The Crack By Rick Acker Chapter Summaries

She begins the story an unfaithful hot mess, and she ends the story an unfaithful hot mess. The only thing that changes is her last name and location, but one could wager that she remains an unfaithful hot mess for the rest of her life, with nobody expecting her to be different because “Charlotte was unusual” (Smith 274). With no reason to change, and no crucible to go through, Charlotte at the end of the story remains as tempestuous and flawed as she was at the beginning. She receives no repercussions for her actions, her boyfriend returns to make her a wife, even after it is revealed that she had been cheating on him with two people. Of course, Maurice wasn’t as faithful as he promised he would be either, but Charlotte seems unperturbed by it. Shame doesn’t touch her, and she goes through no trials other than everyone loving her regardless of her myriad flaws simply because she wears her hair a certain way. The worst thing that happens to her in the story, objectively, is that she loses her trademarked bangs, and even then it doesn’t matter, because hair will grow back, and she will have learned

As a slave, Charlotte is resistant to following orders given to her by her masters. At the start of the novel, Charlotte steals her master, Missus’, prized green silk. Charlotte seems to desire the green silk however, her daughter, Handful, learns to understand the true meaning behind her mother’s rebellions actions.

However, it is prevalent that this isn’t the first time the girls have to try and get around on their own. Charlotte has made a habit of running away from her problems and despite her daughters’ desire to have a permanent home the girls frequently have to migrate from one place to another often.

The Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act is a controversial initiative in the United States that grants minor immigrants residency in the country and ensures that their educational needs are met. While the act has claimed to be beneficial to a certain portion of the population, it is widely argued that the program’s cost-effectiveness and societal effects have been unproven since its inception, and therefore; an alternative program is needed to fulfill the gap.

As a slave, Charlotte is resistant to following orders given to her by her masters. At the start of the novel, Charlotte steals her master, Missus’, prized green silk. Charlotte seems to desire the green silk, however, her daughter, Handful, learns to understand the true meaning behind her mother’s rebellions actions.

Perhaps if her mother wasn’t drunk most of the time, she may have been able to re direct her in to a better frame of mind. Charlotte is a young lady and not yet considered an adult. According to our text “The search for an identity during adolescence is aided by a psychosocial moratorium, which is Erikson’s term for the gap between childhood security and adult autonomy.” (Santrock, J, 2014) My honest opinion, I think that Charlotte was searching for her identity and was deeply confused by her home life. Unfortunately, there are so many young people in the world today that have that need to be in control. Sometimes, the things we see in the end are just like her behavior when she was driving dangerously because she was getting dumped. Most people assume that when you have it all like her, you have this perfect life. That wasn’t the case here, so I think that with all opportunities that her family may have been able to afford she just didn’t thrive because she could get away with what she wanted too and that damaged her in a way that could possibly shape her adult life.

Brutality, humor, religion, and violence are a few themes portrayed throughout many of Flannery O’Connor’s short stories. In many of her short stories, O’Connor exposes the dark side of human nature and implements violent and brutal elements in order to emphasize her religious viewpoints. In the short stores “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” and “Revelation”, O’Connor explicitly depicts this violence to highlight the presence and action of holy grace that is given to a protagonist who exudes hypocritical qualities.

Things get hot when Julie’s ex-boyfriend gets paroled early. He’s out to even the score and get Julie back. Teaming up with the abusive

The complete transformation continues after she is abandoned, and as “once an object of desire”, Charlotte’s “emaciated appearance” enables her from being valuable in any way, as the main purpose for her capture, pleasure, is unable to be satisfied (76). The connection between Charlotte’s corporeal appearance to the society's culture and ideology, solidify the depletion of her worth throughout her stay in America. She is seen as an “object” of “desire” and with no appeal left, she is of no use to the men in the novel. Rowson’s final depiction of Charlotte’s loss of self reflects in her pregnancy and how the unborn child becomes an “innocent witness” and physical image of her worth and “heir to […] shame” (62). The body is bought for nothing and so is worth nothing to be respected and acknowledged. Charlotte is detached from humanity at the hands of others and is merely an object to be used when one

Charlotte was having a secret affair with the narrator while she was engaged to Maurice. Charlotte is obviously not the most faithful or loyal human being, but the narrator seems to have an amazing relationship with her and is blind by her love to Charlotte. However, once Maurice returns from Thailand, and the two go to Charlotte’s room to talk, “someone else was putting his fingers through her curls” (Smith 266). The irony is surreal at this point of the story (but not surprising as I will explain in the next paragraph), because the narrator believed she had Charlotte all to herself while she was supposed to be loyal to Maurice. All throughout the affair, Charlotte was having another affair with a third man and had no remorse for either of them.

“Beneath an overpass of the Hollywood Freeway at 1 A.M., Mr. Masters confronted two young men who were spraying graffiti, argued with them and shot them, killing one, 18-year-old Cesar Arce.” states Isabel Wilkerson, journalist for The New York Times. (Mydans 1) A vigilante is a member of a volunteer committee organized to suppress and punish crime summarily as when the processes of law is viewed inadequate. A vigilante typically participates in certain organizations without authorization to enforce the law. The topic vigilante justice occurs in the novel of, And Then There Were None.Vigilante justice is not appropriate or beneficial.

When the man first witness’s there acts they are violently fighting one another, the man asks Charlotte about what’s going on she’s moderately states “ Oh, that. It gives him a tremendous sense of power to hear me gasping helplessly for air.” (Paynch 40) This proves the tone of the situation and how much Charlotte really cares about the situation. “Well, at least it’s something. I suppose there’s certain affection in it. It keeps the relationship alive anyway. “(Paynch 42) Charlotte clearly expresses here that this is out of shear meaningless of life and their relationship. “ We weren’t even lovers anymore. Just zombies.” (Paynch 42) This is where the meaninglessness of their lives comes into play. She then states that she is having an affair another way to avoid her meaningless life. “You can’t believe how complicated that is. Cheating on the man you’re cheating with.” (Panych 42) The characters of Charlotte and Rodney go through all of these episodes to avoid the hardships in their lives they fight to create entertainment they have affairs to escape the difficulties of their own marriage. This proves that these characters are trying to avoid the meaninglessness of their lives with these

In the town of South Lake Tahoe, children played safely outside, the sun always seemed to be shining, and laughter was a common sound. Everyone knew one another and crime ratings were close to zero. Due to the town’s “child-friendly” nature, the Dugard family called this place home (Hawkins). However, on June 10, 1991, a fiery nightmare exploded into reality for eleven year-old Jaycee Dugard. Walking towards the bus stop, Jaycee was dragged into a grey sedan (Hawkins). Jaycee’s stepfather Carl Probyn witnessed this gut-wrenching act from down the street and tried unsuccessfully to trail the car on a bike. (Tresniowski). Jaycee’s mother, Terry, lost control of her emotions after her daughter’s

The situation worsens when the killer turns out to be on a quest for revenge for her past

I have since written my second novel, titled Malevolence Thy Name Is Karen which I co-wrote with my son Roy M. Vasquez. This is Roy’s first novel. This very different horror story, takes readers into the mind of a murderous creature, a soul stealer. One that steals newborn soul’s moments before their birth, and replaces their soul with its own demonic spirit.