Efrain Secret. 63 pages read

 Efrain goes to Nestor's house to sleep and get ready for school. Efrain is back in school and tempts to use that to get hid mind off if everything that's happening. Chingy is still not talking to Efrain. When Efrain was about to get into an argument with one of his old friends because everyone was watching, Chingy held back Efrain's arm and stood in between Efrain and Lefty. Chingy took Efrain's place and got into a fight with Lefty, and now Chingy's in trouble. Efrain got a letter from his Spanish teacher and he finally opened it and read it. The letters that Efrain's Spanish teacher gave him was a letter if recommendation to Harvard.                          After Efrain read the letter of recommendation he went to away looking for the person that was described within the letter of recommendation. Efrain is back on his collage status and is going to tell Nestor that he quits. What a surprise. Candace and Efrain just got into a big argument and Efrain ended up walking away from her. Efrain's mother and sister came to visit him in the hospital after had gotten shot.  Nestor died and now everyone is coming to visit Efrain in his hospital bed. Chingy ask Efrain to tell people who the shooter was, and Efrain says he's going to do it but he would have to go away for a long time.  Efrain is down testifying against the shooter and now he's go to the airport with Candace.                         Quote -"I'm sorry, too, m'ijo. You made some mistakes, but this is not all your fault.".                                                          Reaction- when Efrain's mother said this all I volume think was yes it is. It is all Efrain's fault that all of that went down. Only if Efrain made the right decision he wouldn't have to be in a hole bunch of mess. Maybe Efrain wouldn't have to go to puerto Rico. Maybe alot of things wouldn't happen. I'm defiantly sure that Efrain would have gone to an Ivy league school. When Efrain's mother said that she's down wrong things I wonder what they were, and if they were as bad as Rubio.
                                            

Efrain's Secret. (43)

Summary.          Efrain isn't going to stop being negative to his father. Even though he says bad things about his father he doesn't say them to his father but he says them in his thoughts. Efrain ends staying at Rubio's house with his girlfriend. So how Efrain holds Junior- Rubio's son and he talks to him while he change him and while thief in the master bedroom, even though Efrain did't want to hold him at first. As Efrain goes up and down pacing in the master bedroom Efrain wonder if Rubio will leave Junior and his girlfriend the same way he did with him. Junior raised his fist, and Efrain created a little bond with junior by telling him that he got him.                                                               Efrain, Candace, Nestor,and GiGi are at dinner in a restaurant and they are discussing Canddace's earlier life and they are just asking Candace a lot of questions about Katrina. Efrain ends up explaining to Nestor and GiGi about how Katrina has hurricanes. Efrain's shows them exactly how Katrina had it's water over flow. Efrain and the other young men including Nestor just got Estes for selling controlled substance to the public. When Efrain arrives at the jail, he is the first one to be questions. Efrain didn't give the officers any information besides the basics.                                                         Efrain's lawyer tells him that in order to keep away from jail time he would have to go to a program for at least a year. Efrain doesn't want to go to a program because he wants to go to college, and if he has to go to a program and he is called a felony according to his record then he wouldn't get financial aid packages from the school that he wishes to attend. Efrain is taken to court and his father is in the court room. Efrain is surprised at the fact that his father even came to the court room. Efrain ask his lawyer why the judge called his father and his lawyer tells him that she has to lecture him about how he has to mind you and look after you more. Rubio bailed  Efrain out of jail. Once Rubio started to drive, after a little while they got into a fight, that started out with Rubio punching Efrain in the cheek, and then turning into a bloody situation. Efrain ends up walking away from the  situation. Efrain's mother packed up all his things and told him 
that had to go and live with his father. After Efrain's plea of telling his mother that he can't do that, he mother tell him that if he doesn't leave she would call the police or she would have to call the police. Efrain ended up obeying his mother and left, but before he left he left a couple of hundred dollar bills under the house door.                                        Quote                   "Miss Avery, I can't go to jail".   (188 Quintero).           Reaction.         When I heard these words come out of Efrain's mouth, I said to myself this young men I so stupid. The reason why I said this is because if Efrain didn't to go to jail he wouldn't have been selling drugs to the community. Efrain should have known that if he did what he did that's what it would have boiled down to. I thought Rubio was smart. Rubio made his bed and now he has to lay in it. Rubio really should have known that doing that was going to come to what it is now, and Rubio tells his lawyer that he can't go to jail. If Rubio really wanted to stay away from prison he wouldn't done what he did. I'm so stunned to hear these words that came out of Efrain's mouth.

Efrain's Secret (41)

Summary-   Efrain no longer cares about chingy, because Efrain could of filled him with information about what's going on with him and GiGi but he's telling himself no I won't tell him anything he can figure it out on his own. The question if Efrain and GIGi will create a bond that would into something more than just a friendship. GiGi is getting in the middle of EFrain and candace's relationship.  Efrain says that GiGi has a banging body but he's with Candace. If Efrain is with Candace then he shouldn't be thinking about GIGi's body at the time.                    Candace has just finished talking to EFrain about his friendship with Chingy so now she's going to talk to chingy to see if she can get them to be friends again. After Candace was done talking to Efrain, Efrain told her a lie, saying that he had to work and go ring up designer jeans. How many times is Efrain going to lie to his girlfriend and everyone else that he associates with? Even it slips Efrain's mind about how many times he keeps on lying he doesn't do anything about it. Efrain should just tell the ones that he love and even Chingy about what he is really doing, and he does it just to maintain his cover. Efrain ends up telling Candace to forget about talking to Chingy to try and fix their friendship. Even though Candace and Efrain just got into a fight, Candace just called Efrain's house to ask him if he wanted to come over for dessert on thanksgiving, and Efrain said yes. Efrain and his family ate sea food, which is very interesting, because that's not something my family would do.                                                          Efrain is a hypocrite because Cadace just told him about one of Chingy's friends selling weed to one of Chingy's tutees. How can Efrain say that they should expel him from the school and at this point in his life he's selling things to others that he shouldn't be. It      turns out that Candace and Efrain had problems with their father, because their relationship with their father wan't as good as it should have been.   Quote-" His father isn't worth a shit, so the fate of his family relies on his success. It is what it is, and I don't think you cut a guy off because he's doing what he feels necessary to improve his chances in life. Especially when he intends to reach back and pull up those he loves. Do one bad thing doesn't make him a bad person."        Reaction-    Once I read this quote I had to take another look at it. The reason why is had to take another look  was because this quote is very true. In this quote Efrain was talking to Candace about Nestor's life and how he does what he's doing to take care of his family. And I process it all in my head that Nestor is doing this bad thing to do something good. It's just the same like how Efrain is working with Nestor on the street to get into a good decent college. I also agree with Efrain when he said " I don't think you cut a gut off because he's doing what he feels necessary to improve his chances in life. Especially when he's trying to help out his loved ones. It's just the same how EFrain got his loved one these expensive things for their christmas present. It's not that they do it because they feel like it' it's because they have a propose as to why they are doing what their doing, whether it may be to take care of themselves or their family or like Efrain to get into a good college. No what their doing isn't the best way, but it is what it is.

Efrain's Secret (41)

   Efrain no longer cares about chingy, because Efrain could of filled him with information about what's going on with him and GiGi but he's telling himself no I won't tell him anything he can figure it out on his own. The question if Efrain and GIGi will create a bond that would into something more than just a friendship. GiGi is getting in the middle of EFrain and candace's relationship.  Efrain says that GiGi has a banging body but he's with Candace. If Efrain is with Candace then he shouldn't be thinking about GIGi's body at the time.                    Candace has just finished talking to EFrain about his friendship with Chingy so now she's going to talk to chingy to see if she can get them to be friends again. After Candace was done talking to Efrain, Efrain told her a lie, saying that he had to work and go ring up designer jeans. How many times is Efrain going to lie to his girlfriend and everyone else that he associates with? Even it slips Efrain's mind about how many times he keeps on lying he doesn't do anything about it. Efrain should just tell the ones that he love and even Chingy about what he is really doing, and he does it just to maintain his cover. Efrain ends up telling Candace to forget about talking to Chingy to try and fix their friendship. Even though Candace and Efrain just got into a fight, Candace just called Efrain's house to ask him if he wanted to come over for dessert on thanksgiving, and Efrain said yes. Efrain and his family ate sea food, which is very interesting, because that's not something my family would do.                                                     Efrain is a hypocrite because Cadace just told him about one of Chingy's friends selling weed to one of Chingy's tutees. How can Efrain say that they should expel him from the school and at this point in his life he's selling things to others that he shouldn't be. It      turns out that Candace and Efrain had problems with their father, because their relationship with their father wan't as good as it should have been.   " His father isn't worth a shit, so the fate of his family relies on his success. It is what it is, and I don't think you cut a guy off because he's doing what he feels necessary to improve his chances in life. Especially when he intends to reach back and pull up those he loves. Do one bad thing doesn't make him a bad person."        Reaction.    Once I read this quote I had to take another look at it. The reason why is had to take another look  was because this quote is very true. In this quote Efrain was talking to Candace about Nestor's life and how he does what he's doing to take care of his family. And I process it all in my head that Nestor is doing this bad thing to do something good. It's just the same like how Efrain is working with Nestor on the street to get into a good decent college. I also agree with Efrain when he said " I don't think you cut a gut off because he's doing what he feels necessary to improve his chances in life. Especially when he's trying to help out his loved ones. It's just the same how EFrain got his loved one these expensive things for their christmas present. It's not that they do it because they feel like it' it's because they have a propose as to why they are doing what their doing, whether it may be to take care of themselves or their family or like Efrain to get into a good college. No what their doing isn't the best way, but it is what it is.

Efrain's secret (51 pages read)

Efriain’s secret

Summary

                After Efrain’s first day of selling weed, he came to find out at the end of the day that he only made forty dollars. Efrain decides to call Nestor about it, but the only thing that Nestor says is that he has to move up. Tutoring gave Efrain more money, which he told Nestor, but Nestor said no, you can’t leave, because people will look at me, and say that something is up, because so much people have asked Nestor  to work for him, but all he did was turn them down. Nestor tells Efrain that he shouldn’t quit over some nonsense like that. Efrain can’t even go to sleep. All Efrain thinks about is his family. Efrain gets up out of his bed and studies his SAT vocabulary words.

                It’s ironic how Efrain just got a new girlfriend, and he’s spending money on her, when she’s stuck in the house, because her aunt that she lives with is over protective. Candance’s mother just won’t let her leave the house either, so she cries, and her mother fixes the situation by letting Candance spend the night at Efrain’s house.

                Come to find out that Efrain’s girlfriend is crazy, well let’s put it this way, not right in all her ways. It turns out that Candance has mental problems; she has to see a doctor everyday after school. Candance didn’t tell anyone outside of her family that she had mental problems. Candance and her family just came from New Orleans, because there was a hurricane, so they had to move somewhere. After everyone in the school start to spread rumors about candance’s life, people begin to ask her questions, and every time someone asked her if something was true, candance’s response was yes I did.

                 While Efrain was doing his job on the street, he was on break and he was hungry, so he decided to go and get some food. After Efrain came out of the store, a little boy came up to him and stuck him up with a knife. Nestor came and saved Efrain’s life. Nestor pulled out a fifty dollar bill in the air and told the little boys to take the money and go, and that’s what they did.

                Chingy came to Efrain’s house early in the morning one day. Mandy, Efrain’s sister came into his room and woke Efrain up. Efrain was so upset and screamed at Mandy. Mandy gave Efrain attitude back and said the reason why I woke you up is because someone is at the door for you. Mandy let Chingy come in and he went into Efrain’s room, and they got into a big argument.  Chingy told Efrain that he was unclean and that he was a lair, also that Efrain was dirty. Chingy couldn’t believe that Efrain kept that secret away from him. After the big argument that Efrain, and Chingy had they never spoke again. At Efrain’s school, people all over were asking him if the information was true, and Efrain just ignored them all. Life was going down hill for Efrain.

Quote

                ‘’ Hey, when you don’t make friends and influence people, trust that some kiss- ass is going to run tell when you have drama. Heads be griping that you punch in and clock out without ever stopping to chitchat by the water cooler, you feel me? Saying that new kid Scout, he’s just a schoolboy playing gangster until mommy calls him home for supper. When Julian rushed you tonight, the brothers fell in for me. For snipes. Not you and you better take that shit personally.’’

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                This quote is very, very true. Some people act like they are so big and mighty, but at the end of the day, when their mommy calls them end for supper, they sound like a little child kissing up to their mother. I like the way how the speaker of this quote talked, because you have to pay real close attention and listen to what the speaker has to say. I like how the speaker is being so real and telling the person that they are speaking to take what they are saying personally and serious. I love the way how the speaker is talking. I like this quote because it’s very griping and it just needs to be listened to with patience. The reason why I chose this quote to talk about is because it really spoke out to me, and it made me want to listen and think about what the speaker of this quote is saying.

Efrain's secret (66 pages read)

The Protagonist in this story is Efrain. Efrain and his cousin are in the school library discussing SAT scores. Efrain got a 1650 SAT score, but still wants to take the test again, because he would like to go to an Ivy League college, like Harvard. Chingy, Efrain’s cousin got a 1560 on his SAT prep score, and wants to go to Howard. Chingy tells Efrain that he broke the school record, but Efrain’s says that Harvard is checking out a student that has an SAT score of 1650. Efrain plans to take the test again because he did so much studying and he wants to get a higher score. Chingy is online looking at high school rings, and Efrain decides that when he completes Harvard, is when he would get a ring on his finger.

            Efrain and his mother are talking about colleges. Efrain shows his mother information about Yale, and she is so shock, that she doesn’t even know what to tell Efrain. Once Efrain brings up the idea of getting student loans, Efrain’s mother goes back to being herself again. Rubio, Efrain’s father has to sign a noncustodial form, because him and Efrain’s mother are separated. Efrain gets upset at the fact that Rubio would have to sign the form. Efrain’s mother tells him that she doesn’t like discussing money with Rubio, but they need the help, and Efrain’s mother said that Rubio would do anything to put Efrain through college. Efrain’s mother later on tells him that if it was for money, she would have never dated Rubio, much less married him.

            Rubio causes so many problems within Efrain’s family. Rubio saw Efrain and his friend Nestor, who does sting, which is like selling drugs, anyway they were just hanging out, and Rubio happened to call Efrain, but Efrain didn’t  respond. Rubio decided to call Efrain’s mother, and tell her that he saw Efrain hanging out with Nestor, and that when he called him, Efrain just ignored him. The next morning Efrain and his mother got into a big argument about the call that Efrain’s mother received while on work. Efrain took his sister to school, and they started talking about Rubio and his girlfriend, Awilda, that has a baby for Rubio. Efrain and his sister Mandy started asking each other questions, and it ended up with Mandy punching Efrain in the arm so hard that he said ‘’ow’’, and Mandy ran off to school up the street.

                Efrain found a new job, which is going to be that he’s going to sell drugs on the streets with Nestor. I can’t believe that Efrain quit his tutoring job to sell drugs to people to take a prep class to get a higher score on the SAT. I understand that when push comes to shove, you have to take steps that you may not want to take to get somewhere; I don’t see the importance in selling drugs just to get a higher SAT score. It’s just not right. Selling drugs can lead to people taking some drugs themselves. Efrain selling drugs can really mess him up, and not just physically, but most importantly mentally. Efrain can end up dead, and that alone would make someone cry.

            ‘’ she’s been here since Katrina, and according to Leti, homegirl got kicked out of Mott Haven High School because she threw a chair in a teacher’s face.’’

                        (Rodriguez, 3)

            I like the dialect of the speaker of this quote. I also think that it is funny, because what child in their right mind would through a chair at a teacher? I believe that, that kind of behavior is not normal. Event though you don’t like a teacher, it doesn’t mean that you have to go that far. I really wonder if the chair really hit the teacher in their face, because it would be funny, but then at the same time, that’s isn’t right and that girl who did that should receive some kind of punishment from doing that, because I don’t believe all in my six teen years of living, I ever once in my life time ever heard that. I also feel that if they really want to know that this information is true, they should ask the girl to her face, because the girl that told them this could be wrong and just wants to make people think that she is a bad girl, and not the one to hang around, or talk to.

MANCHILD IN THE PROMISED LAND, pages read (163-203)

Summary

                Claude is still selling pot, and on the streets because he has nowhere to go.

                One day Claude is stopped be a junkie and asked to give him everything that he has. The junkie respected Claude by calling him sonny. According to Manchild in the Promised Land, it states that the junkie was nervous but was not scared. How can you be nervous and not scared? It doesn’t make any sense, at least to me. The junkie wasn’t scared of Claude, and he said that he would kill him because all he wanted was to have what Claude had. This is very interesting because it seems very weird and that’s just what happens in the world.

                 Claude is out to get a gun and kill the junkie that just robbed him. If you are someone that is dealing drugs to people, and one day you get stocked up by a random person, that only wants your drugs, then you are going to be made fun of. Claude didn’t want to have people laugh at hi, and for people to stick him up without any weapons. Claude was embarrassed, and had to borrow a gun from his old friend Danny that still stuck around. If Claude let the junkie get away from robbing him, Claude could never come back on the streets again. This is the life of a hustler.

                As soon as Claude came out of Warwick, he met sugar. Sugar has become the love of his life. This is very ironic. I say this because before Claude even went to Warwick, he called sugar ugly, and called her so many bad names that would make her feel bad about her. She’s the prettiest girl that I’ve ever met, is what Claude says about sugar now that she has a better complexion and has figures of a Goddess.

                Doing the hit got a lot of people killed and more people involved in things. Younger people started doing the hit, and because of this they started doing drugs. People who needed drugs didn’t play with their money and started stealing money from people so that they could buy drugs. The hit was a way to make poor people transform into a rich person. Life was no longer the same as it used to be with drugs and hit in Harlem.

                According to the autobiography, Claude expresses that whenever men got high they realized that women were the ones who ran everything. I believe this, because all some men want to do is throw away their life. Sometimes I wonder why men can’t be like women. Till this day that question can’t be answered.

Quote

                ‘’ Look, man, it’s like you said; we came the street way together, and you know how that shit is. You know if I don’t kill that mother-fucker, I can’t come out on the street any more with any stuff in my pocket talkin’ about I’m gon deal drugs. Niggers will be laughin’ comin’ up in my collar, and sayin’, give me what you got.’ I mean, if I did that kinda shit. If I let the cat go on livin’, mother-fuckers would be tryin’ to rob me without a gun. That would the end of it all.’’

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 I like the way how Claude says this quote, and I mean the dialect. Claude’s dialect is very strong, and it’s very interesting.  I like the fact that Claude expresses his feelings and says to Danny that hey you I can’t let this junkie get away with stealing my drugs because I’ll get laughed at. I don’t like the way how Claude calls people bad names, because it’s disrespectful. I don’t see why Claude can’t respect the junkie and call him a junkie instead of something else that is very different from whom the person really is. I feel very bad that Claude was robbed of his drugs by a junkie, I mean that’s very sad, but at the same time the junkie had a gun. I thought Claude would have acted more manly to this situation, and stand up to this junkie and tell him that you know what I’m not giving you me drugs, so the only way you’re going to get it is if you really shoot me. I thought that hustler would act hard no matter what. My question that I have is, is Claude scared of being killed, or being shot? Earlier on in the book, it stated that Claude got ran over by a bus, and all sorts of other things that could have gotten him killed. I really wonder, if Claude has been in so many bad situations in his life, where he could have been killed, then why is he scared of death?

MANCHILD IN THE PROMISED LAND, pages read (122-163)

Summary

Claude’s parents kicked him out of their house, because Claude just keeps on missing up, and doing the wrong things. Since Claude was kicked out of his house, he had nowhere else to go. Going to Warwick is the only place that Claude could go, because he didn’t want to live on the streets. Being in Warwick has changed his life. While being in Wiltwyck, Claude use to hangout with his friends, and do the same bad things that he did when he was home in Harlem. Now that Claude is living in Warwick, all he does is read, and he didn’t want to be bothered by anyone that tired to bother him or even talk to him.

            After Claude knew he wasn’t going to stay in Warwick, Claude left, and decided to go back on the street. All of Claude’s friends were gone, and Claude had to go somewhere. Claude started selling pot in order to go somewhere besides Warwick. Not only did Claude sell pot, but Claude changed after coming out of Warwick. Claude started hanging out with his old friend Turk. Turk was the only old friend Claude could hang out with, for the fact that Claude’s old friends were lost in drugs, and were lost in life as well.

            Claude quite his first job and dealt pot. Claude met a new friend from Harlem and his name is Reno. Reno was going to show all kinds of hustling tricks.

            Downtown is where Claude did his hustling. Claude made a whole lot more money from selling pot, thank working a regular job. Even though Claude knew then that cocaine was bad, and that it might even be worse than horse, and once he saw a girl snort some up her nostril he decided to snort some up his nose. Claude found his thing to get high and that was cocaine. Cocaine wasn’t a habit forming drug, so Claude stayed with cocaine. Buying a cap of cocaine was five dollars, which was less than a dollar cap of horse, which Claude will never turn back to again, at least not from the bad experience that he had with it.

            Claude’s mother was crying after she found out that Claude was going to live in a house on Hamilton Terrace in a little nice room that was just for slick people were all hustlers. Claude came home after everyone in a while and gave his parents money, after a while Claude’s parents stopped asking him where he had gotten it from.

Quote

‘’ yeah, man, but that’s not the main thing. The main thing is to stop screamin’ on the area men. You can go and have your rumbles and shit if you want, but you know if you stab anybody and they find out about it, you’re through. The only way you gon make it outta here is to cool it. Didn’t I tell you I wasn’t gon stay up here a year when I came? And now I’m walkin’, right? So it must be somethin’ to it.’’

(Brown, 145)

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            This quote is very ironic to me. I say this because Claude, earlier on in the book was talking about how he didn’t want to get stabbed because he was afraid at the time when he seen his father wound on his neck. I wonder why Claude said that the main thing is to stop screaming. What does going to war and being in a gang have to do with screaming in an area?  I like how Claude said that the only way you’re going to make it out of here is to cool it. To me that sentence says that the only way you’re going to survive is if you don’t put your self in so much trouble and do anything bad where people will want to come after you and hurt you. I believe that it’s about time is Claude should get right and do the right thing and start to set good examples for his friends. I like Claude’s dialect, because it is very cultural and it’s different from what I speak and how I say things. Claude’s dialect is very interesting, and it’s fun to read.

MANCHILD IN THE PROMISED LAND, pages read (80-122)

summary

       Claude is in Wilwyck and he's doing the same bad things he did when he was at his hometown.

      Claude had to go to court with his father. Going to court with his father seemed like his worst thing ever. Claude's father tried to tell him how to act and what to say in court. Claude thought to himself that his father shouldn't be the one telling him what to do, because he's been in and out of court so many times. Claude found it strange going to court with is father, because it was the first time, and he's been going with his mother all the time. Every single time the judge said something to Claude's father, he would get upset because all Claude's father would do is nod his head up and down. ''Kicking him dead in his ass'' is what Claude would do when he got big enough, if he seen his father nod his head at any white person again in his life.
   

        Going back to Wiltwyck is where Claude wanted to be, after spending time at court with his father. Stealing something and getting into alot of trouble is what Claude wanted to do. to me wanting to go back back to Witwyck, and getting into trouble is going to put Claude right back in court, so i don't understand him when he says he wants to go back to Wiltwyck, and get into alot of trouble.

         While Claude is in Wiltwyck, according to the book, Claude an the boys are very bad. Being in Wiltwyck doesn't make sense to me for the fact that the boys in Wiltwyck aren't being taught to do better in their life. Even though the boys that are bad who go to Wiltwyck, and suppose to become good boys by the time they come out, they aren't making any progress, and they are still taking part in the terrible acts just like they used to do when they were home.

       While reading, Claude and the other boys were being taught things by girls from Vassar college. The boys at Wiltwyck were told to treat the girls nice, and they they did. The girls from Vassar college took the boys from Wiltwyvk to have a picnic at their college. The Vassar college had a lot of bikes, and the girls from Vassar college told them that they could could ride them, but to make sure that they put them back where they found them. I found that to very stupid, because if you know that the boys from Wiltwyck are bad, then why would you give them consent to ride bikes that don't even belong to the girls. Some boys went back to Wiltwyck  with broken parts  from bikes that they were permitted to ride.

        When Claude came back from Wiltwyck on a visit, he acted the same. Claude wanted to act hipped. Wiltwyck destroyed his relationship with friends that he had before he went off to Wiltwyck. Claude didn't know who people were after coming back from Wiltwyck. Claude only wanted to hang out with his new friends from Wiltwyck. The only time Claude would even see his old friends, such as Tito, and Turk, is when he needed them, other wise Claude had no clue to where his old friends were.
  

  Quote
   
        '' If a bitch ever tells you she's only got a penny to buy the baby some milk, take it. You take it, 'cause she's gon  git some more. Bitches can always git some money.''
                                       (Brown, 109)

Reaction

       At this time in the story Claude was listening to one of his new friends named  Johnny D, that he met when he came back from Wiltwyck. I really want to say that after reading this quote, Johnny D isn't lying, he is so true. what i don't like is the fact that he's calling women the B word, because it is very disrespectful, but it came out of Johnny D's mouth and not mine, because i know i won't ever, ever in my life for as long as i  live call a women that rude name, because it's not right. I'm sure that if anyone ever called Johnny D that name he would beat them up. The reason why i say this quote is so true is because i had experience before with that same situation. Women have money, and you know that they are going to get more even if they tell you that it's their last penny. Back in the old times, may be when there was segregation, women always had an education, and boys would be the one with no sense of education, and because of that men didn't make that much money. people may have other opinions on this quote, but that's how i feel. I like the dialect that's in this quote, because you know that the person who said this quote is from down south, and since i wasn't born in down south i like to get a feel for the dialect,because mines is boring,i would like to speck something else then just plan old english, really.
        

MANCHILD IN THE PROMISED LAND, pages read (40-80)

summary

               Claude just came back from a trip to the south. Claude is thinking about his dad and wonders if his dad misses him. claude already knows that his father doesn't miss him. Claude has a bad relationship with his father. Every time Claude's father tried to talk to him, Claude would bullshit him, as he says, which means that he would look serious as if his father was saying something real smart. Claude's father pounding on him instead of talking to him because he was always stumbling over his words and repeated himself. If i was in that situation where my father couldn't talk to me and all he did was pound on me, i would have a bad relationship with my father too. Claude is always saying that he can't wait until he's big enough to kick his fathers ass, and wondering if his father would talk to him then. If Claude doesn't like his father pounding on him then he should say something to him, and let his father know that i don't like what you are doing to me, and i rather you talk to me. It's crazy  that you should go through that every time your father wanted to talk to you, that's a bad thing to live with, because if Claude has children, there is a high chance that he would do the same thing, and it doesn't have to be because he stumbles over his words, or repeats himself so many time that he just gets tired of it and has to do something else to get out what he has to say.

               After Claude's long trip in the south, Claude went back to school. Claude finds the most prettiest girl ever, and her name is Grace. Before Claude met Grace, he use to chase other girls home, and beat them up. How could a boy ever do that to a girl. The thing is, he beat up so many girls and they never complained. Claude chased Grace home one day, but he never put his hands on her. A girl name Rosalind asked Claude how come he didn't chase her, and Claude told her that she wasn't as pretty as Grace. That's bad thing to tell a girl, because he probably made Rosalind feel bad. Even though Grace had braces, Claude didn't care, he still liked her, and believed that she was the one, the one girl who he really liked. To Claude, Grace was the only person that he couldn't billshit. Claude loved to play with her and he loved to see her face all day long. Grace's name was the name that made Claude happy, sometimes Claude said that Grace's  name made him happier than his mother.
    
             At the age of eleven, Claude had his first birthday party. Claude and his friends went into a jewish club and stole money from  the cash register. They also stole food from the jewish club. When Claude and his friends left the club, they had three shopping bags full of champagne for his birthday party. Old people even showed up at Claude's birthday party. Having old people show up to you're birthday party is very wierd. Having old people at you birthday party is sad, because then it would feel as if you have chaperones all over your party. Having chaperones at a teenagers party is like goig to school with your parents. you can't act how you act without your parents around, and that's normal for every teenager. It's funny because later on in the story Claude forgot all about Grace, and now likes another girl, that seemed ugly to him before his birthday party.

          Wiltwyck is where Claude was sent in order for him to become a good boy. The first night that Claude spent there, he had a bad dream. All Claude can think about is going home. Claude lives with a whole bunch of other boys a house in Wiltwyck. In the house, K.B., Claude's partner comes in the room one night and shows Claude that he jerked off. After that digusting act took place, every boy wants to jerk off. That is just sad, i know that they are young men, and they are going up, but that is just crazy. If i knew that, that nasty act was going to happen, i would of skipped over that page, but i didn't know so i read it.

      Quote
   

          '' When he said he was Mr. Upshur, i knew he couldn't help me. He was colored. What could he do for anybody''
                                 (Brown, 75)
      Reaction


            When i read this quote, it stung my heart. This quote put me in a postion where, when i finished reading it i had to pause and just think. While i was thinking, i thought about the meaning, the full concept of what this quote meant. This quote really touched me. I sad wow, while i was thinking about this quote. This quote made me think about what people might say about me when i have a job. I thought would people think the same way of me. I couldn't beleive this quote when i heard it, because i was asking how could Claude say something like this? I know Claude is black, and i don't understand how he could say something like this ever in his life. I just didn't expect this to be said. This quote makes me very up set, and i'm mad that i ended reading this. Not to be racist in any form of way, but if i was white i would still have the same opinion, becuase that's crazy. Why would anyone ever think or say something like that. After reading this quote, i was so mad at Claude for saying that, because it wasn'y nice. I believe that Claude was being racist of his own kind. That's crazy.
 

MANCHILD IN THE PROMISED LAND, pages read (1-41)

                SUMMARY

                                The protagonist in the story of Manchild In The Promised Land is a thirteen year old boy. The thirteen year old boy was hanging out with his bad friends and got shot. The protagonist thought that he was going to die from a bullet that hit him right in one of his legs. The protagonist ran into a fish-and-chips joint, and the owner of the joint said ‘’ git outta here, kid. I ain’t got no time to play’’ (Brown, 9), and pushed him down on to the ground.  After hours the protagonist was sent to the hospital, where he had so many bad dreams. After eleven day, the thirteen year old was released from the hospital and went to a convalescent home in Valhalla. About after three years after living in Valhalla, an activity  director told him that he had to see a judge. The judge sent him to an all boy’s school, hoping that he would be a better boy when he came out. The protagonist is a very bad boy. The teenager didn’t want to go to an all boy’s school, so one day the protagonist woke up screaming, and banging on the wall for two days, the third day he was sent to Bellevue for observation. By the time the judge was ready to send the teenager to Warwick , they had a full house, so the judge sent him home for two weeks. The protagonist is so bad, and still is alive. The protagonist was hit by a car, hit by a bus, and set a house afire. In the following pages the protagonist talks about things in his life that may have been new and some thing  that weren’t. One thing that wasn’t new was that the protagonist went out to stores and rob the store of all the money that it had. One thing that wasn’t new is that the protagonist went to church for the first time, and when everyone else was putting in money that they had, the protagonist didn’t put in the only dime that he had, which wasn’t a surprise to his siblings.  The protagonist experiences life as he hangs out with his friends. The thirteen year old boy’s aunt came to Harlem from the south to visit them. After the aunt and the mother of the thirteen year old talked, about how bad the protagonist is, the mother tells the protagonist is going to spend time with his aunt in the south.

                QUOTE

                                 ‘’ yeah, sumpin is sho wrong with that boy, but I don’ think he’s crazy or nothin’ like that, ‘cause he got a whole lotta sense when it comes to gittin’ in trouble. And when I stop to think about it, I don’t believe nobody worked no roots on him, ‘cause he got too much devil in him to be tricked by them root workers. But what coulda happen is that he went someplace and sassed some old person, and that old person put the bad mouth on him. Yeah, more’n likely that’s what happened to him, ‘cause he always sassing old people. I beat him and keep tellin’ him not to talk back to people with gray hair, but that little devilish nigger got a head on him like rock. Lord, I don’t know what to do with that boy. I just hope pimp don’t never git that bad.’’ (Brown, 9)

                REACTION

                I like this quote, because it tells you that this child is so bad, that even the child’s mother doesn’t even know what to do with him. Usually from my perspective, I noticed that bad kids don’t have a lot of sense, and that’s the reason for their behavior. This quote proved me wrong, allowing me to see that my stereotype is wrong, and that just because a child is bad, they don’t have to be stupid, and that they could have sense. I surprised just like the mother when she said that she couldn’t believe that no one has worked roots on him yet. At first when I read this quote to myself I asked myself what does roots mean in this quote? I read the quote again to myself and realized that it meant talked back, or even smacked him. I was always told that I shouldn’t talk back, or act bad towards seasoned people, and I’m surprise no one smacked the protagonist, because he is so bad. Pimp is the brother of the thirteen year old boy. I liked how the mother said that she hopes pimp wouldn’t get that bad, because I’m hoping the same thing to for him.