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Analysis: Season Four Of The Wire

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In season four of the Wire, we are introduced to four thirteen-year-olds: Namond Brice, Dukie, Randy, and Michael. Of the four central boys, we are introduced to in Season Four of The Wire, I find Namond Brice to be the most intriguing. Unlike the three other boys, due to his imprisoned fathers prior gang affiliation and loyalty, he has the illegally obtained financial resources, which make his involvement in gangs less motivated by financial reasons, than the other boys. Moreover, despite the resources at his mother’s disposal, both she and his father seem to be pushing Namond into a being involved in the gangs, and his mother even tells Namond’s father during a prison visit that he is not going to work (being a runner). Additionally, …show more content…

These ‘mentors” include: Bubbles who is the man who sells items from his shopping cart, Cutty, who runs the gym, the drug dealers, Namond’s incarcerated father, Namond’s mother, some of the police, and the teachers. There are multiple messages that these boys get from these “mentors”, few of them positive. In terms of Cutty, he seems to be trying to show the life outside of the gangs through boxing. However, I think that Cutty’s attitude and towards women, not allowing them to be taught in his gym, and his constant flirting with the women who surround him, send the boys the message that women are dispensable. Also, Cutty’s statement that he does not teach women, because they are real traditional here reinstates the common belief in the streets that to be a man you must be powerful, know hot to fight, and be strong, and that women should stick to more traditional roles. As strange as it sounds, I find Bubbles to be one of the few adults who seem to be sending the best message. While the fact that Bubbles does drugs, he tries to help the young man with him improve himself and even helps him enroll in school. Additionally, when he finds out that he is cutting school, he tells him that school is his job and that he needs to go, a statement that I have heard many times from my parents. Moreover, he tries to steer this young man away from life on the streets, despite his drug addiction and even tries to hide his drug use from the young

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