Reading Journal 5/12-5/19

The Bone Rules by Russell Banks / 5-12-2008

Page 109-134

Russ and Chappie got their tattoo’s done. Russ got a panther and Chappie an x shipped with bones. They live in the Ridgeway’ house when they are not there. They finish their food and also wear Mr.Ridgeway’s clothes.

Did Chappie felt better when he and Russ were at the Ridgeway’s summerhouse? I think that he felt good because he might not felt free from all the wrong things that were going on. Even if it was a bad thing to break into the Ridgeway’s house it at least make him feel good.“That first night in the summerhouse was the best I’d felt in a long time even though I knew it was only temporary and we were like burglars more or less.” (p.119) I think that this would be an American Dream to be happy and not have anything to worry about. But, in another way i think that its not a full American Dream because he doesn’t have the love of his family.

Did Chappie’s personality change? I don’t think that Chappie’s personality changed because he still has the same mind and thinks the same as he used to before he changed his appearence. “It was like I had gone and changed completely who I was, my name, my whole attitude, my hair even, and he hadn’t changed anything. I was the Bone now for sure but Russ was still Russ.” (p.123) I would say this as change of identity. Not even by changing his appearance he will change the person that he is. He will need to work harder and try to define to himself who he really is and who he wants to be.

“They never respected us for ourselves, for being humans the same as them only kids who people are constantly fucking over because we don’t have enough money to stop them” (p.129)

Journal Readings 5/4-5/9

Presumed Dead by Russell Banks 5/6/08

P.58-83

There is a plethora of things going on in this chapter. Bruce and the bikers are stealing electronics like VCR’s, computers, and other things from the mall with the help of the security (Black Bart). Russ wants to deal as well but then he gets Bruce mad and he got almost beat up. Russ starts stealing the electronics from Bruce and sells them on his own. All of the bikers and Bruce notice that stuff is missing so they lock up Chappie in Russ’s room. When Russ gets to the apartment he unties Chappie and they leave. Seconds later the apartment cought on fire. Bruce gets trapped inside the apartment because he is trying to save Chappie but he doesn’t know that Chappie is not there.

Did Chappie had mixed emotions? Chappie id had mixed emotions because after all Bruce was trying to save him from the fire. “Bruce is still up there man. He thinks I’m locked inside your crib. He’s trying to save me!”(p.81) Even though Bruce knew that they were stealing from him he still wanted to help out Chappie but he burned trying to save him. He has two types of identities. One where he is all tough and the other were he cares about his friends and other people.

Were the bikers thinking about Bruce or Chappie? The bikers were only thinking about saving themselfs from the fire as well as from the cops. “Fuck the kid! Joker said. Fuck Bruce. Fuck the stuff. We gotta get outa here, man.There’s cops everywhere.”(p.81) Bruce and Chappie were invisible for them because they just forgot about them. They even forgot that Bruce brought them to the apartment, and that he was sharing the money they made out of the electronics. Also, they forgot that Chappie was the one that got them their drugs. They only cared about themselfs.

Skull and Bones by Russell Banks 5/7/08

P.84-108

Russ sells the truck that they stoled to Richard and James (the guys that they live with). They live in a bus dumped bus. Chappie and Russ did not have any money at all to buy food or even drugs. Both Chappie and Russ got a tattoo.

Did Russ change because of how his mom treated him? Yes, he did change because of how his mom was towards him and how she denied that he was her son. “Russ’s mom wasn’t marred with a regular job like mine, she was sort of a hooker who worked in a bar near the air force base and lied about her age and told the guys she brought home that Russ was her nephew which is why he left home when he was fifteen in the first place.”(P.85) I think that Russ was invisible to his mom because she would not treat him as her son. He felt that he was not important to his mom that’s why he left his home so early. 

Is Chappie the same? Yes. I do think that Chappie is the same on the inside and he just acts different on the outside. He is still a kid even if he doesn’t act like it. “I was attracted to some of the drawings more than others, like palm trees with a sunset and a howling wolf on a vegetarians and suchlike than kids like me.” (P.105) I would relate this to identity because he still has the mind of a kid and like normal things. He is the kind of person that thinks about others and not just himself.

Reading Journal 4/28-5/2

All Is Forgiven by Ressell Banks 4/28/08

Pages 16-23

Chappie goes to the mall because he wants to get something for his mom and his stepfather but he doesn’t have any money. Instead of trying to earn some money he decides to steel something from Victoria Secrets and he gets caught. He is taken to the office and the manager call his mom.

Can Chappie change? I think that Chappie still kept on hanging out with the bikers because he maybe felt that he had nothing or no one else to go to. Also, he felt that he was too involved into dealing drugs for them. “Dealing skunk to the bikers and so on I knew was illegal but that didn’t make it a crime.” (P. 16) Even though Chappie knew that he wasn’t doing the right thing he still dealed drugs for the bikers.

Should Chappie tell his mom the truth? I think that Chappie didn’t tell his mom the truth about why he was stealing something from Victoria Secrets because he knew it wasn’t going to change the dissapointment of his mom. Also, in my opinion i think that he should had change for his mom because she was still giving him a chance to go home with her and change. “Listen, mister! she said, really upset. I’m going back in there one more time, and remember, I’m the one putting myself on the line for you! If I get them to let you go, you have to promise me that you’ll come home with us and that things will be different.” (P.22) Chappie’s mom was doing all she could to get him out of trouble for steling and he didn’t even see that. He should at least go home with her and change to show his mom and Ken that he was going to change. Also, show himself that he could be a better person if he tried to change.

Canadians by Russell Banks 4/29/08

P.24-41

This chapter is about Chappie hanging out at the mall after he had got in trouble for stealing. When he is at the mall he sees a little girl crying. He tries to know what’s wrong with he but then the security that had caught him stealing told him to leave. He follows the little girl and she sees her with an older man. The man tells Chappie that he is the little girls protégé. He gives Chappie $20 dollars so he can film him but then Chappie just gets scared and leaves with the money and the guy follows him all the way to a Chinese restaurant place.

Is Chappie right to think bad things? Chappie was thinking that the guy was going to rape him or make him do a porn film or something like that. “I’m like, Gimme twenty bucks up front or find yourself another protégé. Plus I don’t do no sex with you. No fucking or sucking. Just the screen test.”(P.36) Chappie was thinking that the guy was going to make him do sexual things. He made sure that the guy knew that he was not going to do anything of that.

Should he help the little girl? Chappie did not help the little girl because he wanted to take her place and get the money or even become an actor or something like that. He was also jealous of her just as he said himself “Also I was really getting off on the guy Buster Brown and I was even starting to feel jealous of froggy in this weird way so that if Black Bart didn’t come along and find her and take her to the lost kid office or wherever I didn’t care, as long as I could take her place with Buster.” (P.34) He wanted the security to take the little girl (froggy) because he wanted Buster’s (the protégé) attention only on him.

Adirondack Iron by Russell Banks 5/1/08

P.42-58

Rudy the owner of the Video Den where and the owner of the apartment had to go upstairs to the bikers apartment because they were being too loud. Wanda, Rudy’s wife finds out that Russ has been stealing the money from them and she fires him.

What did Chappie think about his mom and Ken? Chappie was thinking that his mom didn’t want to see him “no question my mom and Ken truly did not want to see me anymore…”(p.43) Chappie was thinking that because of after what he did at the mall and because he still did not go back home with them. The American dream is supposed to be for the family to support each other and help each other when they are having trouble with something.

Did Bruce think of the bikers as his family? Bruce did think of the bikers like his family. He would say it all the time “Bruce’d started bringing his friends into the place because they were sort of a gang although he called them family. He like underlined it when he said it. These dudes’re fam-i-ly, man. You don’ fucking deny your family.” (p.43) Even though the bikers were not related to Bruce he would call them family. He was proud of calling them family. American dream is about having a great family a family that is with you that always makes you happy and that does not make you think that you’re not worth anything.