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.

Journal Readings

Pops by Victor De Lavalle 4/20/08

Pages 161-176

This story is about a kid(narrator) that meets his father for the very first time. The kid asks questions to his dad about him but still he didn’t felt the love for him as a father. They went to the park and drank beer while they were there. They only got to spend one day together because his dad had to go back where he was living.

I don’t think that this story is about the American Dream because obviously the American dream has to having a family. Well that is my opinion of the American dream. Having a father and not getting along with them not even as friends is not an American dream. Both the father and the son are just talking not even trying to act like father of son.

The narrator(kid) on his mind also admits without even realizing that he doesn’t wan to get along with his father. I know this because he says “I don’t want to see any movies, I told him. I didn’t want to be in the dark with this man because I was friendlier to everyone when a room was one big shadow. I felt comforted and sure when the lights were out.”(P.169) This shows that the kid likes his father but he doesn’t want to be able to get along with him. They don’t trust each other that well.

In addition, as well as his son Louis(narrator’s dad) wants to be close to his son but there is a fear that doesn’t let him. The feat I think he has is that he might love his kid but them his kid might reject him because of all the time he was alone. An example of how he feels is when “The man reached out to touch my shoulder or my face but hesitated when he got close, let his hand fall back to his lap; I pretended that drinking veer had left me oblivious.”(P.175) His father tries to get near him but the fear doesn’t let him. Instead he goes another way; takes another direction.

Chuckie by Victor de Lavalle 4/21/08

Pages 91-94

This story is about a group of kids that are biking with the narrator on another neighborhood. When the kids leave the neighborhood one of them gets stop by older guys and he gets beat up and no one helps him out. The narrator does not care about no one but himself, he once cared of another kid but not anymore.

The narrator shows how he really is by not caring about others and only caring about himself. As he says that “There was only one kid I ever cared for and his name wasn’t Chuckie.”(p.94) He tells how he doesn’t care about the kids he hangs out with but he only cared once for another kid. He identifies himself as a selfish person that no other kids matter for him no more.

In addition, the narrator also shows in another form of how he doesn’t care about the kids he was biking with. When other older guys are bullying one of the kids he was with he doesn’t do anything and he just ignores it. Also,”When a loud -pop- echoed from across the street I didn’t flinch, wasn’t even sure it had come from nearby.”(p.94) The narrator heard the kid when he got shot and he still didn’t do anything about it.

I would define the narrator as careless for others. Also, he pretends that others are not there. He makes them feel invisible to him. The narrator is not going to be a very friendly person later on in life. Depending on how the kids act on their young life it shows how they are going to act later on in life in their adult hood. The narrator instead of telling the other kids what happened on how he really doesn’t like them he just keeps it to himself.

I think this because on the story the narrator really does not pay attention to the other kids. He doesn’t want to be friends with them. Also, another reason for thinking this way is that the narrator is also jealous of the kids because they can do tricks on their bikes and he can’t.

In the other hand I also think that the kid is acting like that because the friends he had they all left him. now that he is alone and new kids come in and out of the neighborhood he doesn’t want to be friends with them, he might have a fear that they might leave him as well as the other kids did.

Just Don’t Touch Anything by Russell Banks 4/25/08

Pages 1-15

This book is about a fourteen year old kid named Chappie that lives with his mom and stepfather. His stepfather just doesn’t like him anymore and he is ashamed of him. He starts doing drugs and then he gets kicked out of the house because he steals his moms coins that her mom had given her, and that were eventually going to be Chappies. He has to go live over at his friend Russ’s place. He has to give drugs to the bikers that live there with them so they wont kick him out.

Could Chappie stop himself from taking the coins from the bags? I think that he could had stop taking the coins if he decided to just ask his mom for money instead. But, instead he “took a couple of coins from each of about six Baggies so he wouldn’t know any were missing if he happened to check.”(P.6) Chappie really doesn’t have any idea whose coins they are but then it comes to his mind that they would be Ken’s (stepfather). He just takes a couple of coins from each bag so Ken or his mom won’t notice coins are missing.

Does Chappie have a good reason to prefer to live with his friend instead of with his mom? Maybe he decided to live with his friend because he knows that they wouldn’t tell him anything that he is using drugs. Also, I think that he didn’t wanted to live with his mom anymore because of all the problems they were having because of how he dressed and his hair style, not talking about drugs. Since he got kicked out of the house he had to go to Russ’s apartment and when his mom or Ken weren’t home he went and he ” hauled my stuff over to Russ’s place and stayed there until the last of the coins and the weed ran out and Russ said the older guys didn’t want me hanging around anymore.”(P.15) Even though he knew about the coins he still took the one’s that were left because he didn’t had any money and had got kicked out of Russ’s place.

Henry Box Brown Reader Response

I think that Henry’s journey was very hard because he had to support all of the movement that was going on. Also, because he didn’t have no space at all to move or even stretch a little. Also, because every time they switched the box he would be in a different position they would not put him the right way. With the swore that he had on his hand too. I think that he was a very brave person to be able to do that. His plan was a good idea because it did work. It also made him reach what he wanted, freedom. What stood out the most was that even though it was very hard for him to stay inside the box that whole time he didn’t give up. He never quit and supported all of the troubles that he had to go through. For example, the sore on his hand and when his neck cracked while he was in the box. I think that I might survive this journey because if I was him and I really wanted to be free I would take anything. I had taken a lot why wouldn’t I be able to take a little bit more. Some other impressions that I had were that he had a lot of faith and it made him keep on taking everything.

“Boy Without a Flag”

1. p. 20 “I felt humiliated and alone. Miss Marti’s reptile face kept appearing in my notebook, her voice intoning “Let me tell you, you’re nothing.” Yeah, right. Just what horrible hole did she crawl out of? Were those people really Puerto Ricans? Why should a Puerto Rican salute the American flag?”

What’s happening in the story here: Miss Marti is telling a young student that he does not worth anything and humiliating him infront of his classmates not thinking how down he might feel. Also, that they are not that much patriotic and they salute other flag instead of their own.

My thoughts / advice about this: Well I know how this feels of being embarrassed infront of your classmates and it is not a pleasant feeling. I don’t think anyone can overcome that horrible situation, because I did not. Well my advise about this is that you should never let anyone make you feel down not even if they are your elders because being older doesn’t mean they have the right to yell at you.

 

1. p. 23 “They spoke of dignity and democracy while teaching Puerto Ricans how to cling to the great coat of that powerful northern neighbor (America).”

What’s happening in the story here: By showing the students to not let other control them but their actions differs.

My thoughts / advice about this: My opinion about all this is that if you are going to tell someone to not let others control you than you should listen to your own words first. My advice is that no matter if someone is helping you does not mean that they can do whatever they want with you.

1. p. 26 “He leaned back in his chair. ‘We have rules, all of us. There are rules even I must live by. People who don’t obey them get disciplined. This will all go on your record…Why ruin it…this is a simple case of rules and regulations…That means you follow the rules, no matter what you think of them.”

What’s happening in the story here: Actually by those words this person is trying to say that no matter what you think of the rules you must follow them even if you don’t want to. Also, if you don’t follow some simple rules there will still be problems with the law.

My thoughts / advice about this: I think that what this person is saying is wrong, because if America is a free country nobody can make you stand for something you dislike. It’s a free state and you have the right to freedom of speech. No difference between a kid or adult. My advice is that one should never let others decide for you on what to think if you believe strongly on what you are saying.

1. p. 28 “I hated myself. I wiped my face desperately, trying not to make a spectacle of myself. I was just a kid, a tiny kid. Who the hell did I think I was? I’d have to wait until I was older, like my father, in order too have ‘convictions.’”

What’s happening in the story here: The kid felt that he wasn’t nobody to say what he believed in because he was just a kid and he had to wait until he was an adult to be able to have the opportunity to act against what he thought was wrong.

My thoughts / advice about this: I think that the kid is wrong because he is letting others tell him what he should do or believe in. Even if he is a kid he still has the rights to give his opinion. My advice is to never cry or be ashamed of your believes.

1. p. 28 “If what I did was so bad, why did I feel more ashamed of him [my father] than I did of myself?” Why is the narrator ashamed of his father? Should the narrator be ashamed of his father? Explain.

What’s happening in the story here: The narrator is ashamed of his father because all he has been teaching him to stand for his believes and when he does his father just leaves him standing alone.

My thoughts / advice about this: I think that if the father has been teaching him all of that than why he’s letting others control his believes. Also, if I was in the kids place I would also feel ashamed of my father too for not standing with me and taking back all what he has teached me.

1. Would you salute the flag if you were in the narrator’s position? Explain.

If I was in the narrator’s position I would do the same thing as he did because I would be standing up for what I know is right and what I believe. Even if I was a kid I still have freedom of speech and they can’t do anything about it. You cannot only have those right if you are an adult because that would be called discrimination.

1. Is the narrator a good American? Explain.

Yes, I do think that the narrator is a good American because he stands up for what he believes in and that’s what an American does. They don’t let others control them.