Toby's strength, Mom's weakness

Poor Toby. This is the first section in the book I feel any sort of sympathy for him (even if he might not deserve it). All I can say is he is definitely changing. As much as a jerk Dwight might be, he is kind of helping Toby become this stronger person. We can see that it's very rough for Toby at first, leaving his mom and having Dwight aggressively drive home, hitting animals with his car and smoking. I almost see Dwight as a vaccine of an illness that is injected into Toby's life, and the vaccine is working. It's helping Toby become stronger.
He really does suck it up and copes with his inner pain very well. Obviously many of Dwight's actions are not necessary, as seen by Norma and Skipper's empathy for Toby's suffrage.  It's a shame that Toby's change is kind of abusively forced, but it's working. Toby is actually becoming more of a man, and not relying on his mother to do everything for him as usual. I was shocked how Toby told his mom that everything was going "fine," when he saw her. I'm quite frankly proud of him, and probably wouldn't have done that myself. He just smiled and went off with charming Dwight.  My question is how long is Toby going to be able to keep this up, when is he going to break and release all his inner feelings that are building up inside? He keeps telling his mom these things that aren't true, why? I'm also getting the feeling that mom is unsure about moving in with Dwight. I get this feeling from her excessive assurance of what Toby wants and how he is. I'm sure most people have similar feelings.  

Motif? I Think So!

A very common motif in this book I noticed was money it's in every section. This motif is probably the biggest one because Toby is slowly gaining more and more as he goes on, he started this book off with absently nothing other than clothes and a car, now he has his own job and living in a house he may not appreciate the hardships he has at this time but he will soon to come find out that he will have it a lot better then most the people in the world and he will be grateful for it even though Dwight might be whipping him a bit to much at the moment.    

Dwight's a copycat

I see that Dwight is like my "father" if you would. Because Dwight is someone who would take advantage of someone's abilities. The same with my "father" he would drag me along for things I wouldn't even be apart of, like work he would say you'll help me paint and fix dry wall. But I sat in an empty house doing nothing but complain. The same with Jack although Dwight uses Jack's  abilities to apparently set him straight but he's not. He's just a copycat of my "father".

Hard work for nothing

In my opinion Dwight is taking advantage of Toby and screwing him over. I have a prediction that Toby is gonna turn around and stand up for himself. I also think that Toby's mom is gonna come into the picture and do something about it.

Does He Love His Mom?

In this section of the book we get more of an insight on life with Dwight. Dwight's not too fond on bringing Jack with him when he goes to visit his mom, and when he does he blatantly lies to her. What's the difference now? The difference now is Jack feels guilty lying to his mom, one because he loves his mom — but it's mostly because Jack is in a bad situation with Dwight. "She made the world seem friendly. And somehow, with her, it was... My mother did not expect to find people dull or mean; she assumed they would be likeable and interesting..." (99). Jack was explaining his mom as a loving, nurturing person but he still doesn't explain why he treated her the way he did. So far, I think this "whole new deal" for Jack has given him a lot of time to think and now he's realizing that some of this things he's said and done haven't helped anybody or anything. I don't think it will continue to have positive affects on Jack and this is a short term feeling (of guilt and such) for Jack.

Childhood

Being a privileged child,  I can understand wanting to have things your way and also wanting attention. But yet I was also very down to earth. Toby on the other hand, is handed a lot given his situation. Toby does not appreciate things that are given to him even though the reality of the item he is given is huge in his situation. He is a brat and his mother deserves more. I can see maybe because he is a child he does not really understand but because he is in a hard situation he should understand even more that he needs to be happy with little things and be grateful. Toby constantly must have the attention on him and the money spent on him. Its one thing to be gratefull but antoher to simply be selfish.

Step-Father like Step-Son?

Dwight calls him a "Hotshot" in a drunken anger while going probably 70 or 80 miles per hour and "Lays down the law" to Toby and says "You pull that hotshot stuff around me and I'll snatch you bald-headed, you understand?" (Wolff, 91) Dwight is trying to be a Hotshot himself which in terms he is completely contradicting himself as drunken fools usually do. This shows how bad of a person he really is if he is trying to change Toby from what he is claimed to be, even though Dwight is already a more of a "hotshot" than Toby.

Dwight finds out

This part of this boys life Dwight acted like a real d* bag. First he hit a beaver purposely   and tried to make Toby pick it up. He then went to a tavern and made Toby just wait there for hours. He couldn't even turn the radio on. When he comes back Dwight goes on about how he's a hotshot and that he lies a lot. Dwight knew that Toby did impression of him and got really harsh at Toby. He just wanted to change the way Toby acted but I felt like he was being too harsh. They kept swerving on the road so they could of gotten hurt. It really did make Toby listen up to him because if he acted up again who knows what Dwight could of done.

Discourteous Dwight

In this short section of the book, a lot of Dwight's true identity was revealed. I noticed this especially when he went out of his way to hit the beaver on the street while he was with Toby. I felt particularly sorry for Toby because he is seeing a completely different side of Dwight- that his mother isn't seeing, and may never see. Hopefully Toby stays strong and does the right things to properly deal with Dwight. I wonder what he'll tell his mother, if anything.

Beaver Hamburgers

In pages 87-91 I was really thinking how crazy Dwight really is. I'm not for sure why he would go out of his way to hit the beaver in the road, and then try to make Toby pick it up and put it in the trunk. The other part that really got me is when he was asking if Toby was a liar or if it was his mom who was a liar. This section of the book really showed how crazy Dwight is.

This Should Be Fun

In this chapter you finally get to see the true, rude, heartless, messed up Dwight: it's great. We all knew, anyways, that Dwight is most likely a terrible person, and now that that is out in the open the book can only - in a sense - get better. Jack is going to be with Dwight for a while and I can't wait to see what kind of impact that has on Jack, and what, in particular, Dwight is going to do to make him less of a "hotshot". Jack is "in for a whole nother ball game" (91) with Dwight, there will be no more shenanigans and Jack is going to behave himself. I can't wait to read about what Jack does, and how he handles different situations. I think it's about to get serious, and although I'm glad we finally know who Dwight is, I hope he's not in the picture for too long.

JACKS ACTING SKILLS

Jack is somewhat forced to move in with Dwight in Chinook. On the way there after purposely killing a Beaver, Dwight makes Jack put it in the trunk where Dwight plans to sell the pelt for money. Which disgusted Jack. When finally heading for Chinook after going to a tavern Dwight asked Jack how good of an actor he is. Which Jack didn't answer. Then Dwight got Jack mad by bringing up Marian a friend of his moms saying that she's said he's a descent actor and that he had acted as Dwight. So Dwight demanded that he see his act. Which Jack didn't oblige to, which made Jack a horrible actor.

CAN ANYBODY REALLY TRUST TOBY?

I see Toby as a deceiving, cunning psychopathic liar. Now someone may say "well you jump the gun" that may be right but believe me I've been there and done that. While smoking a joint with four friends he wrote "Fuck you" on the wall in the boys bathroom. Being questioned by the vice principal with mom at his side Jack insisted he didn't do what was done in the bathroom. When in reality he did do it. Yet him mother still believes him. I hope when the time comes Dwight sets him straight.

Burgers and beavers

This chapter you get more detail on Dwight how he's more demanding than you think, he's was demanding on Toby by yelling at him to pick up the beaver but he didn't. This must have been awkward for Toby because he doesn't really connect with Dwight and all he was doing was yelling at him, and calling him hot shot.

Friend Helping A Friend Out

In one part of the book Toby's mom and him were  at the beach, they met two men one named Gil and another named Judd. Gil was being a "wing man" for Judd and helping him distract Toby from his mom. Judd was trying to get Toby's mothers attention by making it sound like he had a lot of money, by saying that he would buy Toby a really expensive bike for that time.

Liar liar pants on fire.

During this chapter Tobias was lying to his mom and principle about carving the swear word in the wall and says that he he was framed by the weed fiends and sticks with that as his story as his mom backs him up all the way because she thinks that he never lies to her.

Ungrateful

Toby's behavior has been terrible towards his mother. Not only is he lying to his mom constantly about smoking and stealing he is taking advantage of her. He acts like she has all the money in the world but he knows that's not true. Toby spends her money all the time. He is rude and selfish for doing this. His mom is trying to make their life easier but Toby is just ungrateful.

Toby`s Actions

In this section that I read it talked about Toby`s delinquent actions. I felt like the things he got into just got worse and worse. He was smoking in the guys bathroom at school and was swearing a lot . Toby scratched the words f* you into the wall. When the vice principal tried to get him to confess he kept saying it wasn't him. But when the principal explained how his friends told him he was there with Toby he denied. He even got his mother to believe that he was telling the truth. I feel bad for Toby`s mom because all shes trying to do is stand up and look out for him. But all hes doing is manipulating her into thinking that hes a good and innocent child.

Get it together

I'm ashamed in Toby. Why is he doing this to his mother. He's getting into bad things and he's not making it easy for anyone. His mom is single (currently) and works a job while also raising him. And then she has to come into the school to hear this nonsense about Toby acting up? That's wrong. He is treating his mom so disrespectfully! I also can't believe how stupid his mom is being. She thinks Toby doesn't lie to her? Hello, where have you been. I mean Toby is smoking, hanging out with mischievous kids and what not, she doesn't even have a clue as to who Toby really is! If things don't change the situation is only going to get worse. Toby needs to get his act together and mom needs to pay more attention to Toby.

Down With Dwight

After this section of the book I wouldn't be surprised if Jack turns out to be, yet another version, of the boy who cried "wolff". After his little bathroom scandal, he got into deep trouble. It just so happened to be in that moment where Jack actually felt sick: go figure. Did the vice principal believe it? Not for a second. Jack has told so many lies that he's finally starting to believe them himself, Jack expresses on page 78. He was starting to believe in his own innocence of the situation. Not only does he have himself convinced of this false innocence, he's got his mom on a leash, practically, with his lies. I feel bad for her in this case because she hasn't raised him in a way to be like this. But in another way I don't feel bad for her because she hasn't given him more discipline. I'm not trying to say his mom is a bad person, she just could have made a couple of better choices. Anyways, Jack's in for it now because he's going to be spending a lot of time with Dwight. Hopefully this will knock some sense into him, but in my opinion living with Dwight will only make things worse - for Jack and for mom.

More delinquency

Toby has been showing more delinquency, getting into trouble with the vice principal. Also  his delinquency is getting worse is because of the people he's hanging out with. In my opinion I think he's gonna mess up bad and Dwight is gonna lose it and mess up in front of  Toby's mom.

Blind As A Bat

Toby's mother needs to find her that fell off her head. Toby's mom refuses to see what is wrong with Toby even though he is the one that scratched "F*** You" on the wall, Toby's Mother refuses to accept anything that he did wrong and asks him if he did it he said no then his mother turned to the principle and said "See, he doesn't lie to me." Like I said blind as a bat if any mother thinks that their kid doesn't lie to them they have a problem it's just how kids work they lie....

This Girls Life

This Boys Life is anything but a good one. Whilst reading this book I have begun to compare my life to Tobys. I have realized that although in Tobys persecutive of his life, it seems to be okay despite the hard patches the come along, the amount of badness is minimal to him. I understand that Toby is only a child at this point and his view on life makes things seem a little less important or evident in a bad situation. I can understand the seriousness of a situation and I can comprehend everything that is going on in Tobys situation because I am older, more privileged, and I feel, more educated. Overall, looking at my situation I can understand that I have a lot in my life.

Deceiving Dwight

This book is anything but ordinary. This book shows that someone as nice as Dwight all the time must be putting on some kind of show. I personally don't think that someone could be as happy as Dwight all the time. Once "Jack" and his mom go to stay at Dwight's house his true personality shows when he communicates with his children. One thing that showed how fake Dwight is, is when he promised "Jack" to shoot turkeys on Thanksgiving, and then the day of Thanksgiving he told "Jack" that it was just for adults.

Is it a lie?

"Dwight was quite after my mother told her story. Then he told one of his own about a Thanksgiving he'd spent in the Philippines, when starving Japanese soldiers ran out of the jungle and grabbed food right off the chow line, and nobody even tried to shoot them." (Wolff 75). On multiple accessions Dwight has lied but I can't seem to tell if this story is a lie or not... I think he's starting to slip with his fake but oddly believable personality, but I still can't see why Toby's mother can not see it like us.  

Dwight's other side

I'n this section of the the book I felt like we got to know Dwight a little more. He acted so nice and sweet at first when he was around Toby and his mom. Later in the section they go to a turkey shoot and Toby's mom beat Dwight. He acted really furious and immature about the whole situation. He wouldn't even talk to her the way home. I felt like Dwight should of at least apologized or handled the situation differently. I'm not quite sure if this relationship Toby's mom is getting into the best for her. She even says that it feels like she's getting rushed into something but doesn't seem to be ready yet. Dwight could think differently and might want her and Toby to possibly move in. She's doing well in work and feels as if she's getting somewhere. Toby even agrees with her that later is better than now.

Dwight's A Baby

In this chapter you get to see a "new side" of Dwight. In reality, you knew this was coming. We discussed in class that no one could ever, truly be as happy all the time as Dwight is, and that his happiness was an act. Dwight is all about "respect" from his kids, and he does get that. When his kids try to have a real conversation, or correct him in anyway, Dwight becomes disrespectful and lashes out at them. Although Dwight is trying to brag about how great Chinook is, in all reality it's not that great. Even Jack's mom said she didn't want to rush into anything - somehow Dwight is making everything continue to move fast. More importantly, what bothered me the most, was how much of a baby Dwight is. He lost the turkey shoot, blamed it on the gun, and gave Jack's mom the silent treatment. You would think someone in that position would be proud of their spouse, or whatever. Skipper corrected him, and he turned into a sarcastic baby and got all defensive when the comment wasn't direct to him.

DWIGHT'S APPEARANCE

Dwight's appearance is the the key. The key to what I believe is his thought that he can get in with Jack's mom. He also in my opinion is a guy that would straighten Jack out due to his personality. For example when Jack and Dwight are going Chinook where the rifle club is holding a Turkey shoot out.  Jack thought he was going to shoot a Turkey but the truth was found out when Dwight used Jack for his gun. In the end Dwight's appearance is what's going to shoot him down.

Dwight's big Show

One of my favorite parts in this chapter is when they all go to the turkey shoot and Toby's mom signs up, shocking Dwight. Of course, she wins and discourages Dwight while his children laugh at his anger. "He killed a deer once" "with his car!" He is so mad about Rosemary "showing him up" and it's really funny. He wants them to move up there with him and is putting on this great "show," for Toby and his mom to impress them. But the show starts going downhill at the turkey shoot, for Dwight at least.

Good detail and knowing Dwight

In this chapter I didn't really connect but I noticed a lot. I noticed that this chapter had good detail about Skipper and Norma. It gave good detail on how Skipper had a "wedge shaped head, a flat back and a long bladed nose". It also gave good detail on how Norma had "big red lips, how she stretched she showed milky slices of belly, and how she had thick red hair". Finally in this chapter we were getting to know Dwight, it shows how he's not that perfect guy he's strict and mean.