The Cost to Come of Age
How grave must a situation be for one to mature in their perspectives, or in other words, come of age? Evan Hunter’s On the Sidewalk Bleeding explores the idea of psychological growth through the seriousness of death. The protagonist Andy, transitions from ignorance to knowledge, idealism to realism, and thinking of self to thinking of others throughout the story. He goes from misunderstanding what a gang represents to knowing the negativity of being in a gang, from picturing an idealistic future to realizing that death will keep him from having one, and from thinking only of himself and the gang to thinking of the rest of the world. Each transition prominently leads Andy through a shift from adolescence to adulthood.
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Andy considers his feelings about the gang at the end of the story, as “[h]e [remembers] how happy he was when the Royals had taken him” (Hunter 4). It clearly meant a lot to Andy when he was first accepted into the gang and it can be inferenced that the gang is and always has been, his main priority. Throughout the duration of the story, Andy tends to solely focus on what the gang makes him feel such as pride and happiness. He focuses less on the small number of relationships he has, for example with Laura. The beliefs that were instilled in him prevented Andy from getting to know others around him. Ensuingly, as Andy lies in the alley, he sees people passing down the street and “wonder[s]…if he [will] ever get to know them” (Hunter 4). Seeing the people helps Andy to consider everything that he has missed and all the experiences and relationships he lost out on. He becomes weary when he realizes that there are so many people he could have encountered. Once Andy asks himself about the people, he ponders the fact the he will never get to experience life, while “watch[ing] the world [pass] at the other end of the alley” (Hunter 4). Andy looks at the world and watches as it passes him by, realizing that the illusion of happiness the gang may have made him feel does not measure up to the relationships that he could have had. He stops thinking about himself and the gang, and just watches. He also thinks of Laura in a more selfless manner and considers the world that he never tried to get to know. Andy shows a newfound maturity when he starts to think about others and becomes selfless, depicting his coming of age. Initially, Andy solely focuses on himself and his gang. Once he notices the people, he is able to look outside of himself and consider the rest of the world. Andy stops thinking of himself and starts to think of others, and shows a developmental change in
The kids became gang members for many reasons. Some needed to find what their place was in the world, and they needed to know who they were as human beings. Joining the gang gave them a feeling of being involved in something and made them feel better about themselves. They felt that as a gang member they received the attention, emotional support, and understanding that they couldn’t get from their actual family members at home.
One character that changed in their story was Andy from “On the Sidewalk Bleeding.” At the beginning of the story, Andy was proud to be a champion, proud to be a Royal. He was not ashamed of who he was. In “On the Sidewalk Bleeding”, it states, “He could remember how happy he was when the Royals had taken him...There had been meaning to the title.” This shows that Andy was proud of who he was. He was not scared of the Guardians. However, towards the end of the story Andy realizes he was stabbed because of his Royals jacket, not because he was Andy. He develops hatred for the jacket, knowing know that winning a championship was nothing to die for, nothing to give up seeing his lover. In the story it states, “The jacket had only one meaning,
We were the lords of all creation. As for andy he spent that break hunkered in the shade, a strange little smile on his face, watching us drink his beer." This quote shows how little things teh prisoners get can make them happy.Another example would be when he used the hammer to escape from prison. It started when he asked Red to get him a rok hammer, which he said he would use to shape rocks. He calms Red's conscious as he tells it would take him a thousand years to break out of prison with a rosk hammer.When he received the rosk hammer he started to shape rocks as soon as he could and hidden that hole with a poster.After he had the hole big enough to crawl throught, he asked Heywood for a six-foot piece of rope.
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
In the short story “On the Sidewalk Bleeding”, Andy suffers with the inner conflict of his self-identity
Andy goes to psychologist, Dr. Carrothers, to discuss his depression about Rob's death. He does not think he needs to be there because he is fine in school and he is fine at home. Andy talks about why the accident is his fault. He realizes he needs help with his depression and wants to come back for another visit to discuss what is going...
He then continues to say, “Do you want to miss a match? Blow your ride?” The pressure that his dad puts on him to be rebellious like him made Andrew get into detention in the first place simply because he got caught. Andrew describes that he “taped Larry Lester’s buns together”, he then goes on to say “that the bizarre thing is that I did it for my old man.” This further proves that Andrew’s dad has influenced the way he has behaved, and his parent-adolescent conflict worsens as his push for freedom establishes a harsher, goal-seeking father. Instead of becoming close in a new, harmonious way, it appears Andrew and his father will eventually distance themselves from one another. He wonders if he will end up like his parents or not: “Oh God, are we gonna be like our
worsen the situation and control his actions, through the gang he learns to be who he wants and to
The creators of this movie used several effective, and often subtle, methods to illustrate the hope found in Andy and his surroundings. Andy was always portrayed as a clean-cut and well-groomed prisoner with his shirt always buttoned and his hair always combed. This self-respect was in great contrast to the other prisoners who were portrayed as dirty, stereotypical prisoners. The common prisoners also had vocabularies and grammar that were far inferior to Andy’s. The distinctions between Andy and the common prisoners showed that Andy was different, those differences were that he had hope.
This is because the book, Do or Die: America’s Most Notorious Gangs Speak for Themselves is about how gang members, speak about their life and how it could’ve ended. Another connection that I thought of after reading the story; was that I was judged as someone bad when I wasn’t. This relates to the story because people saw Andy as a bad person for his reputation of being a Royal. The last connection I made was that it reminded of when there was a gang shootout and many the gang members died. This is related to the story because it shows that being a gang member can cause a risk of
Hunter demonstrates this evolution in the protagonist of the story, Andy. While bleeding, Andy reminisces about his membership as a Royal and the satisfaction he experiences when joining the gang. “He was a Royal. There had been meaning to the title.” (Hunter, 5). While lying there bleeding, Andy believes that being a Royal brings pride and status, which is an ideal view of being part of a gang. Following this event, after the couple leaves, the main character thinks about what being a Royal has brought him while on the verge of death. “If he died, he was Andy. He was not a Royal. He was simply Andy, and he was dead.” (Hunter, 5). Evidently, Andy recognizes that the title of being a Royal really means nothing when it comes down to it. In his epiphany moment, he becomes aware that he would rather die as Andy than as a Royal; this may be the realistic view of being in a gang, the title does not seem to stand for
I haven’t lived yet. It seemed very important to him that he take off the purple jacket” (Hunter 6). It is at this point that his character shifts from selfishness to selflessness. It is as if by taking off the jacket Andy is sending a message to others that gangs are not important and that in the end, he did not want to be associated to a gang in his death, he only wanted to be Andy.
While in the prison, the inmates are not accustomed to the changes in time. They are only used to the confines of the prison itself. Through this, Red and Andy realize that time waits for no one. Most importantly, it is vital that every precious moment in life must be taken in all seriousness. Through these experiences in the prison both inmates find a revelation within themselves and their time spent in the
The warden is no help as he puts Andy in solitary confinement also known as “the hole” for two months which is more than any other prisoner has ever been in for. In the hole Andy thinks about escaping and living a new life in Mexico. When he is out and talks to Red he sounds crazy as if there is nothing, but nonsense to be said. It was only after Andy was able to get to Mexico that Red took what he said to heart. When Andy left his prison self died and became reborn.