Challenging social structure
In Boys on the Side, there were many characteristics that made the friendship between Jane, Robin, and Holly challenge social structure. Jane is a black lesbian, Robin has AIDS, and Holly is young and pregnant which sets them all as minorities in the society so they already challenge society, in general. All three of them together make a very unique friendship because they rely on each other for support and all live together which society doesn't condone. In society, it is labeled as normal when college students live together,mothers and their children live together, but not when three girl friends who are all different ages and who have nothing in common. Women are supposed to be with men and therefore live with men and they are to be married before they have babies, at least this was the idea in the past. Robin's mom is an example of what society expects that white people live together, gay people live together, and married people live with their children. Robin and Jane were like best friends but they managed to fall in love which pushed the limits of how society looks at friendship. The friendship was closer than many in society since people usually live with family or their mates and then go see their friends in separate homes. Society has its own boundaries for what families and friendships are supposed to be like. But even though their friendship challenges the social structure, the family that develops in the end reinscribes what is seen as "normal." In the end, Jane goes to live on her own in LA, while Holly, Abe, (her husband), and her baby go to live together. Families stay in contact over the phone and see each other on the holidays and that is just what appeared to be happening at the end in the movie as they parted ways. The family that reinscribed the "normal" that Holly and Jane had, and Robin but she died, was built on honesty, trust and loyalty because they stuck together through thick and thin. For example, they showed that they were a family when Robin and Jane went on trial for Holly when she was on trial for murder.