What would you expect the mindset of a misfit kid who isn't really popular and plays baseball with the other kids because he wants to fit in them instead of being himself? There is such a boy in a first-person short story written by a world-famous author. In "Eye Ball", Spiegelman uses characterization to develop the theme of being yourself and not trying to fit in with others at the expense of showing your true identity. Spiegelman's use of the misfit little boy as a round character reflects the theme because he realizes that he doesn't fit in very well with all the other boys. As a child with amblyopia, or "lazy eye", he already knew he was at a disadvantage and he emphasizes his condition when he says "since I am practically blind in my left eye" and when he says "Amblyopia, a “lazy eye” made my whole world 2D” (130). He always tries to play baseball with the other boys, but he soon discovers that he is not very good at it. Identification can be made with the feeling of discrepancy that the little boy felt the most. Now he is most likely feeling depressed because he did poorly when he was at bat. Most displaced people “must escape into fantasy and/or develop a rarefied sense of humor to survive” (130). The "usual boy in 1950s America, baseball was not optional and, for being incompetent, assured a place in the social hierarchy even lower than that of a girl" (130). This shows that there was a current stereotype of how little boys should be and he tried to be stereotyped with all the other little boys. Spiegelman's use of the misfit little boy as a dynamic character reflects the theme as he learns to be himself and not to be himself. try to be something he's not. He realizes that he was out of place when the boys placed him and that he "was inevitably relegated to right field, away from danger" (130). While in the outfield, he thought his boredom was taking away "his anxiety that a ball might come" (130). He already knew, before leaving with the boys, that playing baseball with them was not going to go smoothly, so he "often kept a comic book handy" (130). As he thinks, he finally realizes that his true solace lies in comics, not sports...