James Gags Narrative

When James found out that his stepfather had died James dropped out of highschool and he possibly failed all of his classes. “I virtually dropped out of high school after he died, failing every class” (McBride 6). James did not do well after his stepfather had passed away, he just didnt want to do good in life anymore. Moreover, James continued to not do good he really like his stepfather alot and that really affected his life, Hunter was like a father figure to James because his father had died before James was actually born. “Me and my hanging-out boys were into the movies” (McBride 6). James would continuously go to the movies with his friend, he even went for a whole year going to the movies with his friends. Jame’s sibling were very upset with him because James would just ignore them, his siblings were just concerned for him. Lasty, James dealt with his Stepfather's death by simply just ignoring it, James had stole from a drug dealer once after his stepfather's death, James has done a lot of criminal actions after his stepfather's death. “I snached purses. I shoplifted. I even robbed a petty drug dealer one. And the in the afternoons, coming home after a day of cutting school, smoking reefer, waving razors, riding the subway, I would see my mother pedaling her blue bicycle” (McBride 6). James wasn’t doing good he was not listening and he was skipping school and nothing mattered to him. During this time of his stepfather's death James would be coming home from ditching school and on his way home he would see his mother driving her bicycle. They were both doing what grieved them from Hunter Jordan’s

To begin with, James went to the old synagogue, but the people there didn’t let him through because they needed permission from the board members to open the doors. Since he couldn’t enter, he sat outside on the steps of the synagogue. With luck, James was led into a state office building where Aubrey Rubenstein was working. Aubrey’s father was the one who took over James’ grandpa’s store after the old man left.

The door creaked louder as it was lazily pulled shut by a guard on the other side. Then the room went completely silence. They squeaky door played over and over again in Atticus’s mind. The only light he could see from where he was sitting on the cold, damp floor was coming from the small crack under the heavy door. Atticus stood up and held his arm at feeling for a wall. As he held one arm against the wall, he carefully made his way across the room. He felt his foot hit an object and sat down. He touched the item and realized it was his satchel that he had dropped earlier. He slipped a hand in the bag checking to make sure everything was still there. He felt the cool leather of a book at his fingertips. This book is what caused him to get

James’s first change begins when he moves to Texas and becomes the lord of one of the greatest ranches in Texas. When James moves to Texas he has just gotten done with active duty military, and he has a hard time opening up to people. When he becomes a ranch hand for Jim Berlingham, he learns to open up to people and trust them. When James takes over the ranch his job changes from being a worker to a boss, “James, when

November 5, 1844 James won the presidental election, he was known as “The Dark Horse” because of his oppenent that he won against, Henry Clay was a nominee of the Whig party. Of the electional votes Henry Clay got one-hundred and five votes as for, James he got one-hundred and seventhy votes. James campaign slogans were “fifthy four- forthy or fight.” Which meant the latatude of the british boundary of the Alaska and the Oregon Boundary. Another, slogan that James used was “Reannexation of Texas and Reoccopaton of Oregon.” When James became the president he made a campaign promise to be a one-term presidet and not seek reelection. James made promises and he kept them through his term. In 1845, James second year into presidency, he sent John

“How sad, if he’d known his home was safe the outcome would have been different. What happened to Mr. Hampton after that?”

One of the themes was the burden of secrets that were kept. As a young boy, James knew very little about his mother’s childhood background. James’s mother Ruth discouraged his curiosity about her past and her background. She really never wanted her kids to know the things that she went through as a child and as a young adult. She was ashamed of the things that she went through, so she kept everything inside.What I think is going to happen is that James is that he is gonna have to realize that he can not be out doing drugs and skipping school. also he is going to have to grow up really fast.

This is fueled by, not only the changing emotions that teenagers typically endure, but also by the death of his stepfather, whom he saw as his own father. After his death, James cannot bear to see his mother suffer, for she no longer knows how to control the dynamics of the family and "wandered in an emotional stupor for nearly a year." James instead turns to alcohol and drugs, dropping out of school to play music and go around with his friends, which James refers to as "my own process of running, emotionally disconnecting myself from her, as if by doing to I could keep her suffering from touching me." Instead of turning to his family and becoming "the king in the house, the oldest kid," James "spent as much time away from home as possible… absolve[ing] [himself] of all responsibility…" As a result, Ruth sends James to live with his older half sister and her husband, in an attempt to straighten her out her son's life. James distracts himself with the life he found there, spending the summers on a street corner with his half sister's husband, Big Richard, whom he adores, and the unique men that frequented the area. During these summers, James discovers "[He] could hide. No one knew [him]. No one knew [his] past, [his] white mother, [his] dead father, nothing. It was perfect. [His] problems seemed far, far away." Instead of facing the realities of loss and anger in his family, James seeks distractions

The book begins talks about other conflicts that arose with James and Ruth. James took a downward spiral during his teenage years,

For example, the text says” I hold Isaac’s hand as we cross the street.” Just a small action like that proves that James doesn’t want Isaac to be in danger or, in hazards of going out, even though being there is dangerous already. Now, I think James has more care for his brother, seeing that he put himself and Isaac at risk. He probably knew that this would be dangerous from the start, but still did it because he wants to be cool. I think James is also regretting his decision of being attractive , and wishing that he just followed the rules and stayed home with

James is learning to be stronger. He wants to hug his mother and comfort her, and his teeth hurt him so bad he wants to cry. Octavia tells him that crying displays weakness. He knows that his teeth need to be seen by a dentist but he thinks about how they do not have that much money, and that is a sacrifice he will make. James is thinking about the family, and knows that money can go towards something else.

After receiving the news about the murder, Jimmy explodes with emotions. “I remember, I was more afraid of my little daughter than I ever was of being in prison” (Dennis 34). This quote shows the fatherly love Jimmy had for Katie. It compared the strength Jimmy had through the rough times in jail and how afraid he was of losing Katie. Ultimately, Jimmy follows the wrong path. Jimmy not only fails to find his daughter’s murderer, but he also kills Dave along too. By looking though a psychoanalytic lens, one can interpret Jimmy’s fatherly instincts which are to try to unearth his daughter’s murderer no matter the cost.

Everything started going downhill from there and that's where the conflict of interest begins. James left the house in the mornings but didn't go to school and says himself that he was practically a dropout. "I spent as much time away from home as possible. I quit church and avoided my deeply religious godparents. I was the first kid on my block to smoke cigarettes and reefer" (McBride, 138) shows the ways he was acting out, also including stealing from freight cars with his friends. He was even caught by the police once. With James out of the house all the time, his mother suffered more because no one was there to help her with her young children. He was hurting but was too stubborn to admit it and "reefer and wine helped me to forget any pain, and as the pain and guilt increased, my problems with drugs worsened" (McBride, 142). All the while his mother knew nothing about it. Until one day when he gave her a forged report card with a grade unlike his usual ones and she called the school only to find out something way worse than what she expected. From then on, James spent the summers with his sister Jack in Kentucky who his mother thought could straighten him out. Jack's husband lets James run free with him and he finds himself often at a place called the

“You know what?” Jeffrey raised his hands. “I don’t need this.” He grabbed his notebook, put on his jacket, and stormed out of the lounge as he yelled, “I quit!”

"No matter what, okay? Do not open the door." I shook my head, trying to hold back my tears. That was the fourth death that was on my part. I felt terrible. The guilt was riding heavily on my shoulders. I did the tedious job of holding the cannon against his stomach while the old man tied the rope around him. Joseph smiled and readied himself at the door. He shut his eyes. I took a deep breath. With a roar, a pushed my hands against his chest, sending him tumbling down the steps, splashing back into the water. I heard him flap around his arms, but it was useless. He would have a few minutes, at the most. I was shaking so much that the old man had to lock the door.