We
Beat the Streets
Analysis
Questions
Introduction – Chapter 4
1. Based on this first section, what is your
impression of Newark and the projects?
2. Describe Sampson’s experience at the
hospital. What do you learn about him
based on his reactions?
3. How well does the principal at Rameck’s
school seem to understand him? What
feelings does she bring out in Rameck?
4. Give your assessment of Rameck’s family from
Chapter Two.
5. What positive messages does George’s
third-grade teacher convey to her students?
6. To which of the Three Doctors can you most
relate. Which would have most likely
have been your friend at that age?
7. Discuss Sampson and his friends’ attitudes
when they set out to steal the Icees.
How do their actions reflect both their ages and their circumstances?
Chapters Five –
Nine
1. Much of Chapter Five centers around the
difficult financial decisions Rameck’s family must make. Discuss some of these decisions and what they
mean to family members. Reflect on how their
situation compares to your family’s.
2. Discuss Rameck’s decision to give Ma’s cash
to his mother. In your opinion, did he
do the right thing? Why or why not?
3. George states, “I knew the moment I walked
into that [dental] office that I had found what I wanted to do for the rest of
my life” (49). How might the dentist
himself have contributed to the formulation of George’s dream?
4. Chapter Seven contains three clear parts:
kung fu lessons with Reggie, the shoplifting incident, and Razor’s car crash
and death. Why do the authors choose
these three events to capture Sampson’s life at age 11? How do the events relate to one another?
5. Discuss reasons why students in the book
would rather be perceived as dumb or as slackers than achievers. How does this attitude compare to the culture
in your school?
6. Why does Rameck stay in contact with his old
friends after he starts at University High School? Can you relate to his desire to maintain
these ties, despite obvious negative consequences?
1. When Sampson walks away from Spud and the
drugs, the narrator says, “he’d been able to navigate that delicate road
between what was right and what was real” (80).
Normally we describe a choice of that nature as being between right and
wrong. Why use the word “real” rather
than wrong?
2. When Sampson turns down drugs on his
birthday, Hock accuses him of thinking he’s better than his friends. Relate this incident to Sampson’s
conversation with Rameck and George earlier in Chapter Ten. Why is staying clean such a challenge in
their surroundings?
3. Discuss the walkout Rameck and the other USO
members stage. Were you surprised by
their success? What did Rameck gain from
this experience?
4. As
the boys discuss their futures, what obstacles to their success become
apparent? Compare these obstacles to
those you face in achieving your goals.
5. The narrator describes the incident with the
crack addict on the playground and includes a broad range of emotions the boys
feel. What are the emotions the boys
experience before, during, and after the beating and stabbing of the man. Discuss the relationship between violence and
emotion in this incident and in general.
What allows people to check their emotions?
6. What lessons does Rameck learn during his
time in jail? What are his most enduring
realizations?
Chapters Fourteen –
Seventeen
1. Sampson steals partly to have nice things
like the kids who deal drugs. Talk about
this temptation. Can you relate? Do you ever see yourself or your peers acting
out of a desire to have more or at least as much as those around you? How do you overcome this desire?
2. Rameck’s and Sampson’s stories of jail time
are very similar. Compare the two
experiences: the temptations that led them there, the justifications they make,
and their feelings during and after the crimes.
3. Despite the serious trouble Rameck and
Sampson get into, they maintain an advantage over their friends. What enables them to look critically at their
actions and turn things around while their friends continue to spiral downward?
4. Discuss how the pact affects the interview
results for the boys. How might the
outcome have been different without the pact?
5. How do the three young men respond to the
high expectations placed on them in the program? What role do you see the expectations of
others – either positive or negative – playing a role in your own
education? Do you feel the expectations
placed on you are what they should be?
6. What sorts of adjustments do the three young
men make in their new lives? Why, with
all that Seton Hall offers them, might Rameck feel “restless and incomplete”?
7. Why do people keep giving Rameck second
chances? Could you have done the same if
you were the mother of the boy Rameck attacked?
Chapters 18 –
Conclusion
1. Do you think the boys should have abandoned
their pursuit of a rap career for less flashy but more stable medical
careers? Did they owe it to anyone to
stick to their original plan?
2. Although academics don’t seem to pose great
problems for the three doctors, Chapter Nineteen illustrates some of the
challenges their schooling creates.
Discuss some of the difficulties the young men and their families face
through their education.
3. Discuss Rameck’s final brush with the
police. Note the variety of emotions he
feels thoughout. How does this scrape
differ from the others Rameck has been in with the law? What does it illustrate about the injustices
the men face despite their accomplishments?
4. Discuss the improbability of Sampson ending
up in his desired specialty at his home hospital. How does this one experience illustrate any
number of the themes and lessons of the three doctors’ stories?
No comments:
Post a Comment