A Hero A Sandwich
Páginas: 2 (414 palabras)
Publicado: 23 de octubre de 2012
A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich examines questions of human relationships, self-image, racial identity, and personal commitment while telling the story of one boy's struggle against drugaddiction. Filled with interesting, realistic characters, Childress's story deals honestly and believably with difficult questions.
From the first, the novel demands the reader's intelligent participation.Many characters present conflicting views of racial experiences, poverty, and drug use.
Setting
The novel is set in Harlem in the early 1970s. The central character, Benjie Johnson, says that hishome is variously referred to as "a slum," "a ghetto," or "the inner city," but that it is the same depressing place by any name. As the title implies, this world lacks heroes; drugs are readilyavailable, and both home and school environments seem unstable. The novel takes place in the winter, and Benjie feels that the season's bleakness and coldness typify his life.
Characters
The charactersinclude thirteen-yearold Benjie, his friends and family members, his teachers and principal, drug pushers, and a fortuneteller. Benjie is the central character, but of almost equal importance is theboy's "stepfather," Butler Craig, who lives with Benjie's mother.
Benjie uses heroin but insists that he can stop whenever he chooses. He blames others around him for his problems, including hisformer best friend, Jimmy-Lee, who started Benjie on drugs and then stopped "using" himself.
Literal Qualities
A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich takes a realistic look at life in the inner city. Anall-too-human Benjie confronts a situation that defeats him throughout most of the book. Society's usual answers to the problems of poverty, racism, alienation, and drug dependency fail him. Childresschallenges the term "hero" itself. The suggestion by Benjie and his social worker that a hero is a movie idol or sports figure is rejected in favor of Butler's insistence that he is the true hero: an...
From the first, the novel demands the reader's intelligent participation.Many characters present conflicting views of racial experiences, poverty, and drug use.
Setting
The novel is set in Harlem in the early 1970s. The central character, Benjie Johnson, says that hishome is variously referred to as "a slum," "a ghetto," or "the inner city," but that it is the same depressing place by any name. As the title implies, this world lacks heroes; drugs are readilyavailable, and both home and school environments seem unstable. The novel takes place in the winter, and Benjie feels that the season's bleakness and coldness typify his life.
Characters
The charactersinclude thirteen-yearold Benjie, his friends and family members, his teachers and principal, drug pushers, and a fortuneteller. Benjie is the central character, but of almost equal importance is theboy's "stepfather," Butler Craig, who lives with Benjie's mother.
Benjie uses heroin but insists that he can stop whenever he chooses. He blames others around him for his problems, including hisformer best friend, Jimmy-Lee, who started Benjie on drugs and then stopped "using" himself.
Literal Qualities
A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich takes a realistic look at life in the inner city. Anall-too-human Benjie confronts a situation that defeats him throughout most of the book. Society's usual answers to the problems of poverty, racism, alienation, and drug dependency fail him. Childresschallenges the term "hero" itself. The suggestion by Benjie and his social worker that a hero is a movie idol or sports figure is rejected in favor of Butler's insistence that he is the true hero: an...
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