Character Analysis: Fist Stick Knife Gun

Geoffrey Canada does an excellent job of bringing his readers to the streets of the South Bronx and making them understand the culture and code of growing up in a poor, New York City neighborhood in the ‘50s and ‘60s. In his book, Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun, Canada details, through his own childhood experiences, the progression of violence in poverty plagued neighborhoods across America over the last 50 years. From learning to be “brave” by being forced to fight his best friend on a sidewalk at six-years-old, to staring down an enraged, knife wielding, “outsider” with nothing to defend himself but nerve, Canada explains the nightmare of fear that tens of thousands of children live through every day growing up in poor neighborhoods. The book

As Johnny goes through this difficult stage in life he decides to run away not thinking about where he’s going to stay or how he’s going to get food. He decides to join a gang of orphans with his best friend Billy in order to survive. This novel is still widely read today because it provides an inhuman image of brutal conditions African Americans faced in Harlem of 1940’s. In the Rite of Passage, the main character Johnny is hit with some really bad news that his family that he’s been living with throughout his entire life is not really his own. In the text, Johnny comes home after getting a good report from school and his foster mother and sister tell him that he is not going to be living with them anymore.

In the novel The Cather In The Rye, J.D Salinger implies that Holden a troubled adolescent can’t seem to find his place in society due to the loss of his brother Allie. Losing Allie made Holden give up on school, caused him to pick up unhealthy habits like smoking, and led him to be upset at the world. Since the death of Allie, Holden began to see the world as hopeless and corrupt. Salinger develops this idea from a first person point of view. With the use of diction, J.D Salinger is able to portray Holden Caulfield as a troubled teen who is facing tribulations after the death of his brother.

It is like Ralph is embarrassed to tell the officer how far they have drifted from the morals of a civilized community. Ralph does not want to admit to the officer what they have become so instead of using words and getting into detail he takes a shortcut by just nodding. “The officer leaned down and looked closely at Ralph.” Ralph started to answer the officer, but the officer is surprised with the answer given and starts to inspect Ralph more, as soon as Ralph realizes he goes back to nodding. This is what Ralph was scared of. He was scared that people would judge the way the boys have been acting and the people they have become from their time on the island without any adults.

Many children throughout the nation know what it’s like to grow up without a fatherly figure in their life and because of this some turn to violence. The two songs A Boy Named Sue by Johnny Cash and In the Ghetto by Elvis Presley do an exceptional job of illustrating that these problems still exist and are perhaps worsening in today’s society. The first similarity I perceived between the two songs was that both include a young boy growing up without a father. In A Boy Named Sue the boy’s father leaves him and his mother. Johnny Cash explained this with the lyrics, “My daddy left home when I was three and he didn’t leave much to ma and me”.

It wasn 't until the end of the book where they found out who he really was and form their own opinions about him. People may also say that it is dangerous for them to be walking around alone. However, Jem and Scout do not get into much trouble and when they do, they learn it was wrong and not to do it again. Lastly, many people believe Atticus is unable to take care of Scout because Aunt Alexandra had to come and help him. However, Atticus did not ask her for help or ask her to come to the house.

In the story, "Sonny's Blues", the narrator, who is Sonny's big brother struggles with the best way to help his brother. Both were raised in Harlem and lived within poverty. The narrator used his childhood struggles as a stepping stone to better himself and become a teacher for a high school. While Sonny became one of the many teens who fell into the drug world of the streets. The narrator's biggest conflict, in my opinion, is why did Sonny turn down such a dark path and how can he help his brother without judging the lifestyle he chose.

The lack of family structure and the way juveniles were treated in the past are factors that may have contributed to juvenile delinquency. In Rebel Without a Cause one thing becomes immediately apparent for Jim, Judy, and Plato, which is they all experience some form of neglect at home. For Jim he wants to be able to respect his father; however, he struggles with this due to his father’s reluctance to stand up for himself when dealing with Jim’s

Odysseus’s adventures were long, brutal and tested his weaknesses. I'm going to analyze how these weaknesses kept him from returning home. Because of these weaknesses odysseus’s son grew up without a father in his life, who knows if he even had a father figure in his life at the very least He survived many situations against all odds and was reunited with his wife and son after 20 long years. Two of his adventures were. Odysseus likes women that are not his wife, and he gets sucked into the goddess Circe’s “vortex” so to speak, his crew warned him it was a trap to keep them there but he didn't listen and they stayed there for a year eating and drinking as much as they could possibly want.

A bystander is someone who is present at an incident or event but does not take part. A bystander may be a bystander because they are scared and don’t want to get into the mess and be the victim. In the beginning of Forbidden City, the main character, Alex Jackson didn’t feel that war and battles was very serious in history, he thought it was all just a game. As soon as he witnessed his first demonstration, he did not take it seriously. “Well, I did go to the square, but it was pretty boring.