Second report on A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun

In my second blog i will be summarizing and anaylzing pages 86-133. He just got out of Send one of the most notorious juvenile systems and was involved in a car chase the first day he was out. He managed to escape and then later in the summer he finds a few buddies and buys a sawed off shot-gun and a luger. The luger is completly out of shape and doesn't work but the shotgun works fine. He never fires the guns during robberies, "robbery is all about confidence and attitude, and if you don't have a bottle in the first place, then no amount of fire power will make you a good blagger" (93). Smith has an immense amount of respect for human life and will not fire on the people he robs for two reasons, one your time in jail will almost triple and the second is that he is compassionate. One of his best times is the summer of 76', he and his team go on a number of armed robberies, (no banks yet), and are on the teddy-boy scene. The teddy boys are a type of gang brotherhood, that is interested in the rock music genre. After he gets nicked for a number of charges that he commited in the summer he is sent to latchmere house, a "real" prison. In this prison he meets another teen named Jel, together they manage to throw a bag of poop on a vicious "screw" (one of the prison gaurds). He is sentenced to 3 years at Ashford prison. When he is in custody after trial he meets three real "chaps" and models his entire life from that point after them. They wore sharp suits and were treating with respect from the screws. Here he meets up with some old pals and a few new. They are treated specialy because they are under an extremly rare and harsh law, called section 53. when they meet up they instantly start to haze the sex offenders and "nounces" in their turf. (nounces are usually sex offenders who want to be with the "normal" prison crowd and refuse protection, then they snitch on the "normal" crowd to the screws). This shows that Smith still has morals but they are different than the straight goers morals. Smith's morals include sticking for his friends and cleaning the prison of perverts. He shows that he has some highly attractive qaulities such as loyalty and determination. You can also tell that he has a sense of humor because he and his friend threw some poop on a screw that was giving everyone in the prison trouble. Amongst his qaulities his best one is his intellegence. He shows this through by saying in court that he is a soldier of the army of crime and according to the geneva convention he should be trying to escape from prison all the time. He backs this up with head lines talking about the "war" on crime. The judge is humored by this, and the prosecution is infuriated. However the persecution say that for the geneva covention to apply to him his state must of signed the convetion and the underground criminal world, isn't really a state.

citation on previous post.

A Few kind Words and a Loaded Gun, an autobiograohy by "Razor" Smith

I will be anaylizing and summarizing the first 85 pages of my book in the next two paragraphs. Background information- "Razor" Smith's real name is Noel Stephen Smith, he got the nickname razor because he was notorious for slashing people with his weapon of choic, a razor. He is currently alive and serving a prison sentence for life. He has been in numerous jails and is Irish. Plot summary: Razor is a normal kid growing up with an extremly supportive family in the south side of london. At the current time (1970's) the IRA have been bombing northern Ireland and the Irish are discriminated against. His family is poor, he has a brother and a sister, his dad is a drunk and a famed pub fighter. He qiuckly adjusts to the life he has got and becomes a tough kid who dislikes school because he doesn't learn. He and the neighborhood kids all hang out together and the main changing point in his life is when he skipped school as usual and he and his friend were walking to a muesam. Some undercover cops take them into their van and torture them for "burgling" the neighborhood. He has his hand broken and the police cannot get them convicted due to lack of evidence but the charges his family press against the police are dropped because the police continue to threaten him and his family. After this he hates all men in uniform, and declares a war on the police. He does an assortment of crimes and finally is caught and convicted. He gets his first taste of the British juvenile system. After he gets out he begins a life of crime and does small armed robberies in stores, he is also addicted to adreneline and says that was his drug of choice.
In this book I am constantly feeling pity for razor because he was a smart guy who was messed with for no reason. Through out the whole book I always wonder what his life would be like if he hadn't been tortured as a child. Prior to the beating his idols were the "robin hoods" of the day and could've easily been police. When he goes to juvenile he is taught about the rules and who are the "chaps" and who aren't. These rules remind me what life would be like if there was no authority and terrifies me of prisons "the criminal is the hungry wolf, and the straight goers are the sheep"-Razor Smith. The places are described as primal states where the best fighters win. The moral decisions of Razor are generally understandable. He was wronged and he is extremly proud so he won't take the wrong and decides to fight back. This shows his determination not to be broken or beaten. Later his rage comes in and adds to this. For these qaulities I look up to Razor but for his actions I condemn him. Maybe if he had a better moral gauge or religious base he would've ended up being a pulitzer prize winning author.

citation- Smtih, Razor. A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun. Chicago I.L., Chicago Review Press. 2005.