Alex Kotlowitzs There Are No Children Here - Literature review Example

Section/# Analysis of Alex Kotlowitz’s There Are No Children Here Although many themes are presented to the reader throughout the course of the novel, the one that is perhaps the most striking is concentric upon the fact that the author acquaints the reader with the true nature of live within the projects. Rather than simply relating the hardships that exist and the difficulties that the mother of two young boys face with regards to a life of extreme poverty and privation, the author helps to paint a picture of hope that is at least able to partially conquer the cold externalities of the way in which this family attempts to live a normalized life. Accordingly, one of the factors that this author found particularly gripping is with respect to the fact that the family is surrounded by a life of crime, drugs, and hardship and yet the mother never ceases to wish for a better life for her family. Moreover, as the mother struggles to secure a type of normalized life for her young children, the ongoing turf wars, drug battles and criminalization that impedes life within the projects takes a heavy toll on both the family and the overall level of hope which she is able to portray. Yet, regardless of the hardships, I was specifically impressed by the fact that she never let go of hope, never stopped wishing for a better future for her family and gained an appreciation for the ability to seek out and grasp onto small vestiges of happiness that were only occasionally able shine through the bleak circumstances that otherwise defined their lives. Additionally, rather than describing a type of situation in which happiness was the ultimate outcome, the author describes a complex situation in which one son is able to acquaint himself with the difficult lifestyle that surrounds the projects whereas the other turns to study and self betterment as a means of escaping the type of reality that has for so long enraptured, and oftentimes killed and imprisoned, many of his friends within the community. As a means of differentiating these two characters, I found it unique that the author was able to provide a means by which the two different options yielded the two very different results within the lives of the main characters. Whereas one saw the hardships and difficulties that such a life of crime would ultimately lead and decided to pursue a level of learning and scholastics, the other opted to follow tentatively in the footsteps of so many before him and the rewards of such a course of action proved fateful in that run ins with the law and probation were the ultimate result of such a course of action. Finally, it was beneficial, although somewhat unnecessary, for the author to grip the reader’s attention in such a way due to the consequences of the different actions that the protagonists affect on their own lives and the course of the future goals they respectively aspire to. With respect to the character that had the greatest impact on this particular author, I would have to say that the character of Pharoah was the one that most impacted my interpretation of the story as well as the means by which individuals in trying and difficult situations work to better their station in life. Rather than giving up when faced with the hardships that presented themselves with the projects, Pharaoh turns his energies to school and attempts to cloister himself within the security that only study and knowledge acquisition can provide for him. In this way I identified with the character of Pharaoh due to the fact that regardless of the misery of his situation, he was able to search within himself and provide a sense of normanlity and hope within the specific areas of interest that he held. Rather than allowing the crowd to define him, he took to his own devices as a means to both separate himself from the negative aspects of his community as well as a means to provide an eventual escape from the constraints that had bound so many youth prior to him. In this way, Pharaoh is the character that instigates a type of rebellion against the system. Oftentimes when the reader considers the revolutionary character, they picture the one that is full of action and effects a change on the system as a whole (Kotlowitz 1991). However, Pharaoh’s character is one that affects a revolution within himself as a means to divorce himself from the negative attributes that have served to render his community effete and powerless against the many threats that it is faced with. What is additionally interesting to this reader is the fact that Pharaoh’s character does not waste any time blaming his lot or the situation he finds himself in on those around him. Rather than being angry for his station in life and complaining as to the fact that someone else has had a role in putting him there, Pharaoh’s character merely busies himself in attempting to pull himself out of such a situation by bettering his own mind. Although his first foray into the realm of private school was brief and somewhat unsuccessful, Pharaoh was able to build upon this experience and seek to define his public school education as a function of the lessons and mistakes he made previously. I respect the way that although Pharaoh makes mistakes, he is able to learn from them and can build upon these as a way to better his own life. One of the things that I of course would have liked to have seen more within the story was the way in which Pharaoh’s struggle could have been translated to a wider subsection of the community in which he lives. Although he is able to use his talents to promote his own betterment, it would have been even better, although possibly not within the realm of hope, if he could have used his thirst for betterment to spread to the community in which he lived. Reference Kotlowitz, A. (1991). There are no children here : the story of two boys growing up in the other America. New York: Doubleday. Read More