"One inmate, a young man seemingly in his early twenties, sat across from a woman with a baby squirming in her arms--he was apparently meeting his own child for the first time" (page 65)
- The theme I am tracking in this quote is absent fathers. Even though this inmate is meeting his baby boy for the first time while he is in jail shows that the child has grown up without a father in his life in his most formative years to come which will effect his raising, for he will not have a father figure. A similar situation that can' relate to this is teenage pregnancy. With teenage girls being pregnant by this drug dealers, while the fathers are in jail it hinders their child from getting to grow up with a father, which obviously the guy in this jail was experiencing as well. The author adds this part to show that all around him there are similar, if not worse, situations happening with the same cycle of absent fathers.
"There was no official ceremony that brought my childhood to an end. Instead, crises or other circumstances presented me with adult-sized responsibilities and obligations that I had to meet one way or another." (Page 66)
- In this quote I am tracking the theme of the importance of life choices. The life choices here boys have made will determine their paths and their transition into adulthood with responsibilities, which ties into the whole entirety of the plot being that their choices led them to two different fates. Most men that go through the cycle of drug dealing and fitting in, experience the loss of childhood early because they go on to take on bigger jobs that handle money which requires them to act older than they actually are. Moore includes this quote to show his mindset throughout the drug dealing process, that he lost his childhood, but he essentially had to do it to handle a bigger picture.
"Tony found his younger brother and asked for an explanation for the leaning tower of Nikes" (page 69)
- Drug dealing and role models are significant in this quote because it is the reason for the, "leaning tower of Nikes." Wes's brother, Tony recognizes the explosion of money because he too has been in this situation too. Since Tony was Wes's role model he looks up to him and sees him so he tends to behave the same and take part in similar actions such as drug dealing, baby mothers, and more. The author includes this part when Tony walks in on Wes's evident money pile in the purchasing of Nikes to show that his own Role Model, ironically enough, is disappointed in what he influenced.
"Wes knew he was disappointing his brother, which hurt much more than the beating he'd just taken... Tony was the closest thing Wes had to a role model" (page 72)
- In this quote I am tracking the theme of Role Models. Since Wes grew up with his brother and without a father, his only male figure to look up to is his brother.. Which since Tony went down the wrong path, so will Wes because that's all he knows. He disappointed his brother and it meant so much to him because he didn't want to because he wanted to be just like him. Adolescence in this generation tend to act like their peers, whether it's wrong or right, and often times lead down the wrong path. We want to be like those who are successful in our eyes, even if we know that's not the way we perceive success. The author includes that Wes knew he was disappointing his brother to show that he couldn't help he was this way, he felt it was inevitable in his situation to turn out this way.
"Putting all of us in danger because of your stupidity. I don't want to hear your sob story about how much money you owe" (page 74)
- When a drug dealer keeps his supplies in his household it puts the family and friends of the drug dealer in danger. The theme I am tracking is single mothers and drugs. With Wes's mother doing the best she can to raise him, she won't tolerate disrespectful things in her household and risking all of what she sacrificed for a couple of dollars. Just like any other logical family, they don't not wish to sacrifice all they have worked for for somebody else's stupidity.
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