The Motivational Story - Book Report/Review Example

 The Motivational Story About the Authors Doctors Rameck Hunt, Sampson Davis and George Jenkins all grew up in Newark, New Jersey where they met each other while they were in high school. All three men grew up living in public housing due to being members of low-income families. When they met in high school, they all made a pact to graduate high school, college and medical school, three feats that were seldom heard of for people in their financial situation and their backgrounds. Rameck Hunt had been the more difficult of the three boys when growing up, resorting to selling drugs and theft. His anger issues ended up landing him in prison after he broke a fellow student’s neck. Sampson Davis and George Jenkins helped Rameck turn his life around, helping him through high school and then through college and medical school, which the three men had received academic scholarships for. The three have since become acclaimed doctors and dentists and motivational speakers for students who wish to become better but do not know where to start. Book Report: The Pact The Pact takes place in Newark, New Jersey, a large city that is comprised of dangerous, low-income neighborhoods, though it ends in a bigger city in New Jersey. The neighborhoods that the three men grew up in were poverty-stricken, and this fact played a large role on how the men were raised (“The Three Doctors”). The account of this true story first takes place in the early 1980s, providing the readers with an explanation of how and where the men grew up. The story jumps rather quickly from past to present, slowing down during the men’s journeys through high school, college and medical school, all of which took place in the early 1990s. The novel covers roughly a span of twenty years, though the later years get the most attention and pages. There are three main characters in The Pact. Rameck Hunt was the most troubled boy when he was in high school. Only having his grandmother to depend on, he spent a lot of his time getting into trouble. He was often in fights with students and teachers, and got involved with the wrong crowd where he learned to steal and obtain drugs for selling. After he found himself being arrested after being involved in the beating of an old man, he made the decision to change his life around, focusing more on school and doing something better with his life, something amazing. Sampson Davis grew up without his father in a tough neighborhood. Growing up, he was constantly surrounded by poverty, gangs and drug use. He was unusually intelligent for someone his age and in his living situation; he attended a magnet school while living in Newark, where he met George and Rameck. Due to his influences outside of his home, including people in his neighborhood and other friends at school, Sampson often found himself in trouble. Though he had never faced time in prison, he was still surrounded by people that negatively influenced him. Inspired by the changes seen in his friend Rameck, Sampson decided to make similar changes in his own life and become a better person. George Jenkins was in a similar situation of living in a tough neighborhood and hanging out with the wrong people, yet still being intelligent enough to know that something was not right in his life. His life was a little better than those of his friends, save for the fact that he lived in a neighborhood where gang violence and drug usage was rampant. Growing up, he visited a dentist for a normal checkup and became interested in the procedure. From that moment on, he vowed to change his life and become a dentist. While in high school, the three boys learned to depend greatly on the encouragement of each other, becoming inseparable until they each entered medical school, where they split up when George decided to become a dentist. All three of them had come from violent backgrounds, whether directly or indirectly. Against all odds, they hung tight to their dreams and goals, leaning on each other for support when their dreams seemed unreachable. The plot of the story surrounds the pact made between Rameck, George and Sampson, a pact that would see them through high school, college and medical school. The boys had made the pact when they realized that very few people expected a lot from them given the financial and familial situations that they were all in. It was not common for people with their background to even get through high school, and the three of them were desperate to change around misconceptions and decided to become successful doctors. All three men had been facing various troubles while in school, with the biggest issue being school itself. Motivation was thin, but they kept on each other to reach the end. Despite attempts to give up on their dreams entirely, the three men did what it took until they walked down the aisle during their high school graduation (Minzesheimer). They gave up their bad grades, left behind the friends that had held them down, and showed up many people, including some teachers, that openly believed that the boys would become nothing and achieve nothing spectacular with their lives. Instead of the insults that they were used to hearing, they only allowed words of encouragement and faith break through their walls. The Pact is a very moving, motivational story, keeping me hooked from beginning to end. The fact that it was based on a true story only made it more enjoyable, showing me how three young men completely turned their lives around even though people expected them to end up just like everyone else in their situations. The story can be related to by almost every person who reads it. The story itself is a common one, in which people wish to become better and make much needed changes to achieve their dreams, but it is the journey that makes this story unique. The authors remained entirely truthful throughout the writing of their novel, yet they always kept up with an air of encouragement and hope for people who were trying to get a helpful message from reading the novel. They have made it so that their own journey can become someone else’s. Works Cited Davis, Sampson, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt. The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and Fulfill a Dream. New York: Riverhead Books, 2002. Print. Minzesheimer, Bob. "Authors and 'Three Doctors' Bond With Fathers." USA Today. N.p., 3 Oct. 2007. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. . "The Three Doctors." The Three Doctors Foundation, Inc.. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2010. . Read More