Survival In 'Buck' By M. K. Asante Jr.

Surviving Impossibilities

Survival is the act of surviving and doing what is required to lived; sociology has a theory called “Social Darwinism.” Social Darwinism could be broken down to one phrase, survival of the fittest. The notion survival of the fittest implies that those who are successful were meant to be successful and those who are not successful were meant to be in the situation they are in, the key is adapt and survive. M.K. Asante Jr. did just that in his memoir Buck. Buck is about the life of an inner city Philadelphia young black male who faced many obstacles and this young boy was able to overcome his circumstances. Malo’s mother was in and out of the mental hospital, his brother Uzi was in and out of prison, and his father was not really around. Malo’s life by design was meant to be cut short, being overran with drugs, gangs, and violence. Buck’s theme of survival in impossible circumstances represents the struggle of black teens in America because, the book take place in the inner city of Philadelphia, there are several mentions of drug abuse amongst those in the community, and prominent characters of young Malo’s life are

Those with mental disabilities are medicated legally or illegally without being provided talk therapy or any other form of therapy. Being exposed to such behaviors as drug abuse as a young child has detrimental effects on growth and development. These effects could be direct or indirect for the child could then use drugs themselves, be abused by a drug user, or lose someone to drugs, whether it be via overdose, prison, or murder. The expectation for inner city youth is to become a drug dealer or a drug user which neither is a positive and both are expected to live far less than those of far different circumstances than their