Hole in my life by Jack Gantos (pg.165-200)

Summary
   The Chapter starts out by Jack discussing the drug activity in the federal prison. All types of drugs were brought to the jail through various methods, even some guards brought them inside the prison. When Jack worked at the x-ray room he had to deal with pretty rough situations of men almost dying because of overdoses of drugs. He helped one man who brought drugs in his stomach and they wouldn't come out, so Jack decides to help him out. Jack also learns a lot of medical skills through working in the hospital floor. He's is sentenced a two year set off before seeing his parole board again, when he went to court tried to be cooperative and sincere but no matter how hard he tried the board found him uncooperative and ignorant. Later on, Jack discovers that writing about his childhood memories took him back in time and filled him with positive energy to get through the harsh prison environment. One day, as he was cleaning a administrators office, he discovered his file and it said he was "uncooperative" he then realized that no matter what he did, it was what he had done that defined him. When he was in his room shortly after, he almost kills himself with his razor but then forces himself not to do it. His father and uncle visits him when they are drunk, and his father tells him that he loves him, this means a lot to Jack. He realized one day that his struggle as a writer had been a lot like his life. He then devised a plan to get out of jail, he decided to tell his caseworker that he wanted to enroll in college and if that he did maybe he would have the chance to be taken out. He applied to a college with the help of a caseworker and a prison administrator and got accepted. His father got him a place to live and a job, luckily the people that received him were very kind and filled Jack with happiness. He quit doing hash and became a fabulous writer.
Quote
"...I understood I had come all the way to prison to realize that what I had in my past was so much richer that what was before me. My struggle as a writer was a lot like my life..."(Gantos 186).
Reaction
 The authors style is shown in this quote as an Epiphany that the Character has, the turning point of the book that the author realizes that he had made up rules for himself and broke them and made more until he had got them right. This quote shows the irony of the book on how his life was alike to his writing. He had always thought that everything he was writing did not have value, or anything that he did in life did not have value to it, but then he realized that everything he did or wrote about in life had value to it. This quote connects to the rest of the story by being the turning point of Jack and guiding him to getting out of jail and going to college to fulfill his dream as a writer. This point gave him a reason to change.

Hole in my life by Jack Gantos pg.118-165

Summary

When Jack finally thinks he is safe from the FBI, he calls his father from a pay phone and finds out that the FBI has been stalking his parents in St. Croix and they are out looking for him. Jack's father is able to get him a lawyer who advises him to turn him self in, Jack then does so. Jack talks to his lawyer and develops a plan for how they are going to try to prove Jack innocent. Jack then spends time around New York reflection on his actions and at least trying to prepare himself for jail. When he speaks to his lawyer he realizes that the person that snitched on him was Rik (the head honcho) and that the only way he could get out of the situation was by naming a couple contacts he had in St. Croix, but sense Jack was innocent had none. He also realized that he was in fact not only hurting him but his family and others by smuggling drugs. The lawyer makes him look in front of the judge as if Jack were just a kid and was granted a youth sentence which is anywhere from 60 days to 6 years. His dad makes Jack give up his car because his families broke. Jack's first night in a federal holding prison was terrifying; he experiences his jail mate wanting to rape him and other men raping his mate. Jack was then transferred to an actual Federal prison where he got lice and was treated in the hospital section, after he was cured he started working in the X-ray lab and experiencing even more drugs that are done in a prison. He learns to do X-rays and shows the reader the horrible nights that the prisoners have in the jail.

Quote

" The slightest fluctuation in the weather outside my window, the smallest passing cloud, the changing position of the sun affected the mood of that room. And my mood shifted with it. I found myself crying, laughing, numb with depression, nervous and pacing, ambivalent, angry, and filled with self-loathing" (Gantos 154,155).

Reaction

  This quotation shows the authors style by assimilating his the weather outside to the mood of his jail cell and thus his mood changing. His room symbolizes him and he's change in emotions as the world around him which is the” weather" controls his emotions. This quotation has to do with the story as a whole by demonstrating the conflict of the book, which is man versus society. Though, in this quotation he is reflecting on his life in his jail cell which has to do a lot with the story also because it is clearly about Jack making a mistake, realizing it and then succeeding as a famous writer.

Hole in my life pg.81 -118

       Summary
    At the beginning of the section, Jack is still on his voyage to New York with his partner Hamilton. He starts writing about his journey in a journal. He talks about his experiences with Hamilton and his crazy personality.Such as Hamilton firing at the air. Hamilton at some point tries to shoot Jack and Jack has to ask for permission to get back on the boat after he jumps off for his life. One day, the encounter a Japanese ship that lends them oil and this is what helps them get to New York faster. The boat then sails into the Coast guard training base, Jack gets really scared and makes the reader wonder think that this is when Jack finally gets caught and sent too jail like he is at the beginning of the book. But Jack and Hamilton do not get caught, they get guided off to Cape May and get off too search for Rik who will pay Jack for his smuggling job. The next chapter, Jack starts to talk about the reasons why people get caught, then he states that he got caught smuggling. Then he stays in New york for a couple days waiting for Rik to sell all the Hash to be able to pay Jack. Jack always feels like he is going to get caught, then one day, two FBI agents arrive at the hotel and catch the two men that sold the Hash all the way from Morocco and Hamilton. Jack runs to his hotel room, grabs his money and escapes out the back window. Just when the reader thinks that Jack is going to get caught, he grabs a train to Florida. In Florida, he stays in the Motel where he was staying at the beginning of the book.
Quote
 " The entire time I felt an invisible hand about to grab my shoulder. my neck was clenched as hard as a tree stump" (Gantos 116).
Reaction
This quotation shows the author using similes, saying is neck was as hard as a tree stump. Additionally, Gantos uses imagery when saying that he felt a hand grabbing his shoulder. This quotation reflects on the deep guild that he feels in hiss writing, of getting caught and put in jail for smuggling. Throughout the book, his actions make him guilty, and these actions stop him from being successful. This quotation shows this guilt to the reader in a very descriptive way.
   

Hole in my life by Jack Gantos pg.51-81

Summary
    In the first section, Jack calls Tim which is the friend who in the previous section steals his money and Tim gives Jack an explanation on what had happened that day and promises to pay back the money that Jack had given him to buy Medical Marijuana to steal. Jack Moved to St. Croix with his parents. This new drug culture in St.Croix is introduced where reefers and drugs are seen everywhere and the police doesn't care about it, they are too busy paying attention to other issues. This is when Jack gets into smoking dope. Also, the black movement in the island is shown were the black people are revolting violently and creating a "white extermination" movement were white people are killed and hurt because of being white. There is a great racial divide between whites and blacks, the violence rate increases and people stop working. White people cancel there house building vacation jobs, so this affects Jacks father and his business. Jack and his father are forced to work building containers. A man named Rik one day orders a container to transport drugs, he hires Jack to transport a sail boat and drugs to New York and Offers ten thousand dollar's at the end. Jack without thinking of the complications but of the money for paying his writing career, accepts this offer immediately. He goes on this adventure with a man named Hamilton, he finds himself struggling between surviving with a man that he clearly thinks is crazy.
Quote
   "But I dried my eyes and after a few beers and a couple of joints around back I imagined the great books I might write. Of course, I didn't write a word. It was easier to smoke joints and have someone deliver deliver drinks than it was for me to deliver sentences." (Gantos 53)
Reaction
   The word But starting this paragraph really shows the way the author writes about his writing being contradicted by Drugs and Alcohol. He feels as though when he is under the conditions of Drugs and Alcohol he is able to expand his mind more and write freely, but this quote shows that he under the actual conditions is not able to write effectively. His style is describing his problems in a very clear way but showing the reader his perspective by using Verisimilitude through his conflicts between Drugs and Writing. This quotation is important to understand because it explains a mini-synopsis of what the whole story is about which is Jack Gantos having difficulty fulfilling his dreams of becoming a writer because of drugs.