Creative Writing: Barba's Rape

The narrator of this story had thought that his brother Sonny was safe. Or at least, that was what he had made himself believe. "I told myself that Sonny was wild, but he wasn't crazy. And he'd always been a good boy, he hadn't ever turned hard or evil or disrespectful, the way kids can, so quick, so quick, especially in Harlem. I didn't want to believe that I'd ever see my brother going down, coming to nothing, all that light in his face gone out, in the condition

As soon as she is seated, she pushes of with her hands and slides down.

Once Sonny has moved towards rehabilitation for his drug addiction, the narrator faces a tragedy within his own home when his young daughter falls ill and passes away. But the death of his daughter prompted the narrator to take steps toward reconnecting with his brother. The narrator jumps to a letter from Sonny after stating “And I didn’t write Sonny or send him anything for a long time. When I finally did, it was just after my little girl died . . .” (Baldwin 126).

I spin around to see him catching up to me. “At least let me buy you a new drink.” he gestures to the door.

Luczi’s eyes sparkled as she watched the waitress walk by with a drink on her platter. “I have an idea. Bassza meg. Let’s get drunk today.”

When Sonny gets out jail, he goes to live with older brother. Sonny?s brother begins to end his silence toward Sonny, and to tries to understand Sonny's pain. Yet he is still suspicious of Sonny?s habit ?The idea of searching Sonny?s room made me still. I scarcely dared to admit to myself what I?d

His mother shared a story with him about his father and his uncle. She wanted him to promise to take care of his brother. She may have had an idea that Sonny was in trouble. After their mother died Sonny told his brother that he didn’t want to stay in Harlem anymore. His brother wanted him to finish school and stay another year. He saw the worry and concern in Sonny’s eyes, but dismissed it. This was Sonny’s way of telling his brother that he needed help before it was too late. Sonny pulled away from him and stated, “I hear you. But you never hear anything I say.”

Sonny's answer, equating drug addiction with prison, and both with Harlem, shows his need to reach his brother. The two men have finally begun to communicate with one another. The letters continue until Sonny's return to New York when the narrator, who has started at last to worry about Sonny, about the life that Sonny lived inside, takes him home. The narrator acts and feels awkward, wanting only to hear that Sonny is safe and refusing to accept the fact that he might not be. Through this we realize that the two brothers finally have an understanding for each other. Although the understanding is limited, it grows immensely throughout the story.

To get a drink." Barba orders his usual whiskey and returns his attention back to Carisi. "Unless you suddenly own the place."

Psychologists usually agree that the teenage years are among the most difficult periods in one’s life. Most teens are trying to figure out who they are, what they believe, and how they fit into the world around them. Beginning in the late 1970’s, a whole genre of fiction, referred to as coming-of-age literature, emerged and serves, at least for many teens, as believable presentations of young people learning to navigate the difficulties of their lives, often fraught with feelings of rejection, seemingly unresolvable personal turmoil, social problems, school and family issues, etc. Indeed one value of reading is to see and better understand some aspect of ourselves through studying others. The reading of SPEAK, a somewhat controversial book

Sonny is a sensitive, and gentle individual. His brother recalls him as a young boy in high school, both bright and kind. He also remembers Sonny being very much like their father:

"Let me guess, he's on hyper mode?" Conner engaged his question to the girl standing upright beside the fat kid. "The clear side effects of sugar apparently." The girl answered Conner's question.

'Oh, nothing important, actually' answered Gracia, smiling. 'It's just that I got bored with that food that you eat. Therefore, yesterday I programmed different dishes in Silverbull's kitchen. Do you remember what I told you once about the importance of the taste in the food? And as you don't let me cook … '

“Whats for lunch today?” Maya had asked while rubbing her stomach. “I'm like so hungry right now!”

College-age adults are known to be high risk for sexual violence and most studies show that one in three women have experiences some type of sexual assault whether it was through physical force or harassment. These statics are known by most women on college campuses to ensure that women know and understand that this could happen to them. The issue is more than ensuring that women are aware of how protect themselves and know how to avoid these situations because it shouldn’t even be happening. When women are taught that they should know how to defend themselves we are saying that this type of behavior is normal and inevitable. We should shift from this dynamic and start teaching both men and women that this behavior is completely unacceptable and that sexually assaulting or harassing someone is NOT normal. This paper will mostly focus on incidents of rape and sexual assault on college campuses and what the outcome and reactions of these incidents were.