Russ starts stealing electronics from the bikers in small amounts, but is found out by the biker's leader Bruce. The bikers begin dealing in stolen electronics, but keep the boys from taking a cut. Russ sublets the apartment to a biker gang called the Adirondack Iron. He finds a chaotic home in the apartment of his friend Russ, a sixteen year old run away who works at a video store in the same building. After pawning off a collection of rare coins given to his mother by his grandmother, Chappie is kicked out of the house. To support his growing dependence on marijuana, thirteen-year-old Chappie begins pawning items from the home of his mother and stepfather. Chappie's flight from his abusive home is a tale of delinquency, crime, friendship, and heartbreak. Chappie is a thirteen-year-old misfit with a burgeoning drug habit, living with his mother and his abusive stepfather Ken in Au Sable, a small town in upstate New York. Then on pages 194 – 196 the reader finds out about Ken, Bone’s stepfather, sexually molesting Bone for years.Rule of Bone is a coming of age story, set partly in the teenage wasteland of upper New York, and partly in the sunny and seedy paradise of Jamaica. In fact, the only way Froggy’s mother will take her daughter back is if Bone adds a little “pocket money” with Froggy. On page 174 the reader learns that Froggy’s mother is not a warm-hearted, caring individual. How do you interpret the significance of “getting high” in the novel? By this I mean, is this act an important element in understanding Bone and if so what is it a symbol of? With the introduction of I-Man in Bone’s life, “getting high” as stated on page 157 (middle of the page) and in other parts of the novel takes on, at times, a religious or spiritual significance for Bone.

Would you consider this an accurate definition of respect by a teen? Also, is there a universal definition of respect being stated in Bone’s coarse language? Explain.Ģ.

They never respected us for ourselves, for being humans the same as them only kids who people are constantly fucking over because we don’t have enough money to stop them. They never did respect us in the first place unless we were willing to want the same things they wanted. On page 129 Bone (Chappie) says “Russ goes the whole route with me, my partner in crime and then all of a sudden he decides that he can’t pay the price anymore which is basically that regular people, the Ridgeways and the Aunt Dorises and Uncle Georges of the world don’t respect you anymore.

Rule of the bone by russell banks