Billy Bathgate

I'm not entirely sure what our essay is on tomorrow, but I wanted to summarize the basic conclusions I have reached about my novel, Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow.

1. Often, people choose to join gangs not only to better themselves socially and financially, but also to provide themselves with a sense of family that they might not have otherwise.

2. Once in a gang, the safest place to be is often near the leader so that there is a sense of safety in knowing the conversations taking place and the plans being executed.

3. Sometimes, a romantic relationship is the factor that will damage the loyalty of a gang member to his or her leader.

4. It is often important to maintain an open relationship with other gang members, keeping no secrets that may be found out, damaging credibility.

5. A mentor for a new member is never clearly stated, but often an older gang member will take a younger member under their wing and teach them enough to get by on their own.

Billy Bathgate is a novel that I would recommend to others interested in relationships between gang members and the inner-workings of a gang. It was interesting to see Bathgate's transformation from an innocent, poor boy to a smart, manipulative man.

The Road

It is rare for me to come across a book that I don't enjoy, but The Road was one of those books that I just couldn't get into. I felt that the entire plot was too convenient. The man and the boy continued to escape death by a hair and it can be assumed that the pattern was the same for the ten years prior to the beginning on the novel. How is it possible that right when they are about to starve to death they find an underground bunker filled with food? I can understand if the author wanted to include one lucky experience, but then at the end the veteran shows up right when the boy walks out into the road. It seems that the veteran and his group had been following the man and son for a while, but how did they manage to survive and keep track of two people? The meeting between the boy and the veteran grinds my gears. It was the one part of the book where I was happy for the little boy, but then someone had to tell me that it is quite possible that the veteran isn't one of the good guys. I could have gone the rest of my life thinking that the boy was taken in by a kind group of refugees, but for all I know he could be eaten.

Inquiry Project

I started reading my first novel for the inquiry project over my Christmas break and I realized that there are a lot of different aspects I didn't consider in regards to relationships within a gang. First of all, my mind just assumed that everyone is born into a gang, which I know is not true in most cases. Billy Bathgate, the young boy in my first novel, had no intention of ever being a part of Dutch Schultz's gang until the infamous gangster gave him ten dollars for his juggling talent. It was then that Bathgate decided that he wanted to integrate himself into the gang to improve his social standing. Money was his driving factor, but he soon realized that he would constantly have to watch his back and couldn't trust anyone, especially Schultz. Once in the gang, always in the gang. This is another component I didn't consider when I first started reading. Not all members are always going to be happy with the leadership of the gang, posing the question of how to ever remove oneself. It was made very clear at the beginning of the novel that if you cross the path of the leader or don't comply, the consequence is a long and painful death. Everything revolves around the leader and most gang members act in fear of this central figure, never speaking negatively of his character. Also, the leader is a male every time, because men are viewed as the dominant gender. I'm looking forward to examining the gang member relationships in my next two novels, set in different time periods and cultures.