The Book
1. The main character in this novel is a New York street kid. Her name, as far as we can tell, is Maybe. The only friends she has are other teenagers who roam the city, struggling to survive. It’s no surprise then, that her approach to everything in life is cautious and suspecting. But what is surprising is the small glimmer of hope and trust she still has after years of living in the slums. This shows her strong spirit and gives her a little bit more of a chance of escaping the streets.
2. At the start of the book was a short chapter which stated the setting and introduced the main characters: Maybe, Rainbow, Maggot, Jewel, and 2moro. The setting is modern day New York City on New Year’s Eve. Then the story picks up speed and moves along to the death of Country Club, a twenty year old acquaintance of the main character, and the pickup of a new member of their group, Tears. After that we learn how each member of Maybe’s group earns money to survive. For example, Maybe juggles for cash while Maggot, another street kid, sells fake drugs. The main body of the story begins shortly after with a series of terrible events. Some of these terrible events are Maybe’s harassment by Bobby at the library, 2moro’s murder, the suicide of her best friend, Rainbow, and Maggot’s abandonment of their group. All of these make Maybe wonder if this is the only way for her to live. Near the end of the book Maybe realizes that she has to help herself and Tears to escape the streets before they end up dead or worse. Maybe then proceeds to bring Tears and her family back together in order to help someone who still had a choice. After seeing the warm reception Tear’s family gave her, Maybe wonders if she will ever have something like it. The story ends here with Maybe turning back to face the world.
3. Throughout the culmination of the novel, Maybe experiences multiple things that change her life. Maybe changes accordingly to each and makes a new path for herself. The author of this book is probably trying to show the ugly side of life to the world. My best theory is that he wants us to learn from it and do something about it.
The Issues
1. Maybe, along with the rest of the homeless and poor, has been bearing the brunt of society’s failings for quite some time. One danger is the people around her; each one has issues of there own and may pass them on or harm others, creating new issues. Maybe is affected personally by this because she has become extremely cautious of others and mistrusting, save a few. Another failing of society’s is the multitude and availability of drugs in the masses. The main character is not really affected as much by this issue, but some of her friends are. Rainbow in particular, seeing as she suffers from depression because drugs have ruined her life from the beginning. Lack of medication and cleanliness are also faults society has created. Country Club died earlier on in the book because of it and Tears was affected directly as a result. She was scared when confronted with death and it caused her mental damage. Tears had no parental figure to nurture her or to give her comfort so she had to have been on the verge of depression.
2. There were two events in the novel that really made the issues discussed in the novel seem up close and personal. For one, when Bobby harassed Maybe and Rainbow I was shocked. It was in a public place and there was a security guard present! The event showed me how bad things could really be. A figure of authority and safety completely ignored the problem. It made me wonder how safe I really am in today’s society. If the author wanted to galvanize people into action, he choose a perfect scene for it.
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