the attack, everyone blames him and his people for what happened. When he goes to school, “No one sat with him at lunch now. He tried sitting down next to some boys from his PE class and they stopped speaking and stared at him. ‘I feel very bad about what happened’ Sami said. […] Nobody answered him. They finished eating in silence, exchanging glances with one another, and left the table” (Nye 75). When Sami meets a blind man who is his neighbor, the man tells him that “some people don’t use [their inner eyes] enough.

They forget about them. But there’re all I have. In some ways, I think I can see better than people who aren’t blind” (Nye 83). Because the man is blind, Sami can become friends with his neighbor without his looks getting in the way. Just because Sami resembles the hijackers from the 9/11 attack does not mean that those are his people. Nor does that mean the Sami himself is responsible for the attack. Both short stories “Am I Blue? ” by Bruce Coville and “Hum” by Naomi Shihab Nye discuss and illustrate the saying, “do not judge a book by its cover. In both of the stories, the main characters face others judging them because of the way they act and look. The saying “do not judge a book by its cover” means that one should not prejudge the worth or the value of someone just by their physical appearance alone. “Am I Blue” and “Hum” both demonstrate this common saying.

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