English Notes October 28-30, 2014 This Boy’s Life Test Review * TEST MONDAY*
Identity:
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Name change from Toby to Jack after Jack London/name change for Hill
 sense of adventure
 sense of self-reliance
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Dwight—courting Rosemary vs. as a father figure
 nice guy vs. abusive father figure
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Rosemary—moving is a change of identity, sense of possibility, freedom she becomes a housewife when she marries Dwight—tears her up inside
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Jack receiving the Winchester rifle (page 23)—starts his fantasy life, becomes passionate about the gun, dresses up in an army uniform, feels powerful, when Sister James comes to the door he realizes he is a scared boy, not a powerful sniper
 Weakness to Power
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Jack in his new clothes (275-276) feels important, significant, a young man of consequence
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Chuck --Minister’s son by day/wild man when trying to please his peers
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Jack as a Boy scout/check cashing scheme (193-194)—juvenile delinquent vs. upstanding citizen
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Jack and Mr. Howard—Mr. Howard sees him as a good boy, Boy Scout, but Jack is a delinquent
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Boys act like men when they are sexually explicit when watching the Mickey Mouse Club television show
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Jack defining himself against Dwight (134)—times Jack feels like he is becoming Dwight (scene when he drives Dwight’s car drunk)
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Jack has inflated view of his biological father, Duke—follows in his father’s footsteps, sense of exaggeration, sense of self-importance
What does the book say about identity? People can change their identity based on the situation they are in. Connect this to the epigram about assuming a pose. Identity is an act, but the act can shape who you become. Jack is dealing with insecurity and weakness—he takes on powerful identities to escape his insecurity, instability, and weakness (like the boys who idolize the Nazis—they envy power).
What we show the world may be temporary, but certain aspects of us do not change

This Boy’s Life—masculine identity, how is a boy in the 1950s supposed to act? Consider the expectations of masculinity and being a man (drinking, smoking, not apologizing, sexual identity).
Lies/Fiction/Storytelling:
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Jack writing to Alice—tall tales about himself
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Dwight lies about the turkey shoot, Jack lies about killing a turkey
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Jack’s application to Hill is a work of fiction—he writes himself into a new future, new opportunity, new life
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Dwight—take Jack’s newspaper money—says he is saving it, but really he is taking it
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Jack forges a check, pretends to be an upstanding Boy Scout after
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Jack’s father, Duke
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Jack’s first confession
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Jack’s letter to his uncle
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Dwight pretends to uphold positive values, but he doesn’t care about Rosemary
 act of the pious dad/reality of his corruption (drinks, violent)
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Jack lying about writing “F. U.”
Moral Corruption:
“Assuming a pose” 
Connect to epigram
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Dwight encouraging Jack to fight *on the test you will be asked about Dwight’s influence on
Jack
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Jack feels awful when he “becomes” Dwight—driving car, as an adult Tobias yelling at his own children he feels like Dwight’s anger is inside of him
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Page 217-218 Jack and Arthur were close, there were hard feelings when the closeness ended.
Arthur was trying to be a good member of society, played guitar in a band, decided to strive for a better life. Arthur even had a girlfriend—Jack considers this a “performance”—Arthur had to act proper. Having a girlfriend was an act—Arthur was trying to pass as heterosexual. This seemed strange to Jack. Jack says that he and Arthur needed to pardon themselves for who they were—they were both acting like other people (Arthur was good; Jack as an outlaw).
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Jack’s peer influences --
 Terry & Terry
 Chick, Psycho, Huff
 Boys influence him to smoke, drink, vandalize, use foul language, have a bad attitude, shape his attitude toward sex, make him act in a reckless manner, he forges his grades, the Hill application (214), a check (page 193-199)

Moral Corruption (continued):
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Jack’s first meeting with Mr. Howard
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Jack witnessing abusive men—Dwight, Rosemary’s father, Roy
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Dwight sells the Winchester, steals Jack’s money—in return, Jack steals Dwight’s things
(car, rifles, hunting gear)
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Jack witnesses violent men—influences him to want power, use guns
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Jack’s father’s friends attempted abuse
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Joy riding Dwight’s car
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Dwight gives Jack the gun (not a good role model)
Position: “He who fears corruption fears life.” –epigram
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Moral corruption is everywhere. Encountering corruption is inevitable, it depends on how you react to it. Although Jack acts reckless, he doesn’t abuse women. He doesn’t give in to all the sources of corruption he was exposed to as a child.
Tyranny/Abuse of Power:
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Dwight’s dominance of Rosemary and Jack
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Jack kills the squirrel with his rifle and lies about it
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Dwight beats Jack after he took the car—physical brutality
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Roy stalks Rosemary, abuses his power in the military to find Rosemary
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Dwight not buying Jack shoes
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Dwight steals money from Rosemary and Jack
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Rosemary’s dad—abusive and would hit her every day after school because he believed she must have done something wrong, strict and controlled the way she dressed---as a result,
Rosemary ends up with Roy and Dwight
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Kenneth (Norma’s husband)—uses rough language, kisses her roughly in public
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Dwight’s influence on Jack
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Dwight not allowing Jack to see his mom (page 99)
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Jack lies to his mom, manipulates her to get him things—connect to first scene in the book with the truck crash—he uses the crash and an opportunity to make his mom give him things
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Jack beats the dog, Champion

Position: Male code of behavior—communicate power through violence than through words
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Dwight holds a knife to Rosemary’s neck, Roy follows Rosemary out of insecurity and fear

Insecurity leads to an abuse of power
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Fear leads to an abuse of power—leads a push toward control—creates abuse
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Cycle of abuse for Norma, Rosemary—they are abused and end up with men who abuse them.
American Dream:
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Rosemary attempts to find a better life, looks for uranium
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The dangers of losing sight of your dreams
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House, family, success—when Rosemary gets to Seattle she wants a house (dreams of a better


 house—possibility of making the run down house better)
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Family Christmas Special—idealized family Christmas vs. Dwight and mold covered chestnuts
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House, family, success, hero, education, freedom
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The dream provides motivation, but it is difficult to obtain
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Jack’s dream to go to Hill
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Jack wants the family to get back together
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Rosemary goes from Utah for uranium and Seattle for work—traveling to find opportunity.
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Freedom--At the end of the book they are back to the beginning, back to finding freedom again from leaving Dwight/at Hill
Joining the military
Fear of failure, not obtaining the dream—Jack’s biggest fear
Norma’s dream falls through—she doesn’t obtain a happy marital life