Realistically

Rule of the Bone
Russell Banks
1995
HarperCollins 


          It all begins with the protagonist, Chappie, attending summer school to avoid retaking the 8th grade. He is 13 and in love with marijuana. As you continue to read, Chappie begins to search his house while his mother and step dad are at work. He's looking for things to take and then sell for money. He then will take that money and buy marijuana. We get introduced to his best friend Russ, who is a droput and lives on his own. As the story progresses, Chappie runs away from home and becomes a criminal. 
          Chappie begins to steal, sell drugs for bikers and becomes basically. Chappie soon  changes his name to "Bone". Bone and Russ go through a lot within the first few days and soon decide to go back home. Bone disagrees though. Bone befriends a Rasta named I-Man. He teaches Bone how to cook, survive, and use Jamaican plants and herbs. While the book comes to a closure, Bone starts invisioning things. He starts having visions of killing his mother and shooting his stepfather. Nevertheless, Bone gives all the money he has saved up to I-Man so they can go to Jamaica. Once they arrive, he begins to ask about his biological father. Sooner than later, they are able to find his father which is strange. Bone meets him and is "happy again".


"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" (Banks 123). 


There is so much meaning in this quote. I felt that Bone was trying to portray changes. He wanted to know or at least try to figure out why Russ had not changed. He thought they were on the same page. Bone wondered why he was the only experiencing changes. This quote caught my attention because it gave me more of an understanding of what type of person Bone is. The way he speaks is fascinating!!

Mother's Love

Her Last Death: A Memoir

Susanna Sonnenberg

October 27, 2008

Scribner

It all begins with a phone ring. It is Sue’s aunt, Irene, with disturbing news. She tries to explain to Sue that her mother has gotten into a car accident and is in a coma. Any child who hears that type of news would automatically take action. Furthermore into the memoir, Sue begins to explain her relationship with her mother. She begins with her childhood from about eight years old toward her teenage years.

Sue and her mother become distant. She goes to boarding school and new things arise. She begins fantasizing about boys and sex. Sue begins to get desire and needs which she never discovered. We soon learn that Daphne, Sue’s mother, is addicted to coke. For Sue’s 16^th birthday, her mother gives her a gram of coke and tells her “it’s clean”. Sooner than later, Sue becomes an adult. She loses her virginity to her English college professor and becomes a wife and a mother. Her relationship with her mother begins to drift and shortly becomes a non-factor.

“You can’t turn your back on people in trouble, Sue. You have no idea what they could do to that little girl. Thank God you have no idea” (Sonnenberg, 68).

Despite everything Daphne put Sue through, she taught her morals, one of the most important things to learn. Her mother is still her mother and no issue or ticket is too big to not go to her aid. Sue couldn’t ever say anything about her mother never being there for her but she needed more from her mom. Not only just living in big houses, living in foreign places or having a wealthy family but Sue needed her mother when she was too strung out on drugs or having too much sex. She needed her and wasn’t there. This quote is a great slice of what I’ve enjoyed while reading the book because Sue’s intention was never to turn her back on her mother but for her to feel the same way she felt when she needed someone.