Alex Kotlowitz's book, There are No Children Here, is a story about two boys, Pharaoh and Lafeyette Rivers growing in the late 1980's in Henry Horner, a housing project in Chicago. The boys try to retain their youth while they see constant gang violence, death of close friends, their brother in jail and their dad struggling with a drug addiction. In Horner, there are two gangs that claim it as their turf, and the Rivers family is constantly ducking from shots of gunfire there. They live in an overcrowded apartment with leaky facets, heating problems and animal carcasses in the basement. The boys' mother, LaJoe, tries to keep them away from gangs and violence since her eldest children fell to the harsh reality of the neighborhood. …show more content…
According to this theory, external forces can influence the development of emotions. A child can mature a lot quicker when they are placed in an environment where they have to take care of themselves to survive. "When tragedy struck, Pharaoh didn't want to know. He continued to tell his mother he was too young to comprehend it all, as if he were trying to prolong his childhood" (Kotlowitz 216). Both boys did recognized at an early age that death occurs frequently in their neighborhood. They had several friends die and they were reminded of this every time gunfire went off outside the apartment. Pharaoh tried to maintain his childhood the best he could and excelled in school as a coping mechanism. Lafeyette, at thirteen, acted as a parent to fill his mother's role when she was out.
The government makes one of the biggest contributions to the welfare of the family by providing financial safety. The problem is that the government fails to show any concern for these families unless it is brought to their attention, and even then nothing is changed. The lack of interest by the housing authorities leads to the neglect of Horner for over fifteen years. "The rotting carcasses explained the putrid odor rising from the Riverses' toilet. It wasn't aborted fetuses, as LaJoe had though. It was dead animals, the stench of rotting flesh
The first home that they live in is with Jeannette’s grandmother, Erma. Jeannette describes the inside of the house, saying, “It was cold in the house, and the air smelled of mold and cigarettes and unwashed laundry” (131). In addition to the house being a tad run down, the kids were only allowed to bathe in four inches of water once a week and that they all must share. Not only did they have unfit living conditions at home, Jeannette was constantly being bullied at school and does not seem to be able fit in with all of the other kids (140), which is also making it difficult for her to concentrate on her schoolwork. The second house that the Walls family lived in is a little old rundown shack on 93 Little Hobart Street which is no better than the house they shared with Erma. In all actuality, it is probably worse since the kitchen ceiling leaks when it rains (154) and the entire area surrounding the foundation becomes a garbage dump because the family cannot afford to pay for trash pick-up (155). With their father, Rex constantly drinking and their mother, Rose Mary leaving the children to fend for themselves, Lori and Jeannette decide that, for their own good and sake of their future, they should distance themselves from the family start a new life in New
A. How many of you are worried about where your next meal will come from? Are you unsure of how you’re going to purchase next week’s groceries or what you will be feeding your children for dinner tonight? This probably isn’t something most of you think about from day to day. When you are hungry, you eat. It’s easy for you to grab a sandwich, order a pizza, or run through the drive thru when you are on the go. However, there are many families, not just in other countries, but here in the United States as well, that are going hungry every day. According to kidshealth.org, a child dies from malnutrition and related causes every 6 seconds.
During the trial there were debates on how both children were not in control of their actions which meant that they couldn’t be held responsible for their actions. Many psychiatrists had tried to find the reason that made the two boys’ create such a horrific crime. One forensic psychiatrist stated that examining
The book “There Are No Children Here” by Alex Kotlowitz details the challenges two young boy’s face by being raised in the inner city housing project (Henry Horner Homes). These challenges stem from racism, discrimination, the social construction of reality, social location, social class, and the deviance theory, which is due to their location and influences (social control) at which causes many youths to lead a life of crime. The book focuses on the Conflict and Symbolic Interaction theories of sociology. What is the true cause of their struggle? Is it the run down smelly housing project completely taken over by gangs, where murders and shootings are an everyday thing, is their family, school, society, the system, race; or maybe it's because of the economical disadvantages. While others may argue, I believe that it isn't just one of these reasons; it's all of them all together.
The boys are living in an apartment at the Henry Horner housing complex with their mother, LaJoe, their younger brother and sisters – the triplets, and a constant stream of people from their father Paul to their sister’s boyfriend’s brother staying on and off with them. Henry Horner is a housing
In There Are No Children Here, Kotlowitz describes the experiences of Pharoah and Lafayette to highlight the racist and classist undertones existing within the criminal justice system of Chicago in the late 1980s. This essay will utilize the theory of critical criminology to illustrate the structures of inequality within the criminal justice system and the subsequent marginalization of youth that exists within the Henry Horner community, leading to youth deviance and violent crime. Beginning with a brief outline of the major characteristics of critical theory, the essay will then address the increasing focus on gang involvement as an explanation for inner-city youth crime, using examples from the Disciples and Vice Lord gangs, and how that focus demonstrates the bias and inequality within the criminal justice system. Next, the necessity of the Henry Horner community creating a system of “self-help” will be analyzed, a result of the perceived inadequacy of the criminal justice system in addressing the problems that the community faces. The theory of critical criminology demonstrates how structures of inequality are represented in the criminal justice system: the incessant focus on gangs and inadequacy of the system to provide protection causes the marginalization of youth like Pharoah and Lafayette, reinforcing instances of youth deviance and crime.
Many times throughout the book Pharaoh is observed to be completely lost in thought. Sometimes it takes a few seconds for his mother to bring him back out of his dazed state (63).
There are No Children Here, by Alex Kotlowitz, tells a story about the family of LaJoe and Paul Rivers. The book focuses on Lafayette and Pharaoh, two of the younger children in the family, and their interactions with each other, the neighborhood, their family, their friends, and the police. Following the family over three years shows the importance of neighborhood factors when it comes to crime. According to Sampson and Groves (1989), social disorganization refers to “the inability of a community structure to realize the common values of its residents and maintain effective social controls”. Many aspects in the book exemplify how neighborhood factors, social controls, and community factors have impacts on crime. The book exemplifies how neighborhood disadvantage can lead to informal social controls, which in turn produces crime. Due to these factors, social disorganization is the best theory to explain the crime that occurs in There are No Children Here.
The book “There Are No Children Here” by Alex Kotlowitz details the challenges two young boy’s face by being raised in the inner city housing project (Henry Horner Homes). These challenges stem from racism, discrimination, the social construction of reality, social location, social class, and the deviance theory, which is due to their location and influences at which causes many youths to lead a life of crime. The book focuses on the Conflict and Symbolic Interaction theories of sociology. What is the true cause of their struggle? Is it the run down housing, lack of education, race, gangs, violence and drugs? I think that all of these play a part into their everyday
In Horner, there are two gangs that claim it as their turf, and the Rivers family is constantly ducking from shots of gunfire there. They live in an overcrowded apartment with leaky facets, heating problems and animal carcasses in the basement. The boys’ mother, LaJoe, tries to keep them away from gangs and violence since her eldest children fell to the harsh
When an infant arrives in the world they are helpless tiny humans who depend on adults for every need from love, to feeding them. It is amazing how these tiny babies grow into adults able to make decisions and become self-dependent. There are many theories about how children develop and what roles the environment plays, what people affect their lives and how events can shape their personalities. Some of these children have and easy life and some have a harder time making that journey to adulthood.
Firstly, the meaning of emotional regulation and Erik Erikson's theory of eight stages of development are depicted, with special emphasis on early childhood. This is done for the purpose of underlining the importance of regular emotional development as opposed to one impaired by abuse.
Our parents raise us hoping for us to develop certain character traits, but there comes to a point when we start to become our own person based on the experiences we go through, any situation, good or bad, can influence our personality mentally and emotionally. Emotion is what makes us human, it's how we cope and how we manage our crazy lives’. When our feelings get damaged or even nourished, it will change how we react
A Child Life Specialist matches my personality because I like working with little kids and I like working with problems that others have I have always been the one that all my friends can come to because I like being a problem solver. This job you have to be able to manage emotional stress in working with children who have life threatening diseases. Since this profession does not require to be sitting down in an office working on a computer and recording things which is not what I want to do, this career requires to be interacting with people, parent and little kids. My personality is I am very social and you
Child labor is considered as a form of child abuse, it being the exploitation of a child’s rights and freedoms. Therefore, child labour is when underage children are employed, this happens because a child labourer is paid less than an adult labourer. Consequently employers have more children working for them because they spend less paying the children.