Assignment #6 - & The Shadows Took Him In
First of all, I have to say that I really enjoyed reading this novel. It was very interesting and I could not seem to put it down. In fact, I read Part I in one day and Part II in another. I really don’t ever read books that fast and I usually stop reading them in between because I cannot get into them, but this one was easy to get into. This book helped me to understand something I have never seen or personally experienced before, a Chicano lifestyle.
What shocked me the most about this novel was the way William treated his family. He always seemed to be yelling and cussing at them, beating on them, calling them stupid or not paying any attention to them at all. I always knew that sort of thing happened but never seen it first hand, so when reading it, I visualized it happening. I have to admit too, it made me mad.
I learned two really important things while reading this novel that I will probably carry with me the rest of my life. The first thing is, that we all have the choice to choose who we become. We are all going to have people at our backs telling us who to be and how to live but in the end the decision always belongs to us. We all may get sidetracked or lie about who were are out of fear in the process but eventually we can find who we are and embrace it. That is the same thing that Joey did. He never realized how much he was like his father until his mother told him what Vero had wrote her in the letter. She said that Joey was like the shadow of William when he was drunk on his and Rachel’s wedding night and William’s shadow left him and took over Joey. Joey changed in the end, realizing how much he was like his father and how much he didn’t want to be that way.
The second thing I learned may be personally learned and I may have been the only one that felt this way. I realized in reading this novel that there are people out there that struggle everyday to make it. They constantly live a life where they are scared or angry or badly treated. I on the other hand experience a bad day here in there as a lot of other people do and complain and think that my life could be over. I always knew that there are people out there who have way more complicated lives than I do but by reading this novel I got to experience almost living in another family and seeing the hell that they went through. It was like experiencing it firsthand. For instance, when William beat the dog and killed the dear, or yelled and screamed at everyone in the family. Or the fact that Rachel decided to stay with William until she got enough money to get back on her feet. In my family, when my parents separated, my mom left instantly. She knew she didn’t need a man to stay on her own to feet. She could make it on her own.
Basically, this novel opened up my eyes to many different things. I am glad that we had to read this particular novel.
What shocked me the most about this novel was the way William treated his family. He always seemed to be yelling and cussing at them, beating on them, calling them stupid or not paying any attention to them at all. I always knew that sort of thing happened but never seen it first hand, so when reading it, I visualized it happening. I have to admit too, it made me mad.
I learned two really important things while reading this novel that I will probably carry with me the rest of my life. The first thing is, that we all have the choice to choose who we become. We are all going to have people at our backs telling us who to be and how to live but in the end the decision always belongs to us. We all may get sidetracked or lie about who were are out of fear in the process but eventually we can find who we are and embrace it. That is the same thing that Joey did. He never realized how much he was like his father until his mother told him what Vero had wrote her in the letter. She said that Joey was like the shadow of William when he was drunk on his and Rachel’s wedding night and William’s shadow left him and took over Joey. Joey changed in the end, realizing how much he was like his father and how much he didn’t want to be that way.
The second thing I learned may be personally learned and I may have been the only one that felt this way. I realized in reading this novel that there are people out there that struggle everyday to make it. They constantly live a life where they are scared or angry or badly treated. I on the other hand experience a bad day here in there as a lot of other people do and complain and think that my life could be over. I always knew that there are people out there who have way more complicated lives than I do but by reading this novel I got to experience almost living in another family and seeing the hell that they went through. It was like experiencing it firsthand. For instance, when William beat the dog and killed the dear, or yelled and screamed at everyone in the family. Or the fact that Rachel decided to stay with William until she got enough money to get back on her feet. In my family, when my parents separated, my mom left instantly. She knew she didn’t need a man to stay on her own to feet. She could make it on her own.
Basically, this novel opened up my eyes to many different things. I am glad that we had to read this particular novel.
posted by snunnold at 8:21 PM
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