Carolyn M. Acampora

EDF 520

Dr. Ensign

March 18, 1998

Reflective Paper # 3

Assignment: Novel - Myers, Walter Dean, Scorpions.

Growing up is a hard thing to handle... so many changes, so many choices - what's right? Depending on the circumstances - economic, social, and emotional, - growing up through a child's eyes is tremendously difficult. There is so much confusion and anxiety, so much pressure... This is the plight that faces our children today, and these are the issues that become overwhelmingly obvious in Walter Dean Myers' novel, Scorpions. To reflect on these issues would almost be impossible. Nonetheless, it is through Myers' illustrations and through my own interpretations and comprehension that I have developed a conflicting, perhaps confused and sad picture of exactly what Myers was depicting - the circumstances that surround children today. Simply, after reading this novel I find that not only has my own soul been moved, but my mind has been stirred, my emotions have been tremendously affected, and my heart has been deeply touched. Through this book I have been able to sense the confusion and injustice that surrounds our children today. In fact, I believe that Myers, perhaps, in his attempt to portray the plight of children and the conflicting issues that surround children today, may be, in fact, depicting the very essence that makes up our world and the confusion to which envelopes our youth. In truth, Myers emphasizes what it means to be poor, young, and black in a world filled with bias and made of prejudice...

In his novel, Scorpions, Myers touches on the factors surrounding minority families growing up in the inner-city. Through a boy named Jamal we, the readers, see all the pressures and struggles that he must overcome. The story is so realistic and believable that it is almost too frightening to think about it. The story revolves around a boy, Jamal Hicks, who is only twelve years old. Jamal's family consists of his mother, his little sister, and himself. Although Jamal does have a father, he does not live with the family and very seldom visits. Jamal also has a brother, Randy, but Randy is in prison - caught in a world with so many choices, Randy chose to become a Scorpion and eventually it is this factor that leads him to shoot and kill someone. Even with this, Jamal's mother struggles to better the family's life. She is hard-working but cannot seem to keep a job. His younger sister, Sassy, can be viewed as almost a typical little sister, if it were not for all the problems that surround her family. Yet, this is what life is like for many minorities who are poor. It is all these variables - the struggle to pay rent and support the family, the pressure of seeing one brother in prison, the tensions of all that comes with being poor and black - that plays a role in this family's conditions and their lives. The conditions of being poor and black seem to relate to why such hardships and pains come to them, it was inescapable, they live in a world where race and social class determine exactly what is going to happen to them. They live in a world that is prejudiced and cold...

In Scorpions there are a few points that I would like to discuss regarding certain factors that Myers touches on. First of all, throughout this entire novel one cannot help but sense the overpowering - what should I call it... - social injustice or confusion that evolves around the plight of children and the attitude and insufficient sensitivity of the majority towards the minority. To explain this, look at Jamal's mother. She struggles to get by everyday, she tries to keep her job, she is pressured under the fact that she is a single parent, she loves her children and because of this she wants to get her eldest out of jail and back to school so that he will "get something in his head so he can earn him a good living" (Myers, p. 180). She is a mother who wants the best for her children and puts them first. However, when she asks her boss, Mr. Stanton, for a loan to get Randy another trial, he turns to her and says no because "money was hard to come by... and he wasn't having such a good year" (p. 181). It's ironic, those who have the money will not part with it to help someone who is less fortunate than themselves, but those like the Hick's stick together and help their fellow man in any way possible (like when the Reverend came to pray for Randy when he gets stabbed).

The next point I would like to make, which also relates to the above situation, is that Myers depicts the world - as a whole - as insensitive, disinterested, and unknowing of the feelings, the capacity, the constraints, the suffering, and the lives in which these poor children exist in. He makes this point clearly through the voice of Mr. Davidson, the principle of Jamal's school. Portrayed as an insensitive oaf, Mr. Davidson constantly degrades Jamal. He has this notion that he cannot ask Jamal's mother to school to talk because "she probably doesn't care anymore about" Jamal's education then he does (Myers, p. 16). It was not, in fact, school that bothered Jamal, but rather individuals like Mr. Davidson who make up the school. Like Myers describes, "when Jamal walked out of Mr. Davidson's office he felt like walking right out of the school. He was tired of school anyway. The only thing he did was to sit in the classrooms and listen to the teachers tell him what he could and couldn't do" (p. 17). Furthermore, Mr. Davidson could not see past Jamal's family history (meaning Randy) and believed that "sooner or later" Jamal was "going to do something that's going to" allow Mr. Davidson "to put him out of school" (Myers, p. 59). It was, in fact, Mr. Davidson who did not think Jamal would change, he was a "contamination" to the other children and needed to go "someplace for kids with serious problems" (Myers, p. 211). What was the reason for this harsh opinion of Jamal, it cannot be just that his brother is in prison? Could it be that his family and economic situation could really influence the ideology and beliefs of another in such a way? Whatever the reason, Mr. Davidson simply believed that since Jamal's brother got into trouble, that his mother was no good and that Jamal would follow in his big brother's footsteps. Yet all Jamal really wanted was to be seen as a human being, a child who made mistakes, he wanted comfort, protection and attention. This can be seen when Mrs. Rich, one of Jamal's teachers, finds him and speaks to him as an individual and as if "she was really interested. He didn't say it to her, but he was glad" (Myers, p. 211). Jamal, like so many other students in similar situations, craves the need to be needed and strives to feel like others care for him or take an interest in him. However, all his life he has been put down and thus he loses his faith in others. He, perhaps, loses his faith in himself... It is this suffering and confusion that Myers clearly and forcefully shows.

One last point that I would like to reflect on, which is connected throughout the entire novel, is the strength in friendship and the destruction of gangs. Myers describes how hard it is for children - especially poor children who are minorities - to escape gang-life. Along with the pressures of other kids to have the best shoes or sneakers or the irrefutable struggle to better oneself, there is the inescapable constraint of a gang. It is in this book that the Scorpion gang displays this constraint and confusion of children who become enticed to join so as to become a member, a brother. It was this gang that lead to Jamal's brother's imprisonment. So this one member, Mack, tries to take advantage of Jamal to get him to join the gang with the idea that Jamal could take over for his brother, and so that, in the end, he could conspire to become the leader. However, even though Jamal himself does not want to become a Scorpion, the power is enticing. Jamal's best friend, Tito, tells Jamal he cannot become a Scorpion because he will "get in trouble" (Myers, p. 77). Nonetheless, Jamal and Tito battle each obstacle that comes their way, even when faced with a gun (given to Jamal by Mack) (Myers, p. 79). It is this gun that changes everything for both boys, it changes things forever... "They were afraid of the gun," but it was this gun that allowed Jamal to take a stand and not have to fight - whether it be against Indian who was a Scorpion, or Dwayne from school (Myers, p. 89). Jamal felt that "things were just so messed up" (Myers, p. 109). Though people backed away from the gun, it was just not right. Even still, as Jamal states, "people didn't mess with you when you had a gun. Maybe it wasn't right to have it, but people still didn't mess with you" (Myers, p. 109). Nevertheless, even though the gun seemed to give Jamal power, it was "too much trouble" (Myers, p. 133). Although Jamal and Tito felt this way about the gun, it was not until it was too late that they disposed of the wretched thing. While, it was this gun that allowed Tito to save his friend when being beaten by two of the Scorpions, it was this gun that tore the two boys apart. In fact, the pressure that remained with Tito and his actions lay heavily on his heart so that he could not bare it any longer and had to tell his grandmother - although the story he told was altered in order to keep Jamal out of trouble. Therefore, while this gun offered the boys a feeling of power and strength, it also remained the cause of all the trouble and the conflict that would separate two friends forever. It is this sense of love and friendship, this heartache and conflict, that depicts and exposes the issues - the challenges and conflicts, the intentions and complexions, the obstacles and confusion - that surround all children and all cultures today.

Throughout my own reflection of Myers' novel, I see this pain, this confusion, and this agony which young minority children are faced with every day. These children not only struggle with school, peer pressure, and family life, but they struggle with their own sense of morality, ideology and identity. The norms of society are not the same for them. The lives of the poor are full of struggle and confusion, yet through friendship and love these children of the poor - as well as the adults themselves - can find the path that allows them to grow and develop in the best way possible. It may take a lot of work, but the work is just half the battle. The other half is the struggle to find respect, protection, and power in children, as well as society and oneself, only then can we as a whole provide for our children, and only then can we truly focus on the welfare of society, of ourselves, and of the plight of our children.

In conclusion, my overall reaction to Myers is one of understanding and belief. The story he portrays is one of heartache - the life of a poor black boy struggling to make the best but being bogged down by critical teachers and parents, by the confusion of gangs and guns, and by the inescapable pressures of being poor and being black. It is this story - the attitude and ideology behind it - described by Myers that allows the passion and faith of the novel to come out. It is because of these things that I can respect and comprehend Myers entirely. It is through all these efforts that Myers, in Scorpions, attempts to disclose and transform how society conflicts with the cultures of children and the plight of children in society, the issues - such as guns, gangs, family and friendship - which surround all adults and children alike. It remains to be these very issues that lead to cultural contradictions and prejudices which perhaps distorts and misguides the attitudes and notions which erode society's understanding of such plights and issues placed upon our children. In short, perhaps it could best be said that in order to comprehend this plight faced by our cultures children we must take an interest, we must show we care, and we must not lose hope. These children are our future and it is up to both them, as well as us, to change the world, to combat conflict and prejudice, and to be victorious against the plight which surrounds our children!