Monday, October 6, 2008

This Boy's Life (T/TH A)

Welcome to the discussion.

15 comments:

Greg Pitt said...

THIS BOYS LIFE by Tobia Wolff
My attention was caught immediately in the first chapter when a speeding truck flies off a cliff. I learn right away that Toby is a manipulator; he talks his mother into getting souvenirs even though they are short of money because she was upset the truck drove off the cliff.
The story goes on to talk about the ordinary, not so ordinary life of Toby and his mother as they travel across country. They leave Florida and land in Utah where Toby’s mother seeks a job and just until she could strike it rich with the uranium she plans on finding. They encounter people along the way. You can see that Toby lies to the priest when he goes to confession, he takes the story the Sister tells him for his own confession. He really is a liar, even the pen pal he writes to gets nothing but lies. Toby wants to change his name to Jack because a girl in his class was named Toby and he doesn’t want to have this happen again. There won’t be any girls named Jack.
It is alarming to see how Jack (Toby) does dangerous things, he shoots arrows at the other boys, not really concerned about the close calls or the danger in this kind of activity. I am beginning to see pattern as the story continues.
Roy, who seems to always to show up he catches up with them. Roy seems to be a jealous type of guy following Jack’s mother home from work without her knowledge. He gets angry when he can’t follow her home one day. Toby’s mother has a strange relationship with Roy, almost a love hate relationship. Roy doesn’t seem to be good for Jack either, he gives Jack a 22 rifle and lets Jack experiment with it. Of course Jack aims the gun at people and even kills a squirrel.
Jack and Rosemary escape from Roy, they run away off to Seattle where they move into a boarding house. Later they encounter Judd and Gill. Gill promises Jack a bicycle, but it turns out to be a ruse just to get a date with his mom. He never gets the bicycle. This is really an uncomfortable situation, it seems kind of weird.
Rosemary and Jack move into a house with Kathy and Marian from the boarding house. Jack is still running the streets with Taylor and Silver. They are into serious mischief, like stealing and breaking things , like the windows in the cafeteria.
I am just getting into the book, but I think that the book is an engaging hard to put down read. I am into the details about Jack’s “working class” life with a single mother who had an abusive childhood. The treatment by her parents is beginning to explain why Jack’s life is the way it is.
The book provides a glimpse into life of a kid from the 1950’s. It is artist in its earthy descriptions of everyday life. It is beginning to feel like a book that can stand the test of time. I am anxious to read more about Jack even though I am don’t like some of the things that Jack does.

Bill Fish said...

Bill Fisher blog entry 1
This Boys Life, Tobias Wolff
Toby Wolff, the main character, is an extraordinary teenager. Him and his mother are on the run from an abusive man. They move from Florida and drive cross - country to Utah. As they are driving they spot a truck falling off the edge of the guard rail. Toby, recognizing an opportunity, has his mom buy him souvenirs.
In Utah, according to his mom, they are going to strike it rich. She buys a bunch of equipment used for finding Uranium such as a black light and a Gieger counter.
In Utah, Toby is ready to take on a new life. He wants to change his name to Jack. His mom is not thrilled with the idea, but he wants to be like the author Jack London. He attends Catholic school, and his mom gets a job in Salt Lake City.
At school Jack joins the archery club. He shoots and is shot at by other boys. There are a bunch of close calls, but after a while he gets bored. He spends a lot of time with neighborhood pets.
Roy followed the two runaways to Utah.
Jack looks up to Roy. He even calls him, "What a man is supposed to be." Roy has a gun collection and gives Jack one as a present.
His only rule with the gun is that he can't touch it unless one of his parents are around.
Of course Jack doesn't follow this, he starts by just posing with it but then he starts aiming at people and shoots a squirrel. He is very sorrowful and mad at himself.
Roy leaves the two. They pack their belongings and head for the bus depot. Once their they decide to go to Seattle. Jack makes two good friends in Seattle, Terry Taylor, and Terry Silver.
The three boys cause lots of trouble like stealing, and prank calling people. At the end of this chapter they egg a man's car, but when he doesn't respond to it they get angry.
To my surprise the book is exceeding my expectations. I thought that this Tobias Wolff book, like Old School, would be a slow read. It is the opposite. The constant action and thought of what trouble these hoodlums will get into next excites me.
The themes work and class are evident in this book by the poor conditions this family lives in and by the long hours the mother works as a low paid secretary.
I believe the book is very good. I like it and think that it is a very fast reading story. Its very interesting and i think almost any age group would enjoy it. It is an important book because it shows why some kids act the way they do. I believe that in 50 years their will still be people reading the book and enjoying it.

Pittman said...

Group entry #1: In our class discussion today our group thought that so far in “This Boy’s Life” by Tobias Wolff the book is a good and a fairly easy read. Our thoughts about the main character Jack Wolff is that he is not the best behaved child but it really is not his entire fault because his mother Rosemary Wolff always wants to move they are never stable in one place we put it as they are not a normal family. Buehner added that he thought at first that Toby was sneaky and deceitful but then he started to understand that it is hard for a child to lose a father at such a young age and he just gets tangled up in some bad situations. Our group decided that Jack’s mother does not seem the smartest because she is always running away from their problems starting out running away from Roy. We thought that would be very hard for a child to adapt to, always moving never making any friends, school, and just problems like that which most children do not have to live with. Without the stability of a normal house we believe that is why he is starting to turn into a bad kid. The theme that our group came up with is moving and running from problems. We thought that a symbol from what we have read so far would have to be his rifle because it is the rifle that makes him feel good and strong. He loves to point it at people and get the feeling of power that he gets and has to bring it with him every time they move.

Bill Fish said...

Bill Fisher individual blog entry #2
Once again the Wolff family is moving. They move in with Marian and Kathy. Kathy has a son and names him Willy. Meanwhile, Silver, Taylor and Jack keep causing trouble. One thing they do is they break some windows at their school. The two girls get engaged and try and find Rosemary a nice man. They come up with Dwight. They spend Thanksgiving with Dwight and his children. Jack likes the oldest Norma. He doesn't like when the youngest, Pearl, embraces his mom. To me this shows he really doesn't want more family in his life he likes it to just be him and his mom. Once back Jack causes more trouble by scratching words into the bathroom. The vice principal finds him and drags him to the office. His mother has to come and bargains witht the principal to let Jack go. Dwight drives in to town and proposes to Rosemary. She says yes. He offers them a new life in Chinook. Once again they are going to move. On the drive to Seattle Dwight reveals his real personality to Jack. First, he purposely runs over a beaver and orders Jack to pick it up. When he does not, Dwight mocks him and throws in the back of his car. Next he takes Jack to a restuarant and buys him a burger. Jack goes to the car and when Dwight returns many hours later, he is drunk. He swerves and nearly crashes the car. He makes Jack perform impersonations he does of Dwight and swerves on purpose to scare him. Once in Chinook, Jack is forced to work a ton. Dwight makes the jobs as hard as possible for him. When they go back to Seattle to pick up his mom he is constantly watched by his father in law to make sure he doesn't tell his mom anything. Jack gets in a fight with a boy named Arthur. Dwight is proud and gives Jack boxing lessons. Later on, Jack and Arthur become friends. Rosmary and Dwight do not get along. They are fighting and Rosemary is not her normal self. She does get a job and they still live with Dwight.
The book is still just as good. The expectations are still being surpassed. The last chapter left me wondering how Jack is going to get out of his situation with his abusive step father.
The book is still very good. It is a fast read and i believe that it can withstand the test of time. The reason it can is becasue teenagers no matter what century they are in will still act and think the same, and i belive this book really appeals to us.

Greg Pitt said...

Jack is attending Concrete High School, which is home of the Lone Star Cement Company. Kids attend school from up and down the valley. Their families came from all walks of life. Lots of the boys in the high school had jobs. They usually spent their earnings on girls and their cars, finally dropping out of school to get full time jobs or join the Army or Marines.
The teachers at Concrete seemed to be good. There was Mr. Mitchell who taught civics and was the army recruiter. He was interesting and told of the days he had been in World War II.. Miss Houlihan taught speech, they spent most of the year working on Hiawatha. She took the class to the “Great Circle” competition where they were disqualified for keeping beat with their drums. Mr. Greeley taught shop, he got the attention of the class by dropping a fifty pound block of iron on his Tuff-Top shoes.

Jack brought home good grades at first but that was because he copied other kids homework on the bus and studied for tests in the hall before class., His grades dropped and no one noticed it at home. If Jack couldn’t be notice for his good grades, being a good citizen, he would be noticed as an outlaw. Jack started to miss classes and hang out with a new crowd of rough necks

Chuck Bolger was kind of brotherly to Jack. It is Psycho that he did not like. Psycho snatched a cat and instead of harming it tried to ransom the owner into giving him money. He was caught with the cat at the drop off spot. Jerry Huff was a bully, he loitered in the bathroom. Arch Cook is Jerry’s cousin.

All five guys use to take Chucks Chevy, steal a little gas and go to Arch’s sister’s house and hang out. The other guys knew a lot about women and wanted to set Jack up with girls but Jack did not want to, he wanted to wait for the girl he loved. The boys made it back to school in time to take the bus back home.

Jack was interested in a girl her name was Rhea Clark. She had moved from North Carolina. It was interesting how Jack felt that Rhea danced, stole a dance, because she did not know who he was. He felt like he had a right to take advantage of her because she was new. She did end up with Lloyd Sly a basketball player with a car.

Chuck and the others succeeded in getting Jack drunk. Jack fell, or walked off the end of a tree branch and fell down a hill. He landed hidden in ferns where no one could see him. He could hear voices calling him but did not answer, he spent the night there and in the morning Dwight asked him where he was. Jack told him he got drunk and fell off a cliff; he got away with a scolding.

The book is still just very good. I am always surprised at the things Jack does and the people he hangs out with. I don’t expect him to do things but he comes up with things that I wouldn’t think he would do. I wonder how Jack is going to make it through high school with the kind of people he is hanging out with.

I think it will stand the test of time because all school have different groups. There are the bad kids, the jocks and the smart kids. Yes, this book will stand the test of time because there will always be teachers that kids can relate to.

Zach said...

At the beginning of the book i suddenly gained interest when i found out how Toby was a sneaky child who will do anything to get what he wants. When Toby's mother was upset because of an accident that had happened with a truck driver Toby tries to convince her to buy him souvenirs because he knows she is vunerable at the time.
In the first few chapters in the book i found out Toby and his mother are constantly on the move so it is a rough life style for a Toby. Toby's and his mother first move to Utah from Florida because of a get rich quick skeem. But as you read later on she becomes unsuccessful and the move was basically a complete waste. Toby wants to change his name to Jack for various reason. There is a girl in his class named Toby and he becomes angered because of it. His mom would not let him change his name at first but when Toby says he wants to change it after an author his mom thinks that it would be a positive step in his life. In school jack is a very troubled kid. The main reason he joins an archery club is to shot arrows at the other boys. In the book Jack's only real father figure is Roy. Jack to a certain degree respects Roy and receives a rifle from him. He breaks the rules of having the gun by aiming it at the other boys. after a while Toby and his mother move once again, this time to Seattle. In Seattle Jack makes two friends who happen to be just like him. Terry and Terry are another bad influence on Jacks life because together they commit a series of more serious crimes like stealing and breaking things that aren't theirs.
My expectations for the book this boy's life were very high because it seemed like my type of book just from reading the back cover. Also, there have not been many books that have been able to keep my attention throughout the story and i wanted that for this boy's life. So far my expectations have been exceeded. i thought that because the book was lengthy that it was going to be slow but it is not. It has kept my attention throughout all parts and keeps me interested because i want to find out what sort of trouble Jack will get into next.
The two themes class and work are very clear in the book. Class and work both relate to Jack and his mothers life style. Rosemary works a dead end job for little pay which makes her and Jack poor for the most part.
Unlike most books i have read i find this book very interesting and a good read because it keeps you on the tip of your seat while you are reading. I think that this book is a page turner and a fast read because you can read for an hour and not even realize it because you are so engaged in the text. I think that this book so far has the quality of being a noteworthy book but my opinion could change as the book goes on. in the first few chapters of the book i do think that it is a great book because i myself personally hate reading but am enjoying this book very much.

Zach said...

individual blog #2....Rosemary and Jack are moving yet again. since Rosemary can't afford of house of their own they move in with a couple. Jack at no surprise is still getting into all sorts of trouble. When he hangs out with Silver and Taylor they find it funny and cool to break some windows at their school. This doesn't exactly put Jack on the principles good side either when he is caught inscribing words into the bathroom stalls. Rosemary is very disappointed yet again at Jack when she gets a call from the principle and has to drive to his school and pick him up. Throughout this time Rosemary has finally met a man who both Jack and herself like. His name is Dwight. Later on in the book Dwight proposes to Rosemary and she willingly accepts thinking this will be a good thing for both her and Jack. They all move to Chinook where Jack finally see's the real side of Dwight. He is two faced. He treats Jack like skum and puts him in a dangerous situation when he drives them both home drunk. Also, even though Jack is still young he makes Jack work and do jobs that are near impossible. Jack is not aloud to tell his mother about anything and Dwight makes sure of it. Rosemary is having a rough time getting along with Dwight. They constantly bicker and argue over stupid matters. Like every other move Rosemary finds work to get by and even though Rosemary doesn't get along with Dwight and Jack secretly for the most part hates him they still live with him and his daughters. I think that the book is getting even better than it started out to be. Like i said in the first blog it is a fast read and has the qualities to withstand the test of time. As i was thinking why it could withstand the test of time i read the last sentence in Bill's blog and i think he says it perfectly. " Teenagers no matter what century they are in will still act and think the same, and i belive this book really appeals to us."

Zach said...

Individual Blog #3....Jack has finally had enough. On any opportunity that he gets Jack tries to hitchhike as far away from Chinook as possible. During these times Jack frequently thinks about his father and how he could just abandoned him like he did. He wanted to believe that his father was a decent man but he never could. Dwight once again being the lazy father figure he is refuses to buy Jack a decent pair of shoes and forces him to have a disadvantage on the basketball court. After the game, Jack gets a ride home from Norma and her boyfriend Bobby. Jack realizes that while they are waiting for him they fool around in Bobby's car. This makes Jack extremely jealous and in a way angry but he does not say anything because his feelings for Norma are to strong. Rosemary and Dwight join the local shooting club and enter in many tournaments against one another. Dwight can not stand the fact that Rosemary is clearly better than him. Dwight practices at home and aims the rifle at Jack making him admit he is a stealer and a liar. Jack tells Dwight that he is saving enough money to run away from this place and Dwight mocks him by calling him a sissy. After Rosemary wins a tournament, Dwight gets drunk at the tavern, and drives Jack, Pearl, and Rosemary home making it seem like he has no regard for there lives. Jack finally finds a way out of Chinook. He discovers a letter that his uncle Stephen had written to Rosemary. Jack writes to his uncle pleading for help. His uncle sends him a check so that he can come live with him in Paris for a year and get away from Dwight. The plans back fire when Stephen wants to adopt Jack and live with him for five years instead of one. Norma ends up marrying Kenneth even though it is obvious it is not her true love. They had a child. Jack once again has a plan to run away. This time to Alaska and not alone but with Arthur. He saved enough money from the paper routes to where he was able to go. One night when Jack sleeps over Arthurs house, they kiss unexpectedly. They later forget this experience and are "just friends". The night when Jack and Arthur are going to run away Jack loses all of his money playing a game called blackout. Jack feels terrible about the whole situation and gives Arthur the stuffed pig he had won at the game as the ride back to Chinook with Dwight. Once again Jack's plans had been ruined.
This book has still kept up to my expectations. I would have never expected for Jack and Arthur to kiss. That would have been the last thought on my mind. So still the book is very unexpected and enjoyable. I still think that the book is a fast read and a good read because i am having no problem reading through fast. I think that it will withstand the test of time because it understands the situations that teens deal with like running away which is a big part in this book.

Zach said...

Group Blog #2.....In our group discussion today we still thought that This Boy's Life was a good read but we did not expect anything that happened. As Greg, Bill, and myself made conversation the first that really stood out to us of what we have read was some of the decisions Jack makes. We knew Jack was a troubled kid and that he was for the most part always doing the wrong thing but we learned some new things about him. Jack and Dwight never got along after Rosemary married him and Jack was somewhat depressed. The part that really shocked us was Jack had the opportunity to move away from Dwight and live with his uncle in Paris but he declined. He was that bull headed and stubborn. We also said that Jack was in a way stupid. He had saved up enough money from stealing that he could run away to Alaska with Arthur but what did he do? He lost it all at the carnival trying to make more money. And lastly, the most shocking moment we as a group thought about was when Jack and Arthur kissed. This problem was the most unexpected thing that could have happened. Not one of us thought this would ever happen because Jack always had a crush on Norma and there really was no hints that he would ever pull a stunt like this. Overall we still find this book to be a fast and a good read but we all have different views on Jack after the incident with Arthur.

Bill Fish said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bill Fish said...

Bill Fisher Blog entry #3
Jack, after weeks of punioshment and abuse finally decides to run away from Chinook. He comes up with some plans, but in the meantime, he and his mother stay with Dwight. Rosemary wins a bunch of rifle competitions which angers Dwight, i believe that he can't accept his masculinity being upstaged. He buys a bunch of guns and practices at the house. One night after returning from a shooting tournament, Dwight is upset and goes to the bar. He drives drunk with the entire family in the car. Showing no regard for life in the car. Jack writes a letter to his uncle stephen in Paris, describing his awful life in Chinook, asking for help. He writes back originally suggesting to stay with him for a year, then writing that he wants to adopt Jack. Jack chooses to stay with his mother which shows his love for her. Jack spends the Christmas in Chinook, still not leaving. Norma comes too, planning on marrying a man named Kenneth, not Bobby, her old boyfriend. No one in the family seems to like Ken becasue he criticizes many people on their beliefs and habits. Bobby shows up and we find out that Norma doesn't love Kenneth but still goes through with the wedding and has a child. Jack comes up with a plan to go to Alaska with his best friend Arthur. During a sleepover the friends kiss. This makes things very awkward for a while but doesn't come up again. Jack saved up $80 dollars fir the expedition but loses it at a carnival. HE feels bad about this and gives a pig that he won to Arthur as an "I'm sorry present."
The book still intrests me to point where I have to fore myself to put it down. IT is fast paced and keeps you guessing to what Jack will do next. I am rooting for him to escape Chinook and believe it will happen soon. This book keeps up with my expectations, in that it is still good like i expect.

Bill Fish said...

Bill Fisher Blog entry 4
Dwight brings home a dog that he claims to be a hunting dog, but really he is scared of a gun. Jack abuses the dog at first but feels bad and him and the dog end up having a close relationship. One night Jack takes the car, and he brings the dog with him. He gets the car stuck in the road and needs to hitchhike to get back. Dwight finds out and beats Jack. Dwight eventually needs to kill the dog because he is eating cats, when he kills him he doesn't bury him. Jack is a freshman and starts out good but eventually, like always, ends up with the bad crowd. He is drinking and doing bad things again. Jack again tries to runaway, this time to Princeton, where his brother is attending college. They have been exchanging letters but before this he hadn't seen or heard from his brother in six years. He forges a check, tries to cash and his chased away by a salesclerk. Later that night he sees her at a scout meeting, but she pretends not to recognize him. He continues writing to his brother who convinces him to go to a private school in the east. He takes a SAT test and does well, he also tries to understand and learn about the upper class so he can fit in.
Jack and Arthur and matched up against eachother in a school sponsored fight. Dwight trains Arthur, and Jack ends up agreeing to the fight. Jack is sad when he punches Arthur and Arthur ends up winning.
Only one private show accepts Jack. An interviewer is sent out and Jack says how he is ready for change. Jack hurts his finger bad and has to go to the hospital after a shop accident. When he gets home he steals Dwight's alcohol and this makes Dwight angry. Dwight pushes Jack which makes Reosmary mad enough to have Jack live with a friend from school. Rosemary says they will start a new life once she finds a job. JAck and Chuck, his roomate, cause a ton of trouble, they drink, steal, and misbehaive. After a series of bad events, Mr Bolger asks the priest father Karl to talk to him. He asks him what he wants with his life, a question Jack can't answer. Chuck is charged with rape. However is released becasue another possible father agrees to marry the victim. Jack is accepted into Hill, the private school, and his mom has gotten a job back in Seattle. Jack goes to spend the summer with his brother and his biological father. JAck steals Dwights stuff, goes to Seattle and starts to get clothes for his new school. In the summer, his dad goes to Vegas and leaves Jack to be looked over by a pedaphile. Jack's father gets arrested when he comes back. Dwight attempts to kill Rosemary but is luckily unsuccesful and arrested. Jack gets kicked out of his new school, and joins the army. As an adult Jack looks back at his childhood, remembering the good times.
The book was very good. I liked it a lot and felt like it was a faster read then Old School. I don't think the book is a Shakespeare or anything like that but i believe it will still be around in the future. The book surpassed my expectations by far becase i thought it was going to be slow like Old School. I recomend this book to anyone looking for a good read.

Greg Pitt said...

Greg Pittman
Jack had not been in contact with his brother for 6 years. His brother sent him a letter and a sweatshirt from Princeton where he is going to college. Jack plots to hitchhike to Princeton and live with his brother Geoffrey. Of course Jack doesn’t have any money so he tries to forge a check. Jack is clever in going to the library to have a fake ID made up, but not too bright when he goes to the bank and takes a blank check. He goes to a drug store and tries to “pass” the check, the nice lady at the check stand asks Jack questions and Jack begins to feel that things are not going right so he leaves, running away. Jack runs back to the Order of the Arrow which is a Scout honor society. There was a tense moment when the nice lady from the drug store came to the honors meeting, but she did not recognize Jack in his uniform and Jack did not give himself up by running.
Dwight continues to pick on Jack, this time it is over an almost empty mustard bottle. After Dwight slaps Jack in the face even Pearl yells at Dwight. While she was yelling at Dwight, Jack leaves the house. He decides he wants to try to get hold of his brother. With the help of the operator he makes a collect call to his brother, where he tells him how Dwight hits him. Geoffery says he will call their father and see what he has to say.
Dwight was abusive to Jack’s mother; there was the time Dwight heard that his mother was looking for a job back east. After he finished off a bottle of whiskey he held his hunting knife to her throat until she promised not to leave.
Jack told his mother that he had spoken to Geoffrey and that he thought that going to Choate would be a good idea. Geoffrey thought Jack could get a scholarship at Choate or some other prep school.
Jack checked out a book called The Status Seekers a book by Vance Packard, to Jack it was the perfect guide for social climbers. Jack did not want to be left out, he says that “Harvard or Yale or Princeton is not enough. It is really the exclusive prep school that counts…..” Jack felt that if he did not make it into one of the exclusive prep school he would be not only left out but oppressed.
Jack is ready to do what he needs to do to get into a prep school. He gets transcript and letter head paper, from Arthur, to forge what he needs to have to get into a prep school. Author and Jack had fallen out, they end up having to box each other and Author wins.
Jack had applied to several schools and is now receiving rejection letters. Jack gets a call, at school, from Mr. Howard who is an alumnus of Hill School. He takes an interest in Jack and wants to meet with him. They meet and all is going well.
Jack cuts the tip off his ring finger, at the first last joint, in shop class. Jack gets addicted to morphine, first he needs it for the pain and then he takes it to take him from his worries. When he leaves the hospital he is fighting the pain in his finger and withdrawals. Because of his wound he says things to Dwight he would never have said before. Dwight ends up pushing Jack and hurting his finger. This seems tragic but it is his ticket out of Dwight’s house. Chuck Bolger’s parents agreed to let Jack live with them until school ends.
Chuck and Jack get into all kinds of trouble. One of the incidents that tells me the kind of person Jack is was when they stole gas from the Welch’s. When they got caught Chuck apologized but Jack does not, could not. Mr. Bolger said that Jack had to leave unless he apologized, he ends up doing what Mr. Bolger wants him to because his mother came and begged him to .
Father Karl came to talk to Jack about his behavior. Jack told him what he wanted to hear, after all Jack said he agreed to do what Mr. Bolger wanted him to do. The Welch’s would not let Jack help them, no redemption for Jack.
Chuck is being forced to marry Tina Flood, Chuck refused. Tina’s father wanted Chuck, Huff and Psycho arrested for statutory rape. Gerry Huff ends up marrying Tina.
Jack is accepted to Hill, he receives a scholarship but is $500.00 dollars short. He is not worried because he thinks Dwight has his news paper money saved. He finds out Dwight took all the money. Chuck and Jack come up with a plan to steal the guns from Dwight to get some money. They end up pawning all of the guns and binoculars for only $60.00.
Mr. and Mrs. Howard met Jack at Ivars Acres of Clams in Seattle. They take Jack out to buy clothes for school. Not clothes just for pleasure but for survival. The new boys in his new world would judge him by his clothes.
Jack attended Hill, he did not do well. How could he, he lied to get in. He was not doing well and when he felt panicked he would do crazy things. His demerit count was always very high. He really loved the school but in his last year he was asked to leave. Jack ended up joining the Army, where he felt he had been going all along.
This book will stand the test of time because the ending message was that when we are young we have dreams. Dreams that we might think of as rights to be gotten, we are not quitters. Some times the dreams come true, maybe in a different order than we thought they might but they do come. Jacks parents got back together and he ended up going to a “noble” school where he did well. Sometimes when the dreams are added to reality that is what the dream becomes. It’s the dream mixed with the everyday life mixed, with the realities of living that blends into a different dream. It is not better and it is not worse but it ends up your dream and this is universally true.

Bill Fish said...

Group Blog entry #3 Bill Fisher
Today in class we talked about our overall thoughts on the book now that we finished. We all agreed that we thought it was a very good book. We also all agreed that the book was a lot better then the other Tobias Wolff book that we read, Old School. We were happy that Jack ended up having a good life. We thought that Rosemary was Jack's downfall as a child. She constantly had him on the move for one thing. For another she set him up with terrible father figures. His biological father who left him with a pervert to take care of him, and Dwight who abused him and worked him nonstop. Finally we talked about whether or not the book would withstand the test of time and be a classic for years to come. Two of us said that it would while one of us disagreed. Overall we thought it was a great book and a really fast read.

Zach said...

Zach Individual #4......Jack comes home one day and sees a dog awaiting him on his porch. He is in shock and doesn't know what to do. Dwight runs through the door and tells Jack that he sold the 22 rifle that Jack had received from Roy. Jack is furious and hates Dwight even more. Rosemary tries to convince Dwight to get the gun back and he agrees to but never does. One night Champion scares Jack half to death and Jack repeatedly beats Champion with a mop. Jack feels horrible about the situation and apologizes to Champion. From this moment on Jack and Champion have a special bond. Being his troublesome self Jack takes Champion for a joy ride one night without Dwight knowing. The car gets stuck in some mud and they have to get a ride home with a stranger who later tells Dwight the story. After finding this out Dwight confronts Jack about this and he denies the whole thing. Enraged Dwight beats Jack repeatedly. Champion has killed a number of cats in the neighborhood and is ordered to be killed. Dwight takes Champion up the river and shoots him and doesn't even bury him. Jack is crushed. Jack started his freshman year at Concrete high and brings home very good grade at the beginning even though it is from copying other peoples work. He starts hanging around with a new bunch of troublemakers and his grades drop drastically. Jack falls for Rhea Clark who dances with him at the school dance. He thinks there is a connection but is later forgotten when she finds a boyfriend a couple weeks later. One day during school Jack and Chuck drink on top of the school roof. Jack passes out and when he wakes up walks onto a tree bunch which brakes. He falls into a gully where he is knocked out temporarily and stays the night there. Jack receives a letter from his long lost brother who he has not seen in 6 years. He finds out his brother is attending Princeton and wants to come visit him. The only problem is he has no money. He tries to forge a check to get the required amount of money but is denied and chased for fraud but gets away. Jack over exaggerates Dwights mistreatment and Geoffrey is concerned. He tells Jack to apply to some private schools so that he can board and get away from these troubles. He takes his advice and asks Arthur to steal some official letters from the office so the letters look legit. Jacks real father calls and invites Rosemary and Jack to visit during the summer. Before they leave Jack takes the SAT and does well on it. Jack and Arthur drifted apart over the years and later fight each other in the annual smoker boxing event in which Arthur wins. After applying to a bunch of private schools Jack is denied by all of them. Mr. Howard who was an alumni at Hill said he will recommend Jack but ensure him that it will be difficult but Jack is ready for a new life style. Jack nearly cuts off his whole finger in shop class and is at the hospital for a week. After the pills ware off Jack sneaks some of Dwights whiskey to take away the pain. Dwight finds out and pushes Jack on which he lands on his bad finger. Rosemary has had enough and now has Jack living with the Buldgers. Jack promises to be on his best behavior when he is in their care. Jack and Chuck drink nearly every night. They get into trouble with the Welches when they steal gas. Jack cannot apologize for some reason and later ends up working on the farm to pay off his debt. Jack gets a scholarship at Hill and his mother couldn't be more proud. Jack ends up spending the summer with his father and brother and Rosemary is soon to leave Dwight. Jack and Chuck find out that Dwight is chasing after Rosemary in Seattle so they steal things from his house when he is away. Jack takes the items to a pawnshop and gets a measly 60 dollars for all the items. When Jack arrives at his fathers house, his father leaves for Las Vegas the next day. He then is sent to jail for the rest of the summer while Jack and his brother try to survive financially. Rosemary is attacked by Dwight and Dwight is arrested. That is the last time either of them see him. No surprise Jack fails out of Hill in his senior year and joins the army were he though he was going to end up for a while. I thought that this book was a very good and fast read. Tobias Wolffe did a much better job in keeping my attention throughout the book than he did in old school. This book defiantly rose up to my expectations and i did not expect that it would. It was without a doubt one of the better books i have read in my high school career.