I agree with Chris. It is sometimes very easy to forget how young Jack really is. I feel like his life experiences with losing his father and Dwight coming into his life. While these thugs could change many for the worse, I feel that these have shaped jack for the better, making him stronger.
The main thing that 117-130 symbolizes is the major difference between Dwight and Jack: How they take losing. Dwight gets extremely angry when he keeps getting demolished in the shooting tournaments while Rosemary keeps on winning, not to mention how he as changed since the two have gotten married; Dwight has gotten a lot more mean and a bit creepy. Jack, on the other hand, doesn't care too much, and I believe that this is because of how he thinks he is going to get away from his current position and start a new life. After this section, we have 131 - 144, which brings a bit of a twist. Although it supports my opinion on how Jack wants to get away from his position by him calling himself a snob, and talking with Mrs Gayle (who is also a snob), the theme that I originally saw in the beginning but saw no continuation of after around page 50, suddenly came back right on page 144. Jack is going to go to Paris despite the changes in plans but then says he doesn't want to because he does not want to change his name, which is more self pride in his identity. Personally, I don't see his reasoning in caring so much about keeping his name over getting out of his little hell hole (that he almost deserves). I don't think I have to argue to much about this, but of course, anybody is free to disagree.
We see Norma out of character in chapter 17. She does not seem her bright and happy self. She's very gloomy and seems very desperate, that's why she marries Kenneth. Jack finally has saved enough money to run away, he plans on running away to Alaska. We find out something new about Jack in chapter 18 when he kisses Arthur which is another boy. I did not see that coming at all! Furthermore, I am completely disgusted with Dwight. First off, he beats on Jack just because he came home very late after getting a ride home. He also does not have the decency to bury the dog after shooting it. That whole situation made me feel so angry.- Arjuna Cabera
Norma has faded away from her former bright and warm self, she's fallen into a spiral of darkness by settling with a scumbag of a human being. Kenneth is a sorry example of a man , and I think Norma might have ended up with him not just because he was the only financially stable guy around, but that she thought she could fix him. Now she's at the realized that she can't save him. Going to what Arjuna said, I'm not as surprised at Arthur and Jack sharing a kiss, But again, we have different experiences. I relate a lot of Jack's extreme emotions to mine before coming out of the closet as bi. Again, at this point it's all up to interpretation and personal experiance but I don't see it as out of character. It also bugged me how badly Dwight treated Champion, the poor dog. Stevie Guevara
In this chapter, Jack changed a lot. He talks about his school life, and how his grades started dropping, and now he doesn’t even attend school at all. What made him give up like this? His new group if older friends that he has at school are a very bad influence on him too. His inner thoughts still make him seem like he’s nervous about his decisions. He had never gotten drunk before and now he fell off of a tree because of it. Although, he said it made him really happy, receiving all the attention when they were looking for him. I thought Dwight would be more upset when Jack came home, but he just grinned and his mother was more upset than Dwight. One thing I was wondering about in this chapter is - what happened to Arthur?
Jack has reached a major turning point in his life, and it is now going downhill. In the chapter, Jack has been introduced to many grown-up things such as drinking and skipping school. The book doesn't really explain the reason for Jack's absence to school unless I missed it, could anybody let me know why he suddenly isn’t going to school anymore. Have Jack's recent acts been influenced by Dwight in any way? Falling out of a tree and possibly killing yourself isn’t responsible and Jack’s “parents” don’t seem to care about him recently.
I really thought that Jacks life would've turned around at this point but throughout chapter 20 how Jacks new friends and his home environment have really effected him. For example, Jack drinks and ends up doing dumb things that he says he likes and he starts getting bad grades and missing school which is all a bad thing but is blinded by the attention he gets from his new friends and can't see what he is doing wrong. I know I said it in an earlier post but I really hope Jack wakes up and comes back to a better reality in which his life is more positive and maybe give Jack's mom someone else to love and not Dwight. -Jason Kerwar
So Jack’s character took a detour… In past blogs I have stated how I believe that Dwight may have found a way to get to Jack and it might have actually happened. He got introduced to drinking, skipping school, and purposely getting bad grades (like real bad). My theory is coming true slowly and day by day. This has to beg the question of: is Jack going to permanently stay this way? Or is he going to bounced back?
Jack is such a complex character with such erratic and unpredictable behavior it is hard to believe that he thinks his decisions through. His recent return to delinquency is disappointing to say the least, and his lack of thinking when walking on the tree branch drunk is astounding. It is also becoming increasingly obvious though that he is probably not straight, and most likely bi. The affection he displayed with Arthur and with Huff both tell the reader that Jack is experimenting, though Tobias Wolff complicates this by saying that he makes out with girls he doesn't like on their steps and that he doesn't have the courage to ask to the Rhea Clark. These points might have been to try to make the reader perceive that Jack is just acting erratically, but the fact that he feels more comfortable around the guys he is attracted counters this effect. When his teacher talked about the concentration camps and Nazi Germany, it reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird in the way that the teacher in that book had the opposite viewpoint. She believed that the Jews were outstanding people while this teacher seems to be thankful that they were killed because they were scientists. The teacher in To Kill a Mockingbird was racist outside of this though, while the teacher in this book is discriminatory specifically to Jews. - Ryan Witz
Jack talks about how his his life was going completely down the drain and he didn't even realise it. His grades had all dropped and he started hanging out with bad kids and one of them had even been to jail. I was surprised that he was so scared and apprehensive to being with a girl because he seems so careless about everything else in his life. He did not even care that his entire career as a student plummeted since the first quarter. He still is nervous about girls because he does not want to disappoint them. Later in the chapter Dwight surprised me. He did not do anything more than lecture Jack about hangovers which seemed completely abnormal for him.
Jack’s insecurities really stand out in this chapter. For example, when he mentions how the only girl he loved was Rhea Clark, he thinks that she would find his love laughable and insulting. When Jack asks Rhea to dance and she accepts his offer, he only thinks she’s doing it because this was a “new girl’s mistake” and she didn’t know any better. His insecurities were caused by the lack of care he received from his home. Dwight puts him down each day, clearly creating Jack to have low self-confidence.
Concrete is a company town where jack attends school. Many do not do well in the school and either get married drop out or join the army the teachers are poor as well. Even with all these problems jack still manages to get good grades. Jack soon begins to struggle do to his lack of effort and copying off other students work. He hides his report cards so others don't see it like his mother. Jack falls into the wrong group and hangs out with the outlaws of the school knowing they are up to know good. In this chapter I feel sympathy for Jack that he is just trying to fit in and become the outlaw or the cool kid of the group. I relate to this chapter because I was new to a school at one point and know how Jack is feeling. I feel that the Time and place in this chapter reflect jacks behavior because he is just trying to fit in and find new friends do to his struggles at home.
I agree with Chris. It is sometimes very easy to forget how young Jack really is. I feel like his life experiences with losing his father and Dwight coming into his life. While these thugs could change many for the worse, I feel that these have shaped jack for the better, making him stronger.
ReplyDeleteI take the same way, but at the sametime it changes hes mindset over stuff that makes him become a stronger person.
DeleteThe main thing that 117-130 symbolizes is the major difference between Dwight and Jack: How they take losing. Dwight gets extremely angry when he keeps getting demolished in the shooting tournaments while Rosemary keeps on winning, not to mention how he as changed since the two have gotten married; Dwight has gotten a lot more mean and a bit creepy. Jack, on the other hand, doesn't care too much, and I believe that this is because of how he thinks he is going to get away from his current position and start a new life. After this section, we have 131 - 144, which brings a bit of a twist. Although it supports my opinion on how Jack wants to get away from his position by him calling himself a snob, and talking with Mrs Gayle (who is also a snob), the theme that I originally saw in the beginning but saw no continuation of after around page 50, suddenly came back right on page 144. Jack is going to go to Paris despite the changes in plans but then says he doesn't want to because he does not want to change his name, which is more self pride in his identity. Personally, I don't see his reasoning in caring so much about keeping his name over getting out of his little hell hole (that he almost deserves). I don't think I have to argue to much about this, but of course, anybody is free to disagree.
ReplyDeleteWe see Norma out of character in chapter 17. She does not seem her bright and happy self. She's very gloomy and seems very desperate, that's why she marries Kenneth. Jack finally has saved enough money to run away, he plans on running away to Alaska. We find out something new about Jack in chapter 18 when he kisses Arthur which is another boy. I did not see that coming at all! Furthermore, I am completely disgusted with Dwight. First off, he beats on Jack just because he came home very late after getting a ride home. He also does not have the decency to bury the dog after shooting it. That whole situation made me feel so angry.- Arjuna Cabera
ReplyDeleteNorma has faded away from her former bright and warm self, she's fallen into a spiral of darkness by settling with a scumbag of a human being. Kenneth is a sorry example of a man , and I think Norma might have ended up with him not just because he was the only financially stable guy around, but that she thought she could fix him. Now she's at the realized that she can't save him. Going to what Arjuna said, I'm not as surprised at Arthur and Jack sharing a kiss, But again, we have different experiences. I relate a lot of Jack's extreme emotions to mine before coming out of the closet as bi. Again, at this point it's all up to interpretation and personal experiance but I don't see it as out of character. It also bugged me how badly Dwight treated Champion, the poor dog.
ReplyDeleteStevie Guevara
In this chapter, Jack changed a lot. He talks about his school life, and how his grades started dropping, and now he doesn’t even attend school at all. What made him give up like this? His new group if older friends that he has at school are a very bad influence on him too. His inner thoughts still make him seem like he’s nervous about his decisions. He had never gotten drunk before and now he fell off of a tree because of it. Although, he said it made him really happy, receiving all the attention when they were looking for him. I thought Dwight would be more upset when Jack came home, but he just grinned and his mother was more upset than Dwight. One thing I was wondering about in this chapter is - what happened to Arthur?
ReplyDeleteJack has reached a major turning point in his life, and it is now going downhill. In the chapter, Jack has been introduced to many grown-up things such as drinking and skipping school. The book doesn't really explain the reason for Jack's absence to school unless I missed it, could anybody let me know why he suddenly isn’t going to school anymore. Have Jack's recent acts been influenced by Dwight in any way? Falling out of a tree and possibly killing yourself isn’t responsible and Jack’s “parents” don’t seem to care about him recently.
ReplyDeleteI really thought that Jacks life would've turned around at this point but throughout chapter 20 how Jacks new friends and his home environment have really effected him. For example, Jack drinks and ends up doing dumb things that he says he likes and he starts getting bad grades and missing school which is all a bad thing but is blinded by the attention he gets from his new friends and can't see what he is doing wrong. I know I said it in an earlier post but I really hope Jack wakes up and comes back to a better reality in which his life is more positive and maybe give Jack's mom someone else to love and not Dwight. -Jason Kerwar
ReplyDeleteSo Jack’s character took a detour… In past blogs I have stated how I believe that Dwight may have found a way to get to Jack and it might have actually happened. He got introduced to drinking, skipping school, and purposely getting bad grades (like real bad). My theory is coming true slowly and day by day. This has to beg the question of: is Jack going to permanently stay this way? Or is he going to bounced back?
ReplyDeleteJack is such a complex character with such erratic and unpredictable behavior it is hard to believe that he thinks his decisions through. His recent return to delinquency is disappointing to say the least, and his lack of thinking when walking on the tree branch drunk is astounding. It is also becoming increasingly obvious though that he is probably not straight, and most likely bi. The affection he displayed with Arthur and with Huff both tell the reader that Jack is experimenting, though Tobias Wolff complicates this by saying that he makes out with girls he doesn't like on their steps and that he doesn't have the courage to ask to the Rhea Clark. These points might have been to try to make the reader perceive that Jack is just acting erratically, but the fact that he feels more comfortable around the guys he is attracted counters this effect. When his teacher talked about the concentration camps and Nazi Germany, it reminded me of To Kill a Mockingbird in the way that the teacher in that book had the opposite viewpoint. She believed that the Jews were outstanding people while this teacher seems to be thankful that they were killed because they were scientists. The teacher in To Kill a Mockingbird was racist outside of this though, while the teacher in this book is discriminatory specifically to Jews. - Ryan Witz
ReplyDeleteJack talks about how his his life was going completely down the drain and he didn't even realise it. His grades had all dropped and he started hanging out with bad kids and one of them had even been to jail. I was surprised that he was so scared and apprehensive to being with a girl because he seems so careless about everything else in his life. He did not even care that his entire career as a student plummeted since the first quarter. He still is nervous about girls because he does not want to disappoint them. Later in the chapter Dwight surprised me. He did not do anything more than lecture Jack about hangovers which seemed completely abnormal for him.
ReplyDeleteJack’s insecurities really stand out in this chapter. For example, when he mentions how the only girl he loved was Rhea Clark, he thinks that she would find his love laughable and insulting. When Jack asks Rhea to dance and she accepts his offer, he only thinks she’s doing it because this was a “new girl’s mistake” and she didn’t know any better. His insecurities were caused by the lack of care he received from his home. Dwight puts him down each day, clearly creating Jack to have low self-confidence.
ReplyDeleteJack talks about his life and how bad it is he hangs out with all the bad kids and his grades in school are really bad.Jack is also in love with Rhea
ReplyDeleteSamuele rrotaj
DeleteConcrete is a company town where jack attends school. Many do not do well in the school and either get married drop out or join the army the teachers are poor as well. Even with all these problems jack still manages to get good grades. Jack soon begins to struggle do to his lack of effort and copying off other students work. He hides his report cards so others don't see it like his mother. Jack falls into the wrong group and hangs out with the outlaws of the school knowing they are up to know good. In this chapter I feel sympathy for Jack that he is just trying to fit in and become the outlaw or the cool kid of the group. I relate to this chapter because I was new to a school at one point and know how Jack is feeling. I feel that the Time and place in this chapter reflect jacks behavior because he is just trying to fit in and find new friends do to his struggles at home.
ReplyDelete