How many times have you heard that saying? After awhile, it gets pretty cheesy but I'm all about cheesy!! Anyway, stereotyping will always be around, no doubt about it. You can try to stop it but the truth is that you can only help to slow it down by not doing it yourself. This is the first step. (Wow, how cheesy was that?!:)) Anyway, during most of the book Ironman, the scene is set in Mr. Nakatani’s Anger Management classroom. Everyone there is there for a reason, but most of the time, that reason is not shown on their face. They don’t declare it to the world. The teenagers in the group are Elvis, Hudgie, Shelly, Shuja, Joey and the main character, Bo Brewster. After hearing everyone’s story, you won’t ever want to judge or stereotype again.
Let’s start with Elvis. On the outside, he looks like the typical “Give me you lunch money!” bully. He has handmade tattoos all over his body and is built huge and bulky. Bo looks at him and says to himself, “…and the permanent expression of a pit bull about 15 seconds before a fight.” (Crutcher pg 46). He was describing the look on Elvis's face when he first met him. This quote definitely describes Elvis perfectly. If you look behind the whole “tough guy” image, you’ll see why everyone says “Don’t judge a book by its Cover.” Elvis’s mom committed suicide a few years ago and his father just left him by himself with his little brother and sister. He finally opened up and told the entire group that he had been stealing food for his siblings because they were starving. When you look at it that way, don’t you see the whole point? At times life can suck. No one should judge someone else by how they seem to act and the filtered version of their life. Now moving on to Hudgie. Hudgie is a boy who dresses like a hippie. He is one of the sweetest kids you could ever meet but unfortunately, he isn’t completely there. He cares about everyone in the group and actually listens to what everyone has to say. During the whole book, I can’t remember one time that I heard a complaint come out of his mouth. His clothes are filthy and tattered but he still doesn’t whine. Looking at people in my school, I can’t say that about many. Everyone has to be perfect looking, but why? Hudgie is far from perfect looking and but still has a huge heart. All the group members treat him with the same respect that they treat everyone else with, even though he acts a little crazy. It turns out that all the kids at school tease him, laugh at him and spread rumors about him that are, of course, all lies. His dad abuses him and I read just about one of the saddest things I’ve ever read in a book before. Hudgie had forgotten to feed his dog for one meal and the next thing he knew, his father had shot his puppy. He didn’t even think of the hurt it caused. Just shot him right then and there. He claimed that it was for Hudgie’s own good-that he wasn't taking care of him so he had to be taught a lesson. Yeah right. When the cops got there, (the neighbors heard a bunch of noise and were worried) Hudgie was sitting on the porch crying and in a daze. He was rocking his dead dog back and forth, saying sorry over and over. I felt my heart crack when I read that. Here is this poor kid with a dead dog that his own dad shot saying sorry to the deceased thing because he forgot to give it one measly meal. That’s what I would call a horrible life. No one should have to live like that. The story about Shelly is a bit less dramatic. She has a huge problem-filled family and chooses to come to Anger Management. Her dream is to become an “American Gladiator” on TV. She is more built than most guys I know and doesn’t take crap from anyone. On the outside, she is just a thoughtful, hard-headed body builder. The rest of the characters have relatively the same story- they have an attitude that needs to be taken care of. Like anyone in the world, that attitude is present for a reason and they attend Anger Management in order to uncover that specific reason. On the outside, every single one of these characters looked different from who they really where inside. Leaving you at that, think about how bad these plain teenagers’ lives were and remember to never take things for granted- even your pet dog.
Let’s start with Elvis. On the outside, he looks like the typical “Give me you lunch money!” bully. He has handmade tattoos all over his body and is built huge and bulky. Bo looks at him and says to himself, “…and the permanent expression of a pit bull about 15 seconds before a fight.” (Crutcher pg 46). He was describing the look on Elvis's face when he first met him. This quote definitely describes Elvis perfectly. If you look behind the whole “tough guy” image, you’ll see why everyone says “Don’t judge a book by its Cover.” Elvis’s mom committed suicide a few years ago and his father just left him by himself with his little brother and sister. He finally opened up and told the entire group that he had been stealing food for his siblings because they were starving. When you look at it that way, don’t you see the whole point? At times life can suck. No one should judge someone else by how they seem to act and the filtered version of their life. Now moving on to Hudgie. Hudgie is a boy who dresses like a hippie. He is one of the sweetest kids you could ever meet but unfortunately, he isn’t completely there. He cares about everyone in the group and actually listens to what everyone has to say. During the whole book, I can’t remember one time that I heard a complaint come out of his mouth. His clothes are filthy and tattered but he still doesn’t whine. Looking at people in my school, I can’t say that about many. Everyone has to be perfect looking, but why? Hudgie is far from perfect looking and but still has a huge heart. All the group members treat him with the same respect that they treat everyone else with, even though he acts a little crazy. It turns out that all the kids at school tease him, laugh at him and spread rumors about him that are, of course, all lies. His dad abuses him and I read just about one of the saddest things I’ve ever read in a book before. Hudgie had forgotten to feed his dog for one meal and the next thing he knew, his father had shot his puppy. He didn’t even think of the hurt it caused. Just shot him right then and there. He claimed that it was for Hudgie’s own good-that he wasn't taking care of him so he had to be taught a lesson. Yeah right. When the cops got there, (the neighbors heard a bunch of noise and were worried) Hudgie was sitting on the porch crying and in a daze. He was rocking his dead dog back and forth, saying sorry over and over. I felt my heart crack when I read that. Here is this poor kid with a dead dog that his own dad shot saying sorry to the deceased thing because he forgot to give it one measly meal. That’s what I would call a horrible life. No one should have to live like that. The story about Shelly is a bit less dramatic. She has a huge problem-filled family and chooses to come to Anger Management. Her dream is to become an “American Gladiator” on TV. She is more built than most guys I know and doesn’t take crap from anyone. On the outside, she is just a thoughtful, hard-headed body builder. The rest of the characters have relatively the same story- they have an attitude that needs to be taken care of. Like anyone in the world, that attitude is present for a reason and they attend Anger Management in order to uncover that specific reason. On the outside, every single one of these characters looked different from who they really where inside. Leaving you at that, think about how bad these plain teenagers’ lives were and remember to never take things for granted- even your pet dog.
4 comments:
I love the title of this blog entry "Don't judge a book by its cover" it's soooooooo true. Your entry was totally true, Everything that you said was sooooo true and i couldn't have put it in better words, you described everything very thoughtfully and very thoroughly.
~Megan~
Yes, yes, it was 'sooooo true'. ;]
Your blog was clear and concise. You used good judgement on what stories to anaylze and all the while doing it professionally. You really are an amazing writer, and I was really excited to be in your group because of your thoughts. I respect them, they... make me think differently. As do you.
Anyhow. On with the praising and the worshipping of your superior writing skills... oh, wait I've run out of time. ;]
wasn't though, she was so clear and so real, it was amazing. I'll admit, i didn't like the book, but after reading the book, i might re-consider it (but i would never actually read the book again, i would just think about it).
This is GREAT!!!
OMG!!!
I love your blogging style and the way you explained all of the different characters in Mr.Nak's class. You got all of the character descriptions PERFECT!!!
I LOVED reading your Blog!!!
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