Joey Grondowski Quotes

Have you ever had someone influential in your life? There are many influential characters in Irene Hunt’s book “No Promises In The Wind,” but one stands above the rest. Joey most influences Josh Grondowski because Joey is an intelligent, understanding, and determined young boy. Joey is quite smart he understands many things about their situation once they had ran away. He knows they can’t turn back, and he has accepted that. He is aware he’s quite useful when they needed to beg for food. On page 66 he states, “It’s better for me to do the asking, Josh. I’m younger and they’ll give to little kids where they won’t give a scrap to you big guys.” proving, he knew people would have more sympathy for a younger kid than a teenager like Josh. Because of this, he chose to do the begging. Joey was also a very understanding and caring person. He demonstrates this many times, including on page 154 when he says, “It’s all right, we know how hard times are.” towards a poor woman who broke down due to the guilt of not having enough to feed her children and them. He believes caring for those in need is the right thing to do. His kind nature also proved to save Josh and him multiple times throughout the book.

He, however, did not stand up to Josh until page 156, when he said, “You can yell at me till you’re blue, and a lot of good it will do you.” when Josh snaps at him for giving away bread to the poor woman who had helped them. He chose to stand his ground and defend his actions instead of backing off like he normally would. His bravery surprised Josh and led him to act irrationally which he later learned a lesson from. Josh learned his desperation was similar to his dads after he lost Joey. This realization helped Josh when he decided to return