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Critical Discussion Of Text

Decent Essays

Critical Discussion of Text
That Bird has My Wings is a book written by Jarvis Masters, an inmate currently on death row in San Quentin. He is on death row for the murder of a prison guard. The court convicted three inmates of being responsible for the guard’s death. However, Masters was the only one sentenced to death. He was not even in the same area of the prison when the guard was killed, but they said he sharpened a piece of metal that was used to kill the guard. This book details Masters life from the time he was born until serving on death row. Masters goal of his book is to show what happens to children who experience a “painful, violent life”(273)
Masters was thrown into the foster care system early in life. His mother was “the biggest heroin users and dealers in Long Beach, California.”(2) People were always dropping by their house to get their heroine fix. Sometimes his mother would disappear for a few days, leaving Masters and his three siblings to fend for themselves. This eventually got the attention of child services. All four children were put in foster homes and split up. Masters was put in a home with a loving, older husband and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Prockses. They nurtured him, loved him, and made him feel like he could achieve anything. Since they were old, and Mrs. Prockses health was declining, he was sent to a different home. At the new home, Mr. and Mrs. Dupont seemed nice when Jarvis and his caseworker met them. Within hours of being

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