https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p Daniel Magariel en-us 2017-10-09 22:28:21 UTC 2017-10-13 15:21:16 UTC hello@padlet.com https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2017/03/29/2017-03-27-one-of-the-boys-mcarrasquero-001_wide-9e6268a879a87913fa4ef8f411281d3b0aa6d390.jpg?s=1400 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195399801 2017-10-09 22:41:55 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195399801 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195400764 2017-10-09 22:50:16 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195400764 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195434181 2017-10-10 03:21:37 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195434181 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195434546 "For the most part I liked it when my father was high. He was soft, restrained, subdued" (Magariel 37).]]> 2017-10-10 03:24:51 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195434546 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195434896 "My father had begun to walk back to me but had veered off the path, away from the bridge, toward a cliff. And at that point when in real life my father had yelled out, redirected me away from the edge, in the dream I was muted, immobile, my expression indifferent, while inside I screamed and flailed and wept--a great wind that would not blow" (Magariel 96).]]> 2017-10-10 03:27:56 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195434896 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195435315 "'...you're supposed to be there for each other. You're supposed to stand up for each other no matter what... This is your brother for life. You are his last line of defense'" (Magariel 51).]]> 2017-10-10 03:32:08 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195435315 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195436088 "This was it. This was supposed to be the moment I would get us free. Get us free--my father's phrase. I was revolted to realize that he was so much a part of me. I wanted to expel him from my being. I wanted him out, exorcised" (Magariel 143).]]> 2017-10-10 03:39:19 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195436088 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195436657 2017-10-10 03:44:03 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195436657 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195437496 2017-10-10 03:50:28 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195437496 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195437537 "I imagined us returning to that moment, back before our dad releases all his air in a single sudden shot, back when our minds are still, and we have no notion that the bottom is about to drop from beneath us" (Magariel 154).]]> 2017-10-10 03:50:49 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195437537 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195440380 It’s funny. There are these happy accidents that people have while working with material for so long. Your instinct to do something is different than the meaning it garners by the end. I heard people say there is this anonymity with the namelessness and it sort of makes it universal. The reality is that I feel awkward in fiction when I name people. Once I name people, it doesn’t feel real. The first few stories, I didn’t want to name them. It worked, so I kept doing it.

]]> 2017-10-10 04:10:32 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195440380 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195440617 2017-10-10 04:12:43 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195440617 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195441258 Throughout the novel, the father brings up the same story multiple times. For example, he initially mentions that having kids was his idea, saying, "It was my idea to have both of you, you know?'" (Magariel 50). The father's sobriety is shown here, and he is able to calmly distinguish his love for both sons. Then later, after his addiction  altered his personality, and he became violent, he tells the narrator, his favorite son, "'You were my decision... [Your brother] wasn't planned like you. To be honest I didn't even want him" (Magariel 131). This quote shows how his opinion of his sons changes depending on whether or not they are on his side. Not many pages after, he breaks down and admits, "I never wanted kids. I'm not built for them. I never wanted them'" (Magariel 139). The father's honesty in this quote illustrates how volatile his actions become as a result of abusing drugs. This repetition the author uses clearly displays the extreme change in the father's character throughout the novel. ]]> 2017-10-10 04:18:50 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195441258 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195441357 One symbol I thought was meaningful throughout the novel was a sculpture the father bought  in Albuquerque that represented the hope for a new start in a new town. He explains, "'There was something down here, something in the sunsets, in the mountains, the people. The Indian way of life. I call it... the spirit'" (Magariel 17). Later in that chapter, the father commented on a sculpture him and his boys found in a shop. The twelve-year-old describes, "He brought me to a sculpture of a woman in profile, carved from alabaster, no more than two feet tall... Her hair flowed back with her dress... 'She's got the spirit in her doesn't she?'" (Magariel 20). Here, the father identifies a tangible object to represent his feeling of the spirit he described earlier. Finally, towards the end of the novel when the narrator and his brother were planning on leaving their father and returning to their mom, they went to the park and brought the sculpture with them. The narrator explains, "We left The Spirit our in the park, facing east" (Magariel 115). This abandonment of the sculpture at this point in the plot clearly represents how they're abandoning their father in Albuquerque, their longing for a new life with him gone. ]]> 2017-10-10 04:19:59 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195441357 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195441382 I was a little confused as to why the author included the epilogue he did because it doesn't give the readers hope for the characters after their escape from their father, in my opinion, it gives readers a sorrowful feeling. In the epilogue, the twelve-year-old describes the the day the trio left Albuquerque, showing his excitement for their freedom, which was never achieved with his dad; the narrator struggled for freedom away from his father throughout the novel. Why does the author choose to create this mood at the end? ]]> 2017-10-10 04:20:23 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195441382 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195442104 2017-10-10 04:26:54 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195442104 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195866961 Overall, I immensely enjoyed reading One of the Boys. At times it was hard to register because of the terrifying images it created in my mind; however, it candidly described the reality of this fictional situation and made me feel sympathy for the two brothers and root for them in the end. My favorite part would have to be when the narrator and brother were dropping their father off at the airport and were planning on fleeing back to Kansas that night. During this scene, the narrator gains the confidence to stand beside his brother, choosing him over his dad for the first time. His thoughts race at this moment, completely realizing that this might be the last time he sees or talks to his dad, which was heartbreaking to read. I do not have a least favorite part, for even the hard-to-read violent scenes hold meaning and raw emotion from the narrator (and one of my favorite quotes). I would definitely recommend this novel to everyone who has a tissue box handy and isn't afraid to get personal. The text is extremely relatable, direct, and emotional. Although this novel is short, it is dark, thought provoking, and definitely worth the read.]]> 2017-10-11 03:11:39 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/195866961 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/196847791 2017-10-13 15:03:27 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/196847791 mperez201 https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/196856901 2017-10-13 15:21:16 UTC https://padlet.com/mperez201/h7k6r5wqvi9p/wish/196856901