If I Grow Up Analysis

747 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gangs in Chicago

The deaths per year done by guns, 80% of them are gang related. If I Grow Up, written by Todd Strasser shows the life of a male kid growing up in the projects in Chicago. DeShawn wanted didn’t want to join the gang and stay in school. But his family didn’t have money or food. His friend that was in the gang had a bunch of money. So DeShawn joined the gang because in school they didn’t teach them much, and the money that his family got was a lot more of it when he got in the gang. I think that DeShawn had a choice not to join the gang because he could get a job, could have gotten a better education, and other people have gotten out of the projects.

Some people thought that DeShawn didn’t have a choice in joining the gang. However, I think that he did have a choice in getting out of the projects or not joining the gangs.

DeShawn could have gotten a job out of the projects or a different job in the projects. First, other he knows people that got a job that wasn’t in the gangs. His girlfriend has a job working for random people. The text state, “All those nights I can’t see you, I babysit.” Also, his friend got a job. According to the text, …show more content…

DeShawn does have the choice about joining the gangs. The people in the projects do have a choice about getting out of there. Almost every male kid in the projects gets peer pressured into the gangs. If you are strong and motivation to get out of the projects; you might have a chance to get out. The people in the projects have the potential to do something with their lives if the go to school, and follow good role models instead of the gang members and leaders. Intercity projects are something that no one wants to talk about. The projects have people dying at a rate 12 people per day in one project. The government doesn’t have more cops sent into the projects. The cops don’t want to go into the projects, because they don’t want to be

Show More
Related

  • Summary of Monster by Sanyika Shakur

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Kody Scott was born into the gang life weither he liked it or not. Born on 1963 in South Central Los Angeles Kody?s life would be affected by the growing number of gangs inevitably. Kody knew he had a choice to be made, be a gang member or be a pedestrian. He viewed pedestrians as spineless nerds who were always victims of someone?s ridicule or physical violence, who never responded to an affront of any type. He himself had a taste of pedestrian life in grade school were he was picked on and had his lunch money taken from him. ?Early on I saw and felt both sides of the game being played where I lived. It was during my time in elementary school that I chose to never be a victim again, if I could help it?(Shakur 100). Being in a gang gave Kody a feeling of security in a city of violence. ?I felt very different, older, more attached than any of...

    Read More

  • Book Summary Of A Gang Leader For A Day

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    JT suggested to Sudhir the only way he would know what it is like to be black and poor is to actually experience it. “You need to understand how young people live on the streets,” JT states (21). Sudhir took JT up on his offer and ended up conducting research on JT and his gang for many years. Sudhir was under JT protection and got to know the ins and outs of the gang operation. The relationship was complicated, but Sudhir was willing to work hard to understand the black community.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jumped In By Jorja Leap

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    The book emphasizes the idea of how difficult it is to leave the gang lifestyle. There are frequent cases of relapse by individuals in the book, who were once out to again return to gangs. This case is brought by what gangs represent to this in the book and what leaving entails them to give up. The definition of gangs presented to the class was, three or more members, share name, color, or affiliation, or must exist in a geopolitical context. To members associated with gangs, this definition can include your family members, neighborhood, everyone that they associate with. Take for example Ronnie from Jumped in by Jorja Leap it states,” Ronny’s role models are gangbangers. His family is a hood. His mentors are older homies in county jail.”(102). Ronnie and other gang members like him do not

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Luis Rodriguez's 'Always Running'

    896 Words  | 2 Pages

    Parents must be cooperative with their child as well into a specific resource center that dealt with indecisive mothers of raising their child(s) to help them suppress their child from joining gangs at an early age. Many parents are not aware of resource centers in their local area where they could seek an assistance and advice from someone expert (Social Worker or Psychologist) especially if their neighborhood is prone demographics of drugs, crimes, and some illegal substance. There are many kids that joined gangs because they are in a neighborhood prone to drugs and crimes where they could be influenced by it instantly by a flick of a finger. An article “What Schools Do to Help Prevent Gang – Joining” by Gary D. Gottfredson shows a statistics of students in certain cities percentage in joining gangs and not doing well at school. “Baltimore City 41%, Philadelphia 61%, and Albuquerque 49%.” Despite their value in reducing the general risk for problem behavior, school-based programs aid strategies are unlikely to reach youths who might be at greatest risk of joining gangs: those who have dropped out of school. Kids that are a drop out of schools are not getting much attention because some programs only focus or covered only those who are not yet involved in such case. It is mortifying to see that government has no action upon the situation. Gangs have a huge negative

    Read More

  • Sociological Reasons behind Gang Violence in South Central Los Angeles

    1077 Words  | 3 Pages

    Over the past 60 years there has been a recent phenomenon in the development and rise of gangs and gang violence. This is exceptionally apparent in South Central Los Angeles where the Bloods and the Crips have taken control of the social structure and created a new type of counter culture. Poverty in this area is an enormous problem caused by a shear lack of jobs; but just because there is a lack of jobs doesn’t mean that there will be a lack of bills to pay, so sometimes selling drugs in order to keep a roof over your head seems like the most logical option. Crime often times flourishes in these regions because the inconvenient truth is; crime pays. Senator Tom Hayden stated “It’s been defined as a crime problem and a gang problem but it’s really an issue of no work and dysfunctional schools.” this statement is in fact true, but with an exception it is a more broad issue than just involving school, and lack of jobs but goes beyond into social structure as a whole and more specifically the judicial system, this can all be supported by three sociologists Chambliss, Anderson, and Durkheim.

    Read More

  • The Effect of Gangs in There Are No Children Here

    952 Words  | 2 Pages

    For the children of the projects, the pressure to join a gang never waivers. Quick cash and protection are hard forces to resist in a world of poverty and violence. However, the children's role in these gangs is inferior to that of the leaders. At first, the concept of joining is quite attractive. According to Lafeyette, one of the two brothers profiled in the book, " 'When you first join you think it's good. They'll buy you what you want' " (31). However, " 'You have to do anything they tell you to do. If they tell you to kill somebody, you have to do that' " (31).

    Read More

  • Sudhir Venkatesh's Gang Leader For A Day

    1852 Words  | 4 Pages

    Toward the beginning, I thought that being involved with a gang would be very dangerous. Gangs did ended up being threatening for Venkatesh, with all of the shootings, fights, and other drama that occurred during his research. I learned that it is hard for people to just to able to walk into a foreign area and be accepted. For Venkatesh it was hard, but once he was able to bond with the gang leader, JT, he helped Venkatesh which greatly helped him with his research. Moreover, if I was the one who was walking into the resident’s building I think I would get looks even more than Venkatesh because I am younger, innocent, and of the opposite sex all of these characteristics would have an effect on me. This would have made all the difference, because I someone who would not know what to do with people of a different culture. I learned that everyone acts differently with other social classes and

    Read More

  • An Analysis of Asian Gangs

    1705 Words  | 4 Pages

    First let's focus on the fact that gang related crime is one of the most dangerous challenges facing society and law enforcement today. They are younger, more brutal, unafraid of consequences and becoming increasingly more vicious. Gang members work together as cliques, they commit all sorts of violent crimes including murders, rapes, robberies and kidnappings. "They live in aimless and violent presents; have no sense of the past and no hope for the future; they commit unspeakably brutal crimes against other people often to gratify whatever urges of desires drive them at the moment and their utter lack of remorse is...

    Read More

  • And Then I Went To School Analysis

    581 Words  | 2 Pages

    Language and power have a strong relationship, when one is speaking one is introducing two things at once. Language and power hold on to each other like a priest and his God. They take each other in, sometimes helping others understand it. In “Aria” by Richard Rodriguez and in “And Then I Went to School” by Joe Suina describes how language and power can create and destroy your past and present.

    Read More

  • Why You Reckon Analysis

    588 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story I chose for this analysis is “Why, you reckon?” by Langston Hughes. IN this analysis I will be focusing on how the great depression in Harlem had effect on the story, how racism played a part, and how or if the characters were justifyied in their actions. During this time period the intense racial divide combined with the economic harships that plagued the U.S. during the 1923’s makes for an interesting story that makes you think if the charaters were really justified.

    Read More

  • Growin Up In the Hood

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    When a child is growing up he is frequently asked what he is going to do for money when he gets older. The more this question is asked to them, the more they feel like they have to have money to be happy in life. After many tries of trying to make a stable life at a low paying job, a criminal life maybe more appealing to them at they may start living life under the gun. As stated by William Wilson in When Work Disappears, “Neighborhoods plagued by high levels of joblessness are more likely to experience low levels of social organization, they go hand in hand.” In Chicago for instance, in 1990 there was only one in three in the twelve ghetto communities that had held a job in a typical workweek of the year. When there are high rates of joblessness bigger problems surface such as violent crime, gang violence, and drug trafficking. (Wilson P356-362)

    Read More

  • Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh

    1369 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sociology student Sudhir Venkatesh sets out on a journey within the Chicago housing projects with a quest of finding out how it feels to be black and poor. Sudhir was an Indian native from a middle class Californian family and he was unfamiliar with the black culture within Chicago. In his book Gang Leader for a Day, he tells of his sociology research within one of the roughest housing projects in Chicago. Sudhir starts his research by talking to a few elderly gentlemen he played chess with at the park. His conversation with them led him to the Robert Taylor Housing Projects which was described as one of the worst Ghettos in America. His research began the first day he arrived with his clipboard of questionnaires ready to ask the question, “How does it feel to be black and poor?” His intent was to interview a few families within the projects and then go home but something unexpected happened. He ended up spending much longer gaining an insight of the lives of poor blacks, gangs, and drug dealers.

    Read More

  • Why Young People Join Gangs

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are various reasons behind young people joining street gangs. One of the reasons young people join street gangs is because of neighborhood disadvantages. A theory that can contribute to why young people might join street gangs is Social Disorganization Theory. Social Disorganization theory assumes that “delinquency emerges in neighborhoods where neighborhood relation and social institutions have broken down and can no longer maintain effective social controls (Bell, 2007).” Social Disorganization contributes to residential instability and poverty, which affects interpersonal relationships within the community and opens opportunities for crimes to be committed.

    Read More

  • Youth Gangs And Delinquency

    1836 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gangs have been around for a very long time. Gangs were still around back in the late 1800s. Now gangs have evolved so much from that time period. In the 1920s – 1930s, gangsters were very classy dressed men, these people were in the gangs to make a lot of money. Yet, there was people that were in prison gangs also, they were in them for protection. Now in today’s times, things have changed. People don’t carry the same ideals on why they want to join up with a life of crime. Yet, here is some a few of the reasons behind why people do the things they do with a gang. Poverty, is the first reason I would like to talk about. To this day, money still makes the world go around. Meaning that some of the gangs are created to be a money making

    Read More

  • Gangs

    1148 Words  | 3 Pages

    When a young kid gets involved with gang activity their personality changes in a bad way. Now that the young gang member is part of some kind of illegal crimes their personality changes because they feel unstoppable. These young kids feel invincible, almost as if nobody can stand in their way, which can be a big problem to the people who stand in their way. These kids act as though they have no fear so this leads to more crime, which further leads to jail time.

    Read More

More about If I Grow Up Analysis

Open Document