Sampson Wu > Recent Status Updates

At the end of the book, Davy had grown a lot especially from Wes and Frank. He realized that his dad doesn't need to be the "tough guy" and carries a Cot .45 around all the time like in the movie to be a good sheriff. Battling between justice and family members can be even harder than whatever the stereotype for sheriff is. The justice in Bentrock is limited and shaped by power rather than fairness.

At the end of the book, Davy had grown a lot especially with Wesley and Frank. He realized that his dad doesn't need to be the "tough" sheriff and carries a Colt .45 around all the time like in the movie to be a good sheriff. It is a hard job when people has to deal with justice and emotional conflicts. Davy learned that justice in Bentrock is limited and often shaped by power rather than FAIRNESS.

At the end of the book, Davy had grown a lot especially with Wesley and Frank. He realized that his dad doesn't need to be the "tough" sheriff and carries a Colt .45 around all the time like in the movie to be a good sheriff. It is a hard job when people has to deal with justice and emotional conflicts. Davy learned that justice in Bentrock is limited and often shaped by power rather than FAIRNESS.

Frank's death wasn't such as surprise to me. Although it is almost the end of the story, but it is a huge turning point of the story. Frank's assault towards Marie was spreading in the society, and the Hayden family really want a good reputation. So Frank didn't want to live with accusations. He would rather die than getting imprisoned, and that shows how he relied on his status and power to protect his actions.

When Wes decided to arrest Frank, the community kind of started to know something happened in the Hayden family. However, the society was not that easy. I feel bad for Marie because she was getting discriminated since she was a Native. Bentrock people didn't want to accuse Frank, a white male, for a Native woman. This also shows how corrupt the society was, how the Hayden family's power was greater than justice.

Towards the end of part 2, David realizes how unfair the world can be. That stood out to me because just 50 pages ago, David was a naive, 12 year-old boy knowing nothing in the adult's world. Marie's situation completely changed his perspective. I think people just don't know what they should do. Lying or not being justice is obviously not good. But sometimes, doing the right things can cause huge consequences.

When I saw Marie suddenly died, I was actually not surprised. It is pretty obvious that Frank sexually assaulted Marie. I think the reason is the power in the Hayden family was extremely imbalance. The timing of her death was pretty interesting as well. She was the only direct evidence to show that Frank raped her. But now, the evidence is destroyed by Frank, and it makes the case harder to solve.

Wesley was finally dealing and confronting the raping case of Frank and Marie. But Wes was still reluctant and didn't want to do it. It if pretty interesting to see Wes fighting himself and deciding to investigate on the case. On one side, he is the sheriff and on the other side, he is Frank's brother. It was a super hard decision for Wes to choose justice over his family, arresting Frank.

At the end of part 1, Wesley was frustrating between his sheriff job and family. Thus, David felt the cruelty and the hidden truth in his town or even the whole society. The world is not perfect anymore in David's mind and he was losing his innocence then. Some people would abuse their powers such as what Frank did to the Native American woman. I feel like David suddenly grew up from a 12 year-old to a man.

On page 9, the father could've been a lawyer but his father, the grandfather made him into a sheriff, because he wanted to keep his power. I think it is interesting that how the dad was so obedient to the grandpa. Also, the dad was being the sheriff in another way. He didn't shoot anyone, and he talked to people to solve issues. That is because he was the lawyer that needed to deal with cases vocally.

In the prologue, the author mentions how the dad was on the floor begging for help from the mother. I think that is pretty interesting because his dad was the sheriff. The sheriff should be a tough, hardcore guy that is always the one that stands up while confronting issues. However, Davey's dad did the opposite. Also, the mother is usually depicted as weak, but she pulled a shotgun out.

Possum brought Cal to the woods and the difference is that this woods no one cares about the kids. So they can put stuff in the woods like Possum did. The boys liked that place because they can play freely in the woods and hide stuff. Possum hid guns, bows, and other stuff that I think is not allowed in the Challagi school.

In the school, kids were saying "Yes sir!" I feel like this is too strict for a school. Normally, a school is for kids to study or in this case to let Indian kids be American. But I kind of feel like this school is a military. Teachers are super strict and kids don't act like happy kids any more. Meanwhile, this might be understandable because guys want these kids to change drastically.

I know what happened when Pop talked about their great-great-grandfather was moved away from their homelands by the colonists. I am pretty confident to say that Manifest Destiny caused that. I feel that is bad because the colonists just got their land and didn't give any good thing to the Indians.

Cal recalled that other people said he and Pop had the same hair, same brown skin, and the same bent-nosed profile. Then Cal was trying to clear the idea out of this mind. What I feel from those paragraphs is that Cal had been brainwashed by other people that being an Indian is bad because a normal kid won't think Indian is bad. Cal is trying to tell himself that he is not a Indian which is kind of racist.

On page 43, Pop said his mom was still humorous even when she was sick. Normally, when someone is humorous they are happy or they want to make other people happy. I think why she did that is to show Pop that she is fine, she can still make jokes. She doesn't Pop to concern her too much. I think that is good because she was sick, which is bad, but she doesn't want other people feel bad about her.

In chapter 2, a tramp stole somethings from Ms. Euler and Pop and Cal said they will help Ms. Euler find the tramp and get the things back. First, tramp is just bad. They do nothing except stealing from others which is not cool for others. Tramps can just be hobos and work for themselves. Second, I think Pop and Cal is so nice that they are trying to help Ms. Euler. They could have just left her with the tramp.

When Cal thought of him crouching beside his father in the muddy trench , I think Cal likes his father a lot and he wanted to meet his father. I feel Cal and Pop is so unlucky because they are hobos and they are orphans. In the last part of the chapter, Cal and Pop met the Red Campbell that gave them food. I think that is a nice thing to do and it is lucky for Cal and Pop because food is hard to find for hobos.