1. After pages 3-4
"This isn't a movie about bars and locked doors. It is about being alone when you are not really alone and about being scared all the time." (Pages 3-4) Steve is in jail and being convicted for murder along with many more juveniles for a incident of a gas station robbery. Steve doesn't want to be there because he is young and scared. I can relate to him, because my freshman year, I was in HSC for drug rehab
2. On page 19
"I didn't say it was bad, but wasn't it predictable? You need to predict without predicting. You know what I mean? When you make a film, you leave an impression on the viewers who serve as a kind of jury for your film. If you make your film predictable, they'll make up their minds about it long before it's over." You can predict the future response because of the present indication. I have predicted many future responses on what happens when I read books and magazines, watched movies, or even listened to another person talk. i have never predicted anything, other than when i know i did something wrong, and i know the consequences
3. On page 21
"Most people in our communities are decent, hardworking citizens who pursue their own interests legally and without infringing on the rights of others. But there are also monsters in our communities--people who are willing to steal and to kill, people who disregard the rights of others." That's right, just like Yankton, we have many senior citizens who are just trying to live happily and healthy, but there is monsters, such as juveniles or teenagers who are doing drugs, drinking and driving, and smoking, while polluting the atmosphere and the earth itself. sorry, i have no clue what i am suppose to say. i have drank, smoked, and done drugs, and lived places where i have encountered countless number of people that smoke, drink, and do drugs.
4. on page 26
"...the laws also protect the accused, and that is the wonder and beauty of the American system of justice. ...We apply the law equally to both sides. The law that protects society all of society. They are equal to everybody in every case of incident. i have been to quart many times, and even though you may not think it is fair, you may have not yet to look at their point in view. but if you still feel that same way, well tough it out; its life. i think its very important to focus on the main idea. you do need to look at other peoples perspective because yours maybe right, but theirs could be too.
6.on page 59
"It's funny, but when I'm sitting in the courtroom, I don't feel like I'm involved in the case. It's like the lawyers and the judge and everybody are doing a job that involves me, but I don't have a role. It's only when I go back to the cells that I know I'm involved." i understand what steve is saying, but i cannot relate to it in anyway possible.
7. On page 78-79
"Half of those jurors, no matter what they said when we questioned them when we picked the jury, believed you were guilty the moment they laid eyes on you. You're young, you're Black, and you're on trial. What else do they need to know?" Steve is black, but that has nothing to do with it, he's young, so he will get charged with slight charges, but he is guilty, no matter what he says, he is guilty in the courtroom. i have been to court many times, and sometimes you have to shut your damn mouth, take what is yours, and get the hell out of there.
8. On page 89
" 'All they can do is put me in jail,' he said. 'They can't touch my soul.' " well his soul is the outside of jail, he hates it there, so he pretty much as no soul anyway. i understand. i have been through so much too.
9. On page 91
"I think about myself so much, about what's going to happen to me and all, that I don't think about my folks that much. I know Mama loves me, but I wonder what she's thinking." he knows hes going to be there for quite some time, and yet he has so much to think about, that he's in a abnormal stage of mind, where he may not think of anything all day long. yup.