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Todd Strasser's If I Grow Up

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A FBI report stated, “An estimated 1.4 million people are active in more than 33,000 street, prison and outlaw motorcycle gangs across the country.” In book, “If I Grow Up” written by Todd Strasser discusses that life in the projects is not easy. DeShawn, a young boy who lived in the projects with his gramma and his sister Nia, wanted to get out of the projects, but he thought there was no way out. So after DeShawn started to see that there was no hope for him he decided that there was no hope and made a decision that would forever affect his life, he decided to join the gang. For then on he made poor decisions that caused him to be put in jail. DeShawn did have a choice in bettering his life because he was offered help, he could have got a job somewhere, and he was offered better education, but he didn’t take up on the offer. Others believe that he had no choice because he had no money, he had no role model, and his test scores were too low to get …show more content…

His friend got a job, so that means it was not impossible for him to get a job, it was just the thought of working. Lightbulb, a close friend of DeShawn 's, got a job. “How long have you been working here?” Terrell asked.
“Bout a month,” Lightbulb said.
During the chapter “Prison” the author states, “Darius got out of prison and became a recording engineer...Tanisha is a saleswomen in a department store...Precious is a registered nurse.” I know that if DeShawn really wanted to change his life around, he could have. Most importantly is the fact that DeShawn was offered to get better education at Beech Hill. Mr. Brand, DeShawn’s teacher, talked to him about transferring schools. According to the text Mr. Brand stated, “...it’s a magnet school over in Beech Hill.” he said, “You’ll get a better education there.” He got offered a better education, but practically turned down the offer. DeShawn stated, “I’d never gotten around to studying the list of words Mr. Brand had given

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