The pregnant girl and bald girl talk about how they've seen themselves on milk cartons. The milk carton serves as a place to raise awareness of a missing child, but their conversation brings the idea of the milk carton into a different light. The pregnant girl said they stopped making her face on the cartons, and she was disappointed because "It was gonna be cool as fuck, 'cause i'd be giving my baby milk from the cartons with my own face. Get it? How cool is that? Cool as fuck right?" (202) This is almost as disturbing as her drinking while being pregnant, because it shows that she doesn't care about how her life is turning out, and that she is hopeless. The world and lives of "runaways" is so bizarre and unbelievable to me, part of me feels bad for them, but part of me thinks it's horrible and they should know better.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN 5
To build on post #4, about finally getting an idea of what the runaway lifestyle is like, Bock's descriptions give a vivid sense of how grotesquely they live their lives. As an introduction to a scene of the bald headed girl's first night as a real runaway, Bock writes, "Certain boys resembled various punks she was used to, only her friends took time to make themselves look properly disheveled, these punks WERE disheveled, their edges harder their seams more frayed...A game of My Past Sucked the Worst was erupting, with tempers flaring over the hierarchy of incest abuses" (200). The reality he creates is amazing, and the rough ways these kids live makes me think again, are people out there actually like that? Our bubble of Edina is so safe and typical, and Bock's writing style creates a whole new world and culture that I was previously oblivious to. The bald girl becomes friends with a pregnant teenager, and they get drunk and walk around Vegas together, "Now she chugged from a clear plastic botle, swallowing three, four gulps, before she gagged and then doubled over, spilling thick green liquid from her mount, down her chin and neck" (200). Not only is the description disgusting, but the crime she is doing do her body and her baby is even more disturbing. This makes me question whether runaways don't know any better than this, or if they think their lives are so far down the drain that they are unrecoverable. It seems impossible for somebody like that to ever have the ability to lead a normal life, and makes these kids futures seem very dim.
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2 comments:
Kristen, I am reading this book too! Its so very depressing but I'm hooked to every page. I especially am interested by the girl with the shaved head. If you ever want to talk about it give me a call. PS watch for correct MLA citings
This seems like a very interesting book. These poor kids have to deal with so much more than we do in Edina, like you said. I feel for the pregnant girl, because she must have some serious problems in her life is she is drinking while pregnant. The damages this can do to the baby are serious, but she doesn't seem to care. Good Post!
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