...e of this incident, Butler rents another room and does not live ith Benjie and his mother any more. Mrs. Johnson and her mother are very sad about that, so they go to a fortune-teller, because of something they read in the nespaper. The fortune-teller gives them magical gimmicks in order to exorcise all evil from Benjie and bring Butler back to them. Though Benjie is bathing in those herbs of the fortune-teller he steals a toaster from the oman, in hose flat Butler is living. Mr.Craig sees him and chases Benjie up to the roof, and as he is endangered to fall off the building, because he tried to jump to another one, Butler Craig saves his life. That is the point from hich on Benjie respects him like a father. He tries to give up drugs and goes to the addiction center.........The main charactersBenjie JohnsonBenjie thinks the hole orld is against him and that nobody really loves him. And even his mother does not love him any more, that is hy she anted Butler to live ith them. He also thinks, as the most drug-addicts do, that he is not really addicted to drugs. He quotes If you on somethin, that mean you hooked and cant give up.... I aint hooked.... I take somethin sometime, but I aint no user... Benjie does not like Butler in the first place, and feels he is a rival for the love of his mother. hat I admired about Benjie as, that he really lives a very hard life and does not give up though everything seems hopeless. He had no real childhood, he is 13 years of age and talking like a tenty year old gangster. Though he is so young he already is very strong, because he as able to give up fixing ithout much energy. But it is a horrible thought, that such lives really exist. I am sure in the slums of the big American cities this novel has become reality several times. And I think Alice Childress made her novel up from things she heard or even experienced in her childhood.Mrs. Rose Johnson Benjies motherShe is very happy to have a man like Butler Craig on her side. He is her support and it is difficult for her to live ithout his strength. She definitely loves Benjie but it is very hard for to get along ith his addiction. Rose tries everything to help her son, as the alk to the fortune-teller shos she really tries the oddest possibilities in hich she does not even believe in general. ith Benjie addicted Butler is everything for her, she needs him, needs him deadly. And drugs are about to destroy her hole life Dope is the trouble. Dope is taking aay my son and my man.... I ant both of em back. She is a very strict mother and likely to explode and get red hot. But Rose also is a kind mother, ho really loves her son and does not ant her son to die of heroin. Besides Benjie I consider her the strongest person in the novel. Because it must drive a mother crazy to see her 13!!!!!-year old son on the ay to the graveyard. But ithout her devotion Benjie ould have died ithin eeks.Mr. Butler Craig Benjije stepfatherButler Craig is a strong, smooth and very cool seeming man. He loves Mrs. Johnson more than anything. He needs her as much as she needs him and that is hy they love each other to this high amount. He tries hard to be a good father to Benjie, but the kid rejects all efforts made by Butler. This disapproval shos off in the stealing of Butlers suit. That is also the incident that drives Butler aay from Rose and Benjie Im missin her more and more. Damn Benjie Johnson! I do not think he hates Benjie, Butler just does not ant to get rejections from Benjie every day and of course he does not ant him to steal him more of his things. At first they come along ith each other, but not too ell. And their relationship reaches the deepest point as Benjie steals the suit to get money for heroin. But after Butler saved Benjies life they really tighten up their relationship. After that Butler really feels Benjie is his son, before that he just thought of himself as the trying-to-be-a-good stepfather, and did not care much if Benjie shoed his dislike for him. From no on he really is anxious about the appreciation of Benjie. This strengthened feelings for Benjie sho in the end as Butler aits in front of the addiction center for Benjie to come out a clean, normal 13-year old boy, for his son Come on Benjie, I believe in you, Im aitin for you.... Benjie dont hold back, come on Im aitin for you, hurry up Im aitin boy..... Its nation time.... Im aitin......On OpinionThis book is about drugs as ell as about the life in the slums of big American cities. I liked it pretty much. It is narrated in a very bizarre ay, because the each of the characters tells the story from his point of vie and so you can put the hole novel together like a puzzle. The truth lies somehere beteen the persons comments. I never read a book, constructed like this one. I think it is a good piece of art, though the language is extremely hard to read. Alice Childress rites like the people talk and this is very, very difficult sometimes. I had to read several sentences tice sometimes even three times before I understood hat the character as saying. But besides those difficulties it is really orth reading. Alice Childress describes the characters very lively and puts up a short but good story. Nevertheless I think the book could be longer, because once you get used to the language it really grips you and you cannot stop reading.Overall a great book ith an interesting technique by the author to tell the hole story.The end ...
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