Monday, February 14, 2011

Reading: This Boy's Life; pages 131-165, By Tobias Wolff

SUMMARY:
    On page 131, Toby begins by informing the reader that his mother had joined the rifle club and encouraged other mothers to join as well. Toby says that his mother was an expert shot and would always win, but Dwight was always a loser and would choke. He became grim we he lost his meetings and one day on the drive back home after Dwight lost he was a sore loser and mimicked the family. He forcefully got out of the car at the tavern and went in to drink while Toby's mother eventually went in after him. While this occurs, Toby goes through a series of short side note stories. Toby tells the reader that he was a liar and a thief. He'd began stealing money from paper customers on his route.  Dwight complained to Toby about his attitude, but Toby no longer felt guilt.
    Next, Toby comes back to the scene of him and Pearl waiting for Dwight and his mother in the tavern. He brings up that him and Pearl, his step sister, would constantly try to annoy each other by any means possible. He accounts all the songs he listened to with her on Seattle Bandstand. Dwight eventually returned from the tavern with Toby's mother, and she was pleading with him to give her the keys. Dwight would have none of it, and he started the car and recklessly drove home while the family hysterically begged him to stop.
    Later, Toby describes his plan for leaving Chinook. He informs the reader that he had written a letter to his uncle in Paris about how horrible things were for them, In response, his uncle sent a check and asked that Toby live with them in Paris for a year. This plan was set, but then later they received another letter from him stating that they had changed their mind and urged that he be adopted to them and stay for 5 years. This commitment upset Toby and he no longer wished to live in Paris. The next scene is started off by saying that time has passed and Nora graduated from Concrete high and now has a job down in Seattle. She has met a new man named Kenneth and she brings him in for Christmas. After a plethora of heated arguments, Norra and Kenneth depart after Christmas and they eventually get married.
    Toby is now a freshman at Concrete high, but he does not want to be there. He has devised a plan to runaway to Alaska and has saved up a total of 81 dollars that he has stolen from his customers. At first Toby didn't want Arthur coming, but as the day drew nearer, Toby decided he could. The day of execution was to be on the day that all the scout teams got together on The Gathering of Tribes. Toby competed and lost in the swim meet and at the end of this section went over to talk to Arthur.


RESPONSE:
     This section of the book was a little less interesting than the other parts in my opinion. It did not contain any exciting events and portrayed a numerous amount of events that took place over a longer span of time. I also became excited that Toby would change perspectives by moving to Paris, but in the end it turned out that he would not be going. I also felt that the side note about Nora was quite depressing as she became an addicted smoker and a dreary person. The section was not all bad, however, for I did enjoy Toby's plan to run off to Alaska and I hope that he executes this plan in my further reading.

No comments:

Post a Comment