Assignment #6 shadows blog

I really did enjoy this book, for the fact that there are a lot of characteristics that I could relate to in some of the characters; Joey’s insecurities, Williams explosive temper, Rachel’s love for music. In the novel, I think Chacon portrayed a typical lower class family very well. No, not all lower income families are as dysfunctional as the Molina’s. But I think he does show that it is more common then not. The Molina’s for their sake seem to be a typical family just trying to get ahead in life and make the best with what they have.

While I read through this novel, every time William would come into the story I would get pissed off. I think the reason I reacted this way is because I had people in my life that shared some similar characteristic as William. The degrading, cursing, yelling wasn’t pointed towards me, but it was pointed to people I did care about and it pissed me off the same way it would while I was reading Chacon’s novel. It also opened my eyes a little bit on how frustrated I get with my two boys’. I wouldn’t ever be as aggressive as William is with his boys; I love and respect my kids to much to treat them like William treated his kids.

Rachel tried to be a good mother, aside from the lack of affection she seemed to believe that the boys would do the right thing. I have to commend mothers out there who can relate to Rachel situation and stay in a relationship just for the kids. Although people on the outside can say “Why do women stay with men like that? I would have left him along time ago.” Even though she did make a lot of threats to William about leaving him if he laid a hand on the boys again, Rachel seemed to do what she had done when she was growing up, stick with the family. Whether they were all miserable or they were ecstatic, they were “a family” and she would fight to the bitter end to keep it that way. Until the end of the novel when she finally has had enough and she feels like her kids are old enough to handle being in a broken home.

At first Joey seemed to be a young boy with a pretty good imagination. But once the three Joeys came in and he was communicating with them, I thought this boy has some major issues or he was a loon. As the book continued I saw how Joey used acting to escape reality and change into a different person. He also used acting as an escape from the realities of his father’s abuse and he also dealt with his anger by acting like a different person. I was not surprised by the ending of the book. I felt that Joey would not make the right decisions and turn out like his father. I wanted to know more about what happen to everyone. It left a lot of questions for me as to what happen to all of the characters. I think that the author did this on purpose to make the reader use their imagination to make their own conclusion.