Summary

In the last section of the novel Toby finally seems to get what he has always wanted. He gets in to a boarding school that he has been scouting for a while which means leaving Dwight's abusive behavior, his mother moves from Dwight as well everything seems well. Until he cant live up to his false behavior and grades he sent to the boarding school, he acts out and he is eventually kicked out without graduating. His end result in life is fighting in the Vietnam war, not succeeding in his many life goals.

- Moses Allred

Word Watcher

scrutiny- a searching examination or investigation; minute inquiry.

skittish- fickle; uncertain.

herringbone- a pattern consisting of adjoining vertical rows of slanting lines, any two contiguous lines forming either a V or an inverted V, used in masonry, textiles, embroidery, etc.

pompadour- an arrangement of a man's hair in which it is brushed up high from the forehead.

agleam- gleaming; bright; radiant: a city agleam with lights.

admonition- counsel, advice, or caution.

musingly- absorbed in thought; meditative.

debauchery- excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures; intemperance.

- Moses Allred

Final Post- Discussion Director

At the end of reading 'This Boy's Life," I realized that Jack made no personal growth as a person. It was dissapointing because he seemed like a person that follows his dreams and tries to reach his goals, but in reality, he thinks it's just going to HAPPEN. He doesn't work hard to try to get to them, so at the end he's the same person he was in the beginning-wishing he could be someone else.

-Maggie Todaro

Illustration

Jack fails out of school at Hill and ends up joining the army and serving in the Vietnam War. Even though he failed yet again, Jack can only savor the future as the chance for a new life and endless possibility.

- Maggie Todaro

Excerpt

"When we are green, still half-created, we believe that our dreams are rights…and that falling and dying are for quitters. We live on the innocent and monstrous assurance that we…have a special arrangement whereby we will be allowed to stay green forever"

In Part Seven, Chapter 1, the author reflects on how great he felt the night he and Chuck drove back from Seattle. "Green" represents youth and innocence, and in the state of "greenness" that he talks about, Jack feels entitled to the future he wants for himself. That future is only in Jack's imagination, so he forgets about reality and doesn't give any consideration to how he actually is going to go about achieving his goals.

-Maggie Todaro

Summary

Toby has lived in Seattle for sometime where he got into a bad pattern of stealing and various other offenses. Toby's mother soon after met a man named Dwight, eventually they got married and his life in Seattle was basically forgotten. He began another chapter in his life in Chinook, a small town outside of Seattle. His offenses committed in Seattle began to follow him he could not help but steal. Dwight lacks a decent amount of respect for Toby; he contemplates leaving all of the time. He has made several attempts to flee his current situation, he dreams to go to Alaska.

-Moses Allred

Word Watch

These are some words I didn't know while reading:

Apoplectic- intense enough to threaten or cause apoplexy.
Ululating- to utter howling sounds, as in shrill, wordless lamentation; wail.
Enumerated- to ascertain the number of; count.
Epitaph- a brief poem or other writing in praise of a deceased person.
Pensive- expressing or revealing thoughtfulness, usually marked by some sadness: a pensive
adagio.
Incredulity- the quality or state of being incredulous; inability or unwillingness to believe.

-Moses Allred

Discussion Starter

I noticed that Jack is looking for the opportunity to recreate himself, something he does in his fantasies throughout the book. Away from the people who have judged him, Jack hopes that he can prove himself to be different than the boy he was in Seattle, running with a dangerous crowd and wreaking havoc with the police and people at school. Jack believes "no obstacle to miraculous change but the incredulity of others," and this belief that he can be somebody different both scares and pushes Jack to do better.

Do you think by the end of the book Jack will change his ways and be the person he wants to become, despite what the world has set for him?

- Maggie Todaro

Illumination

"I was subject to fits of feeling myself unworthy…. It didn't take much to bring this sensation to life, along with the certainty that everybody but my mother saw through me and did not like what they saw."

This quote from the book explains Jack's feelings of guilt in Part One, Chapter 2. Throughout Jack's childhood, he is consistently having feelings of unworthiness. He is convinced that he is guilty for things he does not have control over, like being abandonded by his father and his mother's tendancy to be involved with abusive men.

- Maggie Todaro

Connection

The reader gains vital insight into the relationship between Jack and his mother at the close of Chapter 2. When Rosemary returns, crying, from her date with Gil, Jack immediately notices his mother's pain tries to soothe it by rocking her in his arms. In this situation, Jack plays the parent to his own mother, and is forced to use more maturity than is required of a young boy. This shows that Jack and his mother depend on one another. Jack also notices that his mother's need for him makes him feel "capable." This feeling makes Jack feel like he's doing something good, and that his being holds a purpose.
This part of the book tells you somthing about Rosemary. In her state of weakness, she is submissive to Jack, just as she has been submissive to Gil, Roy, and Jack's father. She seems to have a submission to men, a trait that she probably acquired from her childhood, when her father used to beat her.

-Maggie Todaro

Illustration

On the run from an abusive boyfriend, Wolff and his mother got off a bus in the Seattle area, and tried to make a new life in western Washington. This image of a Concrete, Washington welcoming sign reminded me of the book. I think that maybe when arriving, Wolff and his mother feel welcomed to the idea of a new life in this new place.

How do you think they feel when they first arrive in Washington? Scared/excited/nervous?

- Maggie Todaro

Discussion Topic

What do you think about Jack's self-control and how he feels about himself?
Comment with what YOU think:

To me, it seems like he doesn't think he is capable of doing anything. Jack also clearly has no control over himself, and this lack of self-control is exactly what scares Jack most of all about the rifle he gets. When he killed the squirrel, Jack he discovered a part of himself that has potential to harm others. Throughout the book, i've noticed that there are many instances in which Jack's thoughts conflict with his behavior, and these instances are typically followed by guilt, an apolegetic feeling and self-examination.


- Maggie Todaro

Word Watcher

I was completely unfamiliar with these words, They seemed almost foreign to me. I think that i did not recognize these because of the time period (1950's).

Taciturn- temperamentally disinclined to talk.
penance- an act of self-abasement, mortification, or devotion performed to show sorrow or repentance for sin.
sepulchral- a receptacle for religious relics especially in an altar.
strident- characterized by harsh, insistent, and discordant sound.
Chinook- a member of an American Indian people of the north shore of the Columbia River at its mouth.
rhododendron- any of a genus (Rhododendron) of widely cultivated shrubs.

- Moses Allred

Summary

Summary

Of what I have read so far I recieved a great amount of information about where the story is going. In the story the main character Toby Wolf is a child of divorce, he lives with his mother who moves him in many different residendes. The story is baised around the effects, and what it causes him to do. this story takes place during the 1950's this has a great deal with the way the character thinks, He has so far had an almost violent streak, a obsession with weapons.


- Moses Allred

Roles

Maggie - Discussion Director
Lefki - Illustrator
James - Connector
Michael - Illuminator
Moses - Word Watcher/ Summarizer



Reading Pace: 25 pages per night

Due Dates:

Sunday 10/11
-Moses: Summary
-Lefki: Illustration

Tuesday 10/13
-James: Connection
-Michael: Illumination
-Maggie: Discussion Starter

Thursday 10/15
-Moses: Word Watch

Saturday 10/17
-Lefki: Illustration
-James: Connection
-Michael - Illumination

Tuesday 10/20
-Maggie: Discussion Starter
-Moses: Summary/ Word Watch
-James: Connection
-Michael: Illumination
-Lefki: Illustration

Saturday 10/24
-Maggie: Discussion Starter
-Moses: Summary/ Word Watch
-James: Connection
-Michael: Illumination
-Lefki: Illustration

Tuesday 10/27 (FINAL)
-Maggie: Discussion Starter
-Moses: Summary/ Word Watch
-James: Connection
-Michael: Illumination
-Lefki: Illustration