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.
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2 comments:
This is a pretty interesting book especially when its written by someone who's been in jail and done pretty bad deeds. From this book we are able to see the "villain's" perspective. This is interesting because it tells us that the environment around Razor has shaped him into doing what he does in the book. He was tortured by policemen, the ones he looked up to, who weren't really the good guys. He declares war against him because they wronged him. The people he looked up to had wronged him. I don't know about you but I would be mad if my idol had insulted me. It says that he got out of juvenile and continued doing crimes. This tells us that if anything the juvenile system didn't help him become a better person and lead a better life, it made him worse. In the end, I believe that this is an interesting book since it has the view of a criminal.
For all deranged criminals, there seems to be some kind of horrid childhood event that messes them up in the future. This book seems to be like Rambo (bad cops, ends up having a vengeance against them). I guess his actions are somewhat justified, and that he should fight for his rights (the razor part I don't really get).
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