Nick+G

Chapter 2

//Walter now lives in harlem. It's the "first place he calls home." Before there were credit cards there was an account that you called a "tab" that you could put items on that you didn't need or want or even couldn't pay for. Florence gets him one so he can "never go hungry, ever." And, so everyone thinks he get free chocolate. he understands how crule his sisters really are//.

Chapter 3.

In "//Welcome to 1st Grade!//" Walter goes to meet Ms. Dworkin. She believes he can read at second grade level but can't speak like one, sadly he thinks differently. Next, he figures out the diffence of races... hard way. Kids are insulting him with racial slurs he barely understands. For example, "//Dabba Dabba Dabba Dabba//" then a punch to the face and the good old "Is he dead?" Next comes Mrs. Flynn, the princeipal who makes him write "I will not punch people in the public school" 500 times. When he moves Mama thinks that Walter she be taught Mrs Doddsen. Chapter 4 In "Arithmatic Summer" Viola has a baby named Frank with Frank. Frank notices Walter has a problem with arithmatic and he has walter do 100 arithmatic questions. Any single "Uh" means 100 more. Walter gets in a fight with bunny. Bunny wins and Walter goes home and his stomach and eye is bleeding. He lies to the doctor(!) and says he fell and has internal bleeding.

Chapter 5

In "Bad boy" Walter goes to a new school. He meets Mrs. Conway- The extremely "//Hippy//" teacher- who gets him in trouble everyday. When John Brown laughs at Walter he throws a punch, slaps him, or throws a book across the room. When Mrs. Conway finally cracks he sits in the back of the room and reads. When he reads a norweigan folk book he figures out he actually likes reading

Chapter 6

In "Meeting Mr. Lasher" Walter goes to Junior High. He meet's Mr. Lasher- A World War II veteran- and he tells him "do you know why your in my class?" And he tells him "it's because you get in fights with your teachers!" Walter makes 2 misshaps in this chapter that came to my interest. He first gets cuaghts on a cab. He comes to have scraps bruises and swollen knees. Get this, he lies (again) to Herbert "M-mama beat me with a-a-a stick." and that was his mistake. His father ensures florence doesn't touch him. Next, who would have thought,Next He jumps off the church roof, and later finds out he suffers minor fractures in his legs.

Chapter 7

In "I am not the center of the universe" Herbert Dean gets depressed over Uncle Lee's death. He doesn't seem to notice Walter as much as much as before. When Uncle Lee dies Walter and the Deans go to the house to see their aunt, who is crying inside the mini-sized apartment. Then Walter starts "Advanced Classes" and is probably the tallest kid in his class.

Chapter 8

In "A writer observes" __Walter__ sits on rooftops and __observes__ the city of harlem from up above. He se es many things. He's not just observing what he sees, he observes the sounds he hears the skills others do and the people he mets every day. He now not only understands the difference in races but realizes the racist people from the "alright" people. Sadly, "Eddie" is one of those Racist people. When Eric invites him for a party Eddie so he can't com become because he isn't white. Eventhough he gave up fighting, he wants to punch him so hard in the face.

Personal Observation

When I went outside I felt and heard things, but it was dark so I didn't see much. I felt the light breeze of October nights. I heard the light rustle of three evergreen trees in the cool breeze. Because I just read Chapter 9 so I could only think think of poetry, high school, chewing tabaco and spitballs. All I could see was the planet of saturn as it shined in the sky. I heard rustleing in the bushes and smelled skunks so I ran for my life inside and noticed it neared 8:00 and I went out at 7:47 so I had close to perfect timing.

Chapter 10

1. Walter starts High School, and he hates it because his riseing shyness is making him scared to speak to people. 2. Herberts father becomes legally blind and takes Walter's room. Sadly he does things strangely and insults mamas cooking. 3. The Deans struggle to make ends meet. But because they don't spend to much money during Herb's depression they pay loans faster than expected. 4. Eric and Walter are still friends 5. Walter gets scared because he doesn't know if he'll get excepted in a community if the white people take all the good values.

Chapter 11

In "Garment Center" Walter has trouble with mama and school. Walter is delibratly skipping school and writing fake notes and coping mama's singnature. Mama is drinkin and bettin more often and loses all Walter's work money (of which he would've used to get that typewriter he has wanted for a while) on the #'s. His father buys him an old fasioned one which he offically hates.

Chapter 12

In "God and Dylan Thomas" Walter stop going to school again. Walter helps this boy named Frank. He gets in a fight anmd feels happy to be in one again. He decides the boy is under stress and or trama because he has one gray streak in his hair.

Chapter 13

In "Marks on a Paper" Walter gets good grades on reading and writing but everything else is a blur or makes him confused. His mother discovers that he has been skipping. He needs to be watced by city agents.

Chapter 14

In "the Stranger" Walter Finally learns about Frank. I learned 2 striking facts as well. One was that Frank has killed 4 people. 3 were whites on the bus. The story behind these killings is that his mother and he had been on a bus together. She had been drinking and yelling. The driver say to get off. She says no and he kicks her off, or at least tries to. Frank can't remember any more until he wakes in a hospital and has figured he killed 3 people, STABBED them. The next is he killed another black when they got into an argument. Walter an Frank have benn "asked" to deliver a package to a man for 10$. Walter tries to make the decision if he should live with Frank.

Chapter 15 In "Dr. Holiday" Walter has to go a pcychiatrist. She asks him many questions that he never has thought about. He thinks a lot about fitting in, wheather it's being in society, or not. He Just can't seem to figure out how to get into this same society he is deliberatly is moving away from. Walter decides that being in this world, that requires reading to grow yet, he is accepted to. He is too neverous to tell mama the truth.

Chapter 16

In "Being Black" Walter figures out TWENTY different ways to answer Dr. Holiday's question. First he thinks about the type of job he might not only want, but would be accepted to. Then he decides of how much differtent he is from society. After that, he wonders, what are the meanings of all the words that he can't see have any true importance to be said. Then, he says what being male means to him. But, he finally answers "Of couse, I like being black."

Chapter 18

In "Sweet Sixteen" Walter makes lots of hard decisions. He tries to stay away from school still. He never tells mama he wasn't at the graduation ceremonies. Frank gets jumped and beaten. Walter decides the military is his way to go. He gets the best score Sarge has ever seen. He never tells mama or Herb that he is joining the army and mama cries, a lot.

Chapter 19 In "The Typist" Walter writes about a new focus, his adulthood. He writes about how the army went, how he lives now and now he gets a job. He meets different writers and shares his story. He decides to go to his mothers house and she asks what he does. He says he is a writer, and she says "You wrote stories as a boy." He ends his story with not to shabby for a bad boy.