In the story bad boy by Walter Dean Myers, Walter is a young African American boy growing up in Harlem New York. Walter faces many challenges not only with growing up with a dysfunctional family but, dealing with the fact that African Americans are not yet equal. Walter has lots of questions about life and the answers don’t come so easily for him as they would for you or me. In the book we hear how Walter is basically finding his way through life blind folded and not sure which way is right for him. His only escape from the craziness of life is writing. Walter loves to write and read, it’s his only way to relax and find peace. Walter dreams of being a writer but, sadly his dream is not a normal realty in his word. Will Walter pave a new path for himself or, be sucked in to the temptations of being normal. …show more content…
He didn’t have the most normal life growing up, he didn’t do very well in school and was always getting in to trouble. He just could not find his grove and when he thinks he finally finds it something happens at home and just like that it’s gone. One disaster after another Walter is put in a tight spot. Things never go his way. Just when Walter sets his heart on being a poet and saves up enough money to by his own typewriter, he learns his mother lost all the money gambling. In Walters mind he puts that dream in the back of his mind with all the other failed dreams. In the stash is being a basketball player and an author for short stories. Even when Walter writes an amazing piece of writing at school and brings it home to show mother and father only mother says good job. This makes him feel that he is not worthy of fathers approval. Little does Walter know that his father cannot read. Walter feels that he will never find his future and when trying to do so only failing and going backwards on his plan to move
In the play Walter Lee Younger Junior is a 35-year protagonist who can't provide or stand up to be the man to his family. Walter Lee Younger Junior suffered so hard and he was tired of they way him and his family were living in poverty and he's trying to take away poverty from his family and try to figure out a new, and better ways to secure its economic prosperity. Walter is going insane due to all
Inequality has been present since the beginning of civilization. Education has played into this since schooling began; only boys were allowed to be educated while the girls would stay at home. Minorities, such as blacks, Latinos, etc. were excluded from receiving an education as well. Although education has progressed since then, it is seen in Ann Ferguson’s Bad Boys, Conley’s Education and Kozol’s Still Separate, Still Unequal that inequality within punishment, funding/resources and tracking, especially amongst minorities, is still present and even promoted in the modern education system.
Walter Lee is stubborn, very ambitious, and filled with pride at the beginning of the story. He strives for success with the money “Mama,” also known as Lena got from the life insurance from her husband who recently passed away. Walter was so selfish all he wanted was to provide a better life for he and his family because he was not satisfied with their current standards of living. He wants more and wishes to become rich because he believes he never had enough growing up, but at the same time he wants to provide money and societal respect for his family. He put his trust with the money into a person who betrayed him and he ended up losing it all including his sisters schooling money. After this scene in the play Walter was at his lowest point,
Walter Dean Myers’ memoir Bad Boy is about how he traveled back to his past. This book that he wrote is, funny, and unforgettable. As a boy, Myers had a quick-temper, was physically strong, and was always ready for a fight. He also read voraciously, as he would check out books from the library and carry them home, hidden in brown paper bags in order to avoid other boys' teasing. He aspired to be a writer.
The Younger family has not been able to experience the finer things in life, and Walter, being the authoritative male figure, feels he is at fault knows that a change is needed. Walter’s solution is to use his father’s life insurance money to fund the acquiring of a liquor license. The women of the household are always ordering around Walter. It’s Ruth, Mama, or Beneatha telling him how to run things, and when he gets a chance to take the initiative by using the money to invest in his liquor license, his friend betrays him, and his dreams are crushed.
In the article “The Terrible Boy” written by Tom Junod Jonathan Miller was one of the world’s most terrible boys. In America’s eyes a terrible boy is cruel, hostile and merciless. In this article, Jonathan was painted by these descriptions. However, this wasn’t always the case. He wasn’t terrible when he moved to Georgia he just wanted to get kicked out of school, so he did whatever it took. Though in highschool he took on the description of a terrible boy. It all started on the bus when Jonathan threw a open ketchup packet at his rival Joshua Belluardo. They got off the bus and instead of a fight it was a crime scene.Jonathan murdered Joshua. Sadly, though Jonathan was a terrible he should have been shown mercy.
In the book, Bad Boys, Ann Arnett Ferguson goes on a three-year journey through Rosa Parks Elementary School to observe and research why it is that mostly black males are ending up in jail and are unsalvageable from such a young age. She interviews and observes daily interactions with the eleven and twelve year old students that have been labeled “at risk” by their teachers and peers. She wants to research how it is being in school when all of the educators have already labeled them as “unsalvagable, at risk, and bound for jail”. These kids pretty much act in the way that their teachers treat them. They get into trouble every single day and most of the times these boys provoke it because
Walter risked everything that he had, and even that of others, but his dreams were still ruined. This shows that no matter what you think can help make your dreams come true, the chances that they actually do is slim. Not only did Walter’s dreams essentially destroy his entire life’s savings, but they also put him in a state of denial. “‘You mean he went by himself. You mean he went off to Springfield by himself-to take care of getting the license…”
As Walter's dreams become bigger and bigger, he seems to neglect the 'smaller' things such as his family. "Here I am a giant surrounded by ants! Ants who can't even understand what the giant is
Since the cancer comes at an already stressful time, Walter has an amplified midlife crisis. He is forced to reflect on his life, which he sees at best as a mixed bag. On one hand, he is an educated man forced to take a second
he wants a new life, a better one that he doesn't have but Mama believes it's just another dream said “Yes, a fine man – just couldn’t never catch up with his dreams, that’s all. ( Mama, 1.1.208) Big Walter was never able to attain his dream. He still had hopes, though, that his children would have a chance to see theirs come true. This makes it even sadder when, both Beneatha's dreams of medical school and Walter's dreams of being a business owner are jeopardized and possibly destroyed by Walter's foolish business dealings with the Willy
Showing his frustration to his mother, Walter does not feel like he will ever acquire his dream because he feels like he never got the chance or opportunity to. The inability of not able to provide a better life for his household is causing him to stress, act out of character and clouding his decision making. With nowhere else to turn he thought he could use his father’s life insurance money to invest into a liquor store which turned into a scam. Walter feeling trapped from making advancements in life, he makes a huge mistake and learns from this error. In the play Walter is talking to mother describing his anger,
Walter has long dreamed of making his family’s condition better, of giving them wealth that his low-paying job is unable to do. Nature appears to be against Walter and his family, for they are living in a poorly maintained tenement apartment while surrounded with racism. Walter understands this
Another quote from an outside source that helps is, “Walter’s failures in life and his successes in dreams are closely connected with gender roles.
Walter struggles in understanding who he needs to be for his family. He wants to take his place as the patriarch of the family, but he feels incapable of providing them with the lifestyle they deserve. This concern is always at the forefront of his mind, and it affects his attitude and outlook. The anxiety that Walter is dealing with creates confrontation with his sister. He fears that her dream will interfere with his own agenda of making a better life for his family. The severity of the tension becomes more and more apparent with Walter’s unwise investment. Walter is dealing with the burden that he has let his family down, while Beneatha is flabbergasted by the reality that her future has been snatched away from her, and she had no control over it. While reflecting on the situation, Beneatha remarks, “ I sound like a human who just had her future taken right out of my hands! While I was sleeping….things were happening in this world that directly concerned me and nobody consulted me—they just went out and did things—and changed my life” (Hansberry 3.15). Walter and Beneatha’s individual issues with the outcome of the situation cause them to find fault with one another during a time when their family needs to pull together to get through such a financial hardship. Walter is in an emotional pit; his turning to alcohol and music instead of his family for support expands the