Carmen by John Benton

1750 Words4 Pages

John Benton,

Characters

Major

Carmen- The main character in the story, she is abused by her father and her mother is in denial. She later leaves home to find a life of drugs and prostitution.

Vinnie- Is Carmen's "old man" who protects her and becomes her pimp. He is very much into drugs like Carmen.

Mom- Carmen's mother, scolds Carmen for making her father lash out at her, when Carmen tried to stop her father from beating her mother.

Dad- Carmen's father, he abuses her in her early childhood and has an alcohol problem.

Lulu- A girl that is a couple of years older than Carmen, she introduces Carmen to the world of drugs.

Bud- Sells drugs to lulu and Carmen, Carmen has a crush on Bud in the beginning of the story.

Nancy- Introduced to Carmen through Lulu, Nancy is a prostitute and also becomes addicted to heroin.

Gene- Nancy's boyfriend and pimp.

Minor

Hugh- Carmen's pimp, until he is caught and arrested.

Bernie- Carmen's alternate pimp after Hugh is arrested.

Floyd- friend that takes Carmen to the Bronx to find more work.

John Benton- Reverend that talks to Carmen about Teen Challenge, a program where women devote their lives to Christ and put their problems in his hands.

Lil- An unfaithful member of CADA (Citizen's Against Drug Abuse)

Ned- Leader of CADA.

Fred and Jerry- more addicts that are friends of Carmen.

Summary

Carmen is a story about a girl who is only fourteen years old and she deals with moving to a new neighborhood and her abusive, alcoholic father. As she deals with her father's problems and her mother's denial she quickly falls into a life of drugs and despair, which will follow her throughout most of her life. It all starts with Carmen and her family moving from Brooklyn to New Jersey they find a bigger house and buy lavish furniture that they cannot afford.

Her dad has always been an alcoholic, but lately he has become aggressive and lashes out at Carmen and her mother. After he tries to strangle Carmen she tries to run away and finally succeeds on her second attempt. Carmen then lives with her friend Lulu for awhile and she becomes addicted to heroin. Carmen meets two people through Lulu: Nancy and Bud.

Bud grows fond of Carmen and she decides to live with Bud who is a drug dealer, but after she repeatedly steals drugs from him, he kicks Carmen out.

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