For our ethics unit this week I decided to go back to a chapter I read last weekend. We always talk about adults and how they go against ethics of society and such, but we never talk about children. Uncool is the name of the chapter in my book. Jack is 11 years old, but he acts like hes much older. Not in the good sense either. Jack is rebelious and terrible. At first he seems quite innocent. "I kept after him until he finally showed me the album," (50). This shows his child-like innocence due to the fact the he either doesn't understand the touchyness of the subject or he just doesn't care. Another example of Jacks childish ethics is expressed in his friendships. Taylor's mother was widowed and sometimes pulls him near and hugs him. Silver and Jack acted as very bad friends. "We saw the potential of this scene and we preplayed it often... we could bring taylor to tears just by saying 'Terrence, Terrence!'" (55). They tortured each other even as friends. This is probably creditted to their immaturity. With time boys learn and grow up.
Jack was also a very terrible child in an older ages' sense. As an 11 year old Jack was a theif and a vandel. "we palmed anything that wasn't under glass... standing on seats until the last second to send them crashing into cars... just to stare at guns in the windows of pawnshops," (56). These are acts often played out by older boys. Jack and his friends are obviously subject to very little parenting and have gone wild. On another occasion the boys throw eggs at a thunderbird down below the apartment (A thunderbird is a car). The man in the car circles the block. They keep throwing eggs until the man explodes in such fiery the boys jump back with the effect. "The silence made me uncomfortable and in my discomfort I grinned at Silver, but Silver did not grin back," (70). The boys have second thoughts. Though they are far above their time for vandelism they are also maturing as well. Learning their own ethics from themselves.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
It is really a shame that Jack could have become such a vandal at that young age. It is very obvious that he received poor parenting. It makes me sad to see children who act like Jack does because it tells me that their parents don't care about them enough to teach them what's right and what's wrong.
It seems like the parenting that they received affected how they act at their age at the moment. It seems that Jack's widowed mom does not give him the fatherly figure so he is unable to find one so he recreates it in his own life. This tells us that he is not able to create ethical issues yet because he isnt able to see them at both family and society levels. He just sees it at a kid level, making him having to learn his own views.
I thought that your post was interesting in that you explore the ehtics of children instead of adults, I feel that in LA this year we have only touched on the adult mind, and never analyzed the ethics of a child. I have not read all of your posts, but I would guess that Jack did not have a stable father figure to look up to, that is a possible cause for his law-breaking tirade. It just proves that who your parents are shapes your values.
Post a Comment