Monday, March 7, 2011

Rightful Revenge

In the Bone's Revenge, Bone gains a huge boost of manhood. He finally crosses that line from childhood to manhood. Marching up into the mother ship, fornicating with Doc's woman Evening Star and proceeds to injure Doc's right hand man Jason. This may not be a rightful way to get revenge on Doc, but he made a statement. He expressed that The Bone is not a force to be reckoned with, that he is fully enlightened by Jah and is a follower of I-Man. Now, I don't see bone as the innocent little kid that he was. He now has turned into a hypocrite. He hated his father for his violent and drug nature, and now he is a violent man who has been in the drug business. He has turned into his own worst nightmare whether he wants to recognize it or not. I see the Bone now as a true example of how despite all outer influences, you can't change your own blood.

The author probably added this section to really illustrate the fact that emotions can control the person that we are until we independent. The Bone did all his violent actions in I-Man's name, but at what cost. Now he has cut off connections with his father so now there is nobody left for him to mooch off of. The Bone is now an individual, free of all other influence. The Bone has learned from all the mistakes of his peers and family, but also hasd ended up following in the footsteps of his peers. He is a living example of his past. He is a violent and revengeful person as his father is and a Jah-loving rasta like I-Man.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The end?

I was not realy surprised by Chapter nineteen at all. We all know that I-Man was into bigtime ganja trading. There is nothing new there. As for Bone, this is not really new for him. He has mentor type person in his life, and then after awhile, something happens and he must move on to a new mentor. He has had Russ, his father and I-Man, and who knows who is next. The fact that I-Man dies is no surprise to me at all. As I mentioned before, being heavy into ganja trading I-Man was not in a safe business. In any drug trade there is always guns and violence. They go hand in hand.

The theme of man's inhumanity to man is very apparent in Rule of the Bone. The theme is about how the real demise of man is brought about by man himself. The theme also brings about the fact that all the harshness and violence involved is the result of your own kind and yourself. For example, I-Man's brutal death was not only a murder for money, but was almost a symbolic killing because the wound was a single gunshot through his head. "There was a jagged hole in the center of his forehead and a whole lot of blood running down the bamboo wall behind his head into the sand," (340). The fact that a man could do such a thing to another man, adds to the depth of the theme. Chappie being a young kid has had his eyes opened by the whole event. He now sees that man is inherently evil and is the true downturn of mankind. "Actually when it came right down to it, like now, I didn't believe any of that shit," (340).

In my honest opinion, I think I-Man's death can be soley blamed on I-Man himself. He brought all this bad fortune upon himself. First of all, being in the drug trade, no matter the sort, always means getting into a life and career or inevtiable violence and drama. Secondly, as for the affair at the mothership, it was all I-man's fault. Chappie may have told his father about the whole ordeal, but if I-Man would have nothing fornicated with Evening Star, Chappie would have never had the need to tell his father anything. When the whole ordeal is boiled down to the source, it is seen that I-Man is the one who is the root of the source for all the bad happenings. I think that it is poetic justice for his actions. He took responsibility of his own actions in a way, whether it be planned or unplanned.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

ParrtNAY

Chappie's birthday party was huge! There were loads of poeple of al times that were friends of I-Man, Chappie's Pa and Evening Star. Loads of food were set out for eating and there were beers in icy coolers. People enjoyed themselves talking, eating, drinking, and listening to the music. Despite it's success, the party was missing a huge element and theme. The birthday part of it. Nobody payed much attention to Chappie or said anything about him. And on top of that there wasn't even a cake for him.Bone was not expecting to much. It was a big day and it was the first father/son birthday in lots of years. Despite Chappie expecting a lot, his father and Evening Star completely knew of the right way to have a birthday party.

This scene illustrates a lot about Papa Doc and Evening Star. Papa Doc despite being a fun person for Chappie to be around and a father figure for him, still puts his life in front of Chappie's. He always makes sure he is having a fun time before he starts top make sure that Chappie is having a fun time. But it also shows how he takes Chappie everywhere with him that he is able to and how they bond a lot together at night. As for Evening Star, she is bad for Chappie. She doesn't even care that it is Chappie's birthday, she just wants an excuse to party. She doesn't have any emotions for Chappie, but just sees him as a gateway for fun to add to her life at his own expense.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

A "coming of age" novel. What exactly does it imply? When we call a story a coming of age novel, it signifies a growth of some sort. The crossing over of a boy to man in maturity, physicality or mentally. For better or for worse, it can be a gain of knowledge or a loss of innocence. The term "coming of age" signifies a giant leap in single person's life.

1. "I was calm and picked up my backpack and I remembered thinking about the niner inside and I remember noticing with relief that I hadn't the slightest interest now in becoming a mass murderer." (208)
          This quote signifies Chappie's new found maturity and ability to control himself in a way he has never been able to before. It illustrates Chappie's manhood starting to appear. It takes a true man to take anger and to not let it out like Ken does and perhaps Chappie sees the immaturity in Ken and decides to take on his true inner man, which Ken has none of.
2. "Yeah, you should choose between me and Ken." (206)
          In this quote, Chappie shows his ability to stand up to those that he loves. He has massive amounts of love for his mother, but upon maturing more, he is realizing that advancing his life and doing what he believes may mean turning on those who love you despite the circumstances.
3. "But now I was into accepting I-self as I-Man would say and as a result I didn't give a flying fu*k what people thought when they looked at me." (200)
          Again, this quote shows the maturity Chappie has now gained. Chappie has gained a new found acceptance of himself and an extremely high self-esteem. Not like the typical fourteen year-old middle-schooler who always worries about their appearance and how others view them, Chappie accepts himself as an individual and embraces it no matter how others percieve him.

My first coming of age experience would be when I was left at home alone for two weeks when I was fourteen. My father had to leave and I didn't want to go with him to Carmel. While I was left at home, I had to hold the place down. I was responsible for my own food, my own laundry and doing my homework. I had to do it all. In turn, living alone and having my parents leave is no issue. I matured more in that two weeks than I have in my whole life. I am no longer a dependent of my parents. I can funtion as an independent person which whill make my college experience a lot easier.

My next coming of age experience was moving to Illinois with my mom. I lived on a military base for six months, and they may have been the best six months of my life. In that six months I learned priority and obedience. Living on the military establishment, I saw how a true world works. There is no space for wasting time and making errors. I transformed my daily life into an organized and efficient time. Also in that time, my mother and I become even closer than we were before. I felt like I was really turning into an adult. I held conversations and was open with everything with my mom, I managed my time wisely and I was also planning out my future. i was setting goals for the rest of my life. It really hit me back there that every action I make now will show for the rest of my life.

Andrew Dunavent

 Banks, Russell. Rule of the Bone: a Novel. New York: HarperPerennial, 1996. Print.

Monday, January 31, 2011

BUSy place

The hippie bus has gone through a radical change throughout the book. When the bus was under the control of the bong brothers, it was a nasty, smelly place that was not a happy place to be. It was a place to stay the night but not for long term living. When I-Man took over ownership of the bus, he transformed it into something new. It lost its terrible smell, was cleaned out. I-Man created a garden next to it and gave it plumbing and its own little kitchen. Russel makes the contrast stand out with his phrase "It was like the garden of Eden" (159). Russell explains of the bus being a garden of marijuana and how it is like a heaven for Chappie. I think I-Man is a great person. He acts a father figure towards Froggy or Rose as we later find out her real name. I-Man is a fantastic influence on the kids. He explains to them his own religion which gives Chappie a new sense of the world and a new insight on life. Later on, when it was the Fourth of July I-Man started to wig-out about the booms of the fireworks. This gives us the insight that his Jamaican past is one of unstable politics and one of a criminal status. He can decipher by sound if it is many guns which means that it is either the police or military. After hearing the sounds, he ran to a safe area which gives the implications that he was running from them, not wanting to get caught.



Jamaica and its past in a nutshell: Jamaica in the 1400s was a hunter-gatherer nation of native Americans that were soon plundered by the Spanish with the arrival of Columbus. In 1655, the British conquered the island and continued their plundering and enslaving with the people there growing mainly sugar. The slaves were later emancipated and slowly gained their political freedom after years of political and economic fervor. During all the fervor, the government kept changing under the British rule.


Haile Selassie: Truly named Tafari Makonnen, became emporer of Ethiopia from 1930-1974. He was looked at as the messiah of the Rastafarian movement/religion despite being an Ethiopian Orthodox his whole life.
Rastafarianism: A religious movement in Jamaica the views Haile Selassie as the messiah.It includes the spiritual use of marijuana and claims the origin of man is Africa.
(Nesta) Bob Marley: A Jamaican musician in the late 1900s. He is said to be the father of reggae music
Malcolm X: Actually named Malcolm Little, was an African American Muslim who stood up for civil rights and is said to be the most influential African-American of all time.

Banks, Russell. Rule of the Bone: a Novel. New York: HarperPerennial, 1996. Print.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Ending 2.0

Upon finding Chappie tied up in his bedroom, he already had his whole plan established. "I am going to get you out of there man!" Russ exclaimed. Well you better hurry man, the bikers are onto you like white on rice, Chappie replied. Russ took the tape of Chappie and they climbed out the window. They arrived down at the garage next to Russ' car. This thing is loaded man, Chappie whispered. The car was filled with electronics that Russ had stolen. "I got it all planned out Chappie, we are going to ditch this place in Au sable and head for Vermont dude," Russ explained. Little did Chappie know, but Russ had already set up a meeting with a man to buy all the electronics at half price which in reality was cold hard profit for the boys. I tell you Chappie, with all this money we got or should I say will have, we are going to start a business! Chappie looked at Russ in confusion.  You just wait bro, with your expertise in the skunk and my social skills were going to be farmers if you know what I mean. Chappie and Russ roared off to Vermont in the banged up Camaro.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Chapter Three "Nostalgia"

Chapter Three really brings out the point of view of Chappie. It contains sentences that seem like they go on for eternity with their great length. He is lacking in proper punctuation, and he uses his immature and juvenile language. "I'm like, Gimme twenty bucks up front or find yourself another protege" (36). Chappie meets a Canadian guy and girl, or at least he thinks they are Canadian. The girl named Froggy seems to be drugged out of her mind as she is unresponsive to any stimulus in her environment. The Canadian guy is named Buster, who is very juvenile in spirit but ugly in person. I suspect that the guy is a child molester who lures kids in with his acting gimmick , "That's why it's called a screen test Chappie. You have to pass it" (35). The way Chappie is treated by his father and the guard at the Victoria's Secret illustrates that Chappie doesn't receive any love, respect or attention from them. It shows that to them, despite their past bonding, they don't have any care for Chappie's life.


Teen Drug Use Today
  • 52.8% of 12 grade students are involved in illicit drug use.
  • Underage drinking costs about 58 million dollars a year.
  • In the past month, 50% of teens report drinking and 32% of them report being drunk at least on one occasion.
Works Cited

-Andrew Dunavent
`Lets get going on things with day one. I know that for a person who has never been to a gym before, it can seem like a daunting task and inconvenient. Well here's the scoop on it. From my own personal experience the first two weeks can down right suck. I have always been an active person my whole life but when it came to the gym I had little motivation. I absolutely had to force myself to go five days a week, and after two weeks everything changed. I found my daily time each day to go to the gym and it was enjoyable. It came to the point where skipping a day at the gym felt awkward. As if my day wasn't complete.





As for the rest of my blog, I will write about the day to day workout life of a young man and my past experiences and knowledge that I have gained over the years. Also, I will always include any new techniques or gym tools I learn about in the future. i would like to start off by giving massive amounts of credit to a person who inspired me to begin crossfit and now inspire me to blog about fitness. he gave me a few training sessions while  i was living in illinois and they were the best hours of my life. for those who would like to follow his awesome crossfit blog it is called rambles of a frosh". also getting me onto blogging is my literature teacher, hence the name of my blog.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Rule of the Bone

            After reading the first two chapters of Rule of the Bone, I am really shocked at who Chappie is. He is one of those juvenile rebels that does not care what society is like. He steals coins from his parents only to sell them for "skunk" (7) he can. After having a fantasy about Christmas, where he goes back to his house and enjoys time with his missed parents, a lot is revealed about Chappie. We can see that despite his rebellious exterior and the negative influences around him (the bikers), Chappie still has a heart for his mother and realizes the true love he has for family. My reaction to the book is that I can't believe the kind of man Chappie is. After his mother successfully tried to bail him out of being arrested, he pretty much stole twenty dollars from her never to see her again. I don't care what kind of situation I am in, I will never even consider stealing from my mother.




What is life like for a real-life runaway?
  • One out of every seven children will runaway before age eighteen.
  • 75% of runaways who stay away longer than two weeks will become involved in theft, drugs, or pornography
  • One out of every three runaways will be lured into prostitution within 48 hours of being away.

Works Cited
Why Teens Run Away
Banks, Russell. Rule of the Bone: a Novel. New York: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996. Print.

-Andrew Dunavent