Narrative Review & Character Assessment For There Are No Children Here Book Essay Sample

Narrative Review

The kind of life Lafeyette and Pharoah lead show the efforts that kids put in place to just be kids. Despite the situations they find themselves in, deep inside they still remain kids. This is shown by Pharaoh’s sense of adventure; he wants to go to the rails to collect snakes and on the way stops to enjoy the scent of the flowers. Just like many other children, I can relate to the difficult situation that Lafeyette and Pharoah grew in. Henry Horner homes were characterized by poor facilities such as lighting and broken down mailboxes. The issue of violence is also made common to the children at an early age, and this impacts them mentally.
Amidst all this, the role and abilities of a mother standout. In cases where conditions of life are difficult; the biggest impact is felt by the mother. Lajoe, for instance, has to deal with the negativity in the neighborhood and the disappointment she has experienced from her children. Mothers, therefore, play an essential role in the final outcome of their families especially the children.
In every society where some sort of social unrest is evident, there arise individuals who profit from the situation. At Horner, such a person was Jimmy Lee who was one of the gang bosses that perpetrated terror in the area. My experience has shown that such kind of people try to portray a nice picture of themselves such as helping the poor, but their overall negative impact on the society outweighs any positive thing they do.
In a place such as Henry Horner’s homes, individuals cope differently to the hard conditions. Some eventually succeed while others are not so lucky. In the case of bird legs, for instance, he started out well being a friend to Lafeyette. The two went about hunting for dogs and keeping them for fun, but this changed for Bird Legs as he grew. They grew apart due to his involvement in gangs which finally lead to his shooting. This is a common story for teenagers in such places.
Friends are an essential part of life though their impact on one’s life varies. Lajoe, in this case, has a friend in Rochelle; a friend whom she can pour out her heart and talk of the worries that she has about life. Everyone needs this in life especially when living in the conditions Lajoe lived in. She talks about and how the violence and pressure of the neighborhood have contributed to his stutter in speech.
Being a child like Pharoah is not easy. From my experience, school becomes the refuge to which a child can escape the horrors at home. With teachers such as Ms. Barone, kids have some hope that their lives will amount to something. She was usually supportive Pharaoh his creativity and supported his decision to enter into the spelling bee competition. School also becomes the avenue through which friends are made. That is how Pharoah meets Rickey, an older child that Lafeyette is not sure of.
Being a minority group in the society comes along with issues such as injustice. This can be seen in the Terrance’s term in prison. He maintained his innocence though the justice system did not listen to him. Closer to that experience is the run in with the police that Lafeyette had at the Chicago Black Hawks game. The officer resulted to attacking Lafeyette even though he was trying to make an honest living. These are the kind of problems I can relate to that arise from staying in places such as the projects.
Despite all the problems people in different situations, their strongest character is being hopeful. I recall instances when times were hard but as a family, we always found a way to smile. This is shown by the efforts Lajoe makes in throwing a surprise birthday party for Pharoah and even taking the younger kids for a ride during Christmas. This shows the spirit that the people have, and that leads them to push for success even when the situation is difficult.

Character Analysis

Lafeyette is an example of a child who is forced by situations to grow and mature quickly. I can relate to his situation given that I had siblings who I had to look out for while helping my parents to run things at home. The maturity process for Lafeyette begins at an early age where at the age of 10, he hears gunshots and progressively learns how to react to them. Given that he has siblings such as p, he has to learn how to protect them from harm that comes in different forms in such a society. Apart from being forced to be mature, Lafeyette has to limit himself in the things he indulges in due to the perceived effect of such things. A perfect example is in playing basketball, a game that he loved. He could not go to the playground since the kids there were likely to influence him to join gangs, a thing he detested. He represents a childhood where choices are made for you and where one is not freely allowed to indulge in activities they like.
The kind of friends made in a community such as Henry Horner’s homes also has an impact on the kind of life that one lives. During his early life, Lafeyette found a friend in Bird Legs with whom he used to go and hunt for dogs and keep them for sport in the backyard. They however grew apart as soon as his friend started to become affiliated with gangs. This shows the principles that Lafeyette has, principles that do not allow for friendship that may negatively impact him.
As Lafeyette grows, however, he starts to be more susceptible to gang activity. This represents the effect that constant negativity, pressure, and violence can have on a principled person. He moves from the young kid who did not want to be swayed by Bird Legs to a member of the four corner gang. Though this was not a typical gang that was indulged in criminal activity, it brought him problems since he was finally accused of breaking into a Toyota CAR.
As a child living in the projects, the role played by an individual at home differs from those played by any other child elsewhere. Lafeyette illustrates this by the roles she played in his early teenage years. He was a confidant of his mother, a pillar on which she could hold on to. This is a heavy load placed on young shoulders. He also played the role of a protector to his siblings such as Pharoah. given that his father was not always present he felt like he had the responsibility of keeping them safe. He even went to the extent of teaching him how to fight in order to learn how to protect himself.
The harsh economic conditions also frame the ideologies and relationships that children in this situation have. Lafeyette is seen offering to drop out of school in order to help feed the family via getting a job. His pressure also leads to a confrontation with his father and mother by accusing the latter of not trying enough to get them out of the poverty situation while criticizing his dad about drug addiction.
Despite all these issues, Lafeyette portrays the spirit of young people in the projects. This is the desire for a good future and a chance to reach adulthood. In the projects, however, it is difficult to breed such a spirit when occurrences such as the killing of Craig Davies occurs. These represent the difficulties children in the projects have to overcome in the pursuit of a better life.