Ideas on the tricycle

In the tricycle, Rachel Kempf paints a very detailed picture of the effects that college had on her life. She thinks of herself as a third wheel because her two best friends are homosexuals. It is not strange for her two best friends to be gay; many times sexual preference has nothing to do with friendships. Rachel, Eric, and Christian all enjoy smoking weed, listening to music all night long, talking about trivial nonsense, and acting like children. Sometimes, people are drawn together because they are so similar and yet, deep down, thier lives may be very different. Rachel loves her life with Eric, Christian and even Meredith somewhat, but she knows that these friendships will fade at some point.

Rachel hates comfronting the fact that her life will ultimately change. She is not happy with her life outside her friendships; she wishes she could live life in the "tricycle" forever. Rachel symbolically confronts this eventual seperation when she comes to terms with the fact that Eric, Christian and she obviously cannot all fit on one bed (although she had the idea of them all sleeping on it together). This symbolizes that Rachel understands at some point, she will have to leave her life with Eric and Christian. The three friends feel at home together as they share cigerrettes, have snowball fights and hang together late into the night, but Eric and Christian do not see the seperation in thier future like Rachel. It is hard for Rachel to imagine growing up because she feels complete fullfillment when she is having fun with her friends. It is almost like the three are an actual couple (a relationship that Rachel finds far more fullfilling than her realationship with her boyfriend). Rachel is not thinking of a job, marriage or kids; she just wants to stay young and stay in her comfort zone.



I can identify with Rachel in many ways. Of course I don't have a gay couple as best friends but I know what it is like to leave a world so comfortable. I sometimes wish I could be right back In my hometown sharing laughs with my best friends. From time to time we get to see eachother but we used to be so comfortable knowing we could meet up every night and it is hard for me to cope with the fact that I have to grow up. I can't be the kid with no responsibility anymore; I know that I have to start over somewhere else. I will never forget the times we had; no matter how far away we are, I can still remember those nights. Rachel can see change near, she would just rather not accept it. As people we all must leave our comfort zones at some point and I now know that it is true: you never realize how great something is untill it has faded away.