Rule Of The Bone, written by Russell Banks, is a story told by a short fourteen year old
boy named Chappie, who endured a lot of pain and suffering. His father abandoned his
family when Chappie was five. When his mother remarried, he suffered from his
stepfather's abuse. Both his mother and stepfather were alcoholics and completely
ignored him. To gain attention, Chappie got a Mohawk haircut, pierced his ears, and
sported a nose ring. As an escape, Chappie started using drugs and stole his mother's
collection of valuable coins in order to pay for them. This totally infuriated his mother and
Chappie decided to leave home. Following this, Chappie lived in an apartment above a
video store with heavy metal bikers. A fire broke out, and Chappie left the apartment.
Next, Chappie and his friend Russ, camped out in an abandoned summer house. Chappie
eventually left and helped a young girl named Froggy escape from a drug addict and
porno movie maker named Buster Brown. Chappie and Froggy then met up with a
religious Jamaican named I-man. Chappie felt that I-man was his teacher in life. After
meeting I-man, Chappie decided to send Froggy back to her mother. Chappie then
followed I-man to Jamaica where they dealt drugs to tourists. In Jamaica, Chappie ran
into his real father who took him and I-man back to live at the "mothership". At the
"mothership", Chappie ended up losing his virginity to his father's girlfriend. Finally,
I-man got killed, and Chappie became a part of a sea crew and set out on another voyage.
I think Rule Of The Bone is a great intriguing story. On one hand I could identify
and relate to this teenage boy and share some of his feelings. However, it made me
appreciate the security...
The Rule of the Bone
This essay was extremely short for the subject matter. Personally, this is one of my favorite books and I think you missed some major points. It was never about his connections to other people; I loved how the people came and went, while Chappy gleaned a bit from each experience. The ending wasn't a bad one in this respect, because although Chappie may have lost some important people, he also learned some important life lessons. It was disappointing that you didn't even mention Bruce, because he was a very integral character symbolism-wise. Rose, Bruce, and I-man were all reflected different periods in his life. Really, I didn't think this essay does Rule of the Bone the least bit of justice. Try not to read it so shallowly.
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