Fire In The Ashes By Jonathan Kozol: Character Analysis

If it is fun who is going to stop anyone from doing whatever it is. No matter the dangers when the adrenaline is pumping there is a sense of invincibility. In the book Fire In The Ashes by Jonathan Kozol there is a character in chapter 4 Silvio: Invincible who was one of the main characters in that story who proves my point. A bit rebellious and still young Silvio had many different characteristics to describe him perfectly. Silvio had somewhat of a grudge against authority he never really obeyed his mother's wishes or the personnel that worked in Person In Need of Supervision or PINS. Silvio was also a defensive boy who protected himself when he was confronted by a thief who was trying to steal his mothers pager from him on the subway that

caused him a pretty bad injury. At a very young age Silvio was exposed to a lot at a very young and influential age that molded him to the person he was. Even though we were so different Silvio and I did have a few similarities. Being restrained by some other person is something I can not handle easily just like Silvio when he was in PINS.
A bit reckless can describe both of us in a way Silvio because of how he did not respect adult authority and he went wild, on the other side me on how I feel nothing bad can happen to me while i'm working and obviously not being safe.

As a troubled adolescent kid in elementary he was a bit of a trouble maker his teachers would complain about his behavior being destructive to school property and smoking weed in the school restrooms. As he grew older the trouble never went away he began to steal from everybody and he felt invincible because he got away with it. Silvio even stole money from Ariella, his own mother, and out of control she sent him to PINS where she felt that he would be protected from the trouble he was courting. Although reckless can mean two different things but still careless nonetheless the difference between Silvio and me is that I was more laid back than he was as you can tell by how Silvio was cursing and screaming to the staff that worked in PINS. At the same time I would not have liked it either if I had somebody trying to hold me down forcefully. Silvio and me share that same kind of attitude when it come to being manhandled or even just touching just as we both don’t like to be punked by some

bully.
Just like Silvio I would immediately react when a so called “Debo” would come up and try to rob me.

When that thief tried to steal Silvio’s mother’s pager from him while out in a car with a group of boys Silvio, like me, jumped to action and tried to get his belongings back. At the time it was a bad idea because the other boy was holding a boxcutter knife and when Silvio reached for the pager his face was sliced pretty bad and he needed sixty-seven stitches to put his face back together. After this incident Silvio wore this scar like a badge of honor and he compared himself to Tony Montana off the movie Scarface whom he idolized. Similar to me Silvio did not stand for that, neither of us would not be treated like some kind of victim just there to be taken advantage of. Although Silvio and I had that in common the difference between us in that fact is that he stole that pager from his mother, something I would dare not do to my parents unless I had some kind of death wish. As one could assume being out late at night and hanging out with the wrong type of people Silvio felt like he could act in such a way because of everything he has already experienced at a young age still feeling

invincible.
Silvio’s mother, Ariella, had a full time job and she had to travel all the way to her job in New Jersey where he bosses office was located all the way from the Bronx. Ariella’s commute was an hour and a half to get to work and would take longer to return home by the time she would make it home it would be too late in the day to be able to take care of her children. So with no adult supervision, as one could imagine, Silvio was hanging out with the wrong crowd because of the freedom he had with no parent telling him that he could not be out late. Beginning to sell drugs he was quickly spiraling down the wrong path. Being exposed to the dangers of the illegal drug business his actions and choices were dangerous and out of control. Without the discipline he was free to do whatever he wanted even if it was wrong, on the other hand, if he had the same discipline I had i am sure he would have chose to act differently. The similarities and differences between Silvio and I are clear and both of our outcomes can be proof of how our choices made us who we are.
Unfortunately Silvio had an accident being a little too reckless doing a very dangerous stunt even though he got a thrilling adrenaline rush of fun. Silvio was struck by a steel girder while “surfing” on a train with a few of his friends and his mother Ariella was informed he died at 5:58a.m. early in the morning from being out all night. Thought the similarities were difficult to find given the fact that Silvio died at the age of 14 and I am twice his age he really did not have the guidance of older siblings or parents to look out for him like did. Silvio and I had more differences than similarities but we were both reckless and we defend ourselves from thieves when we have to. Being exposed to dangers at a young age is something everyone has in common whether its living in a bad neighborhood or even a natural disaster it is a part of life and it is something anyone could encounter at any given time. In Another lifetime maybe Silvio and I could have been more alike if he actually lived out his life completely.