FCR 3

-->

FCR # 3

Out of the Pocket, Bill Konigsberg. Qtr. 1, Cycle 4 Reading Response, pages 104-195

-->

In the section I read, Bobby Framingham had made friends with the school newspaper reporter and told him his secret of being gay. The problem in this section though, is that the reporter betrayed Bobby after he had shared everything with him, and wrote a story about Bobby being gay and then shared the news with the press. Soon after the story was out, everyone knew Bobby was gay. It was on the news, the newspaper, the radio, and everywhere else where stories are written and shared. Bobby has to then choose whether to deny the story, or to live up to it and come out as gay. Bobby chooses to live up to the fact that he's gay but not everyone takes it so well. For example, his mother cannot believe her son is gay and tries to get Bobby to think he's not. Even his own teammates don't want him on the team any more because he's gay and they don't want a gay guy touching the centers ass or showering in the same room as all the other guys. This is what Bobby must fight against and stick to the way he is by ignoring what others may think of him.

            The author organizes this part of the book so that it is in order of events and its like cause and effect. Bobby shares that he's gay, the reporter spreads it to the world, and Bobby then has to deal with the gay comments thrown at him. The author uses good ideas to describe how people think of Bobby since he's gay like his team thinks he's going to do gay things in the showers now just because they found out he's gay. The author uses good sentence fluency to lead from one event to the next and keep the story flowing smoothly.

            This book relates to the guiding questions for English I: Who am I, and how does language shape and/or reflect identity because it is telling how Bobby knows he's gay, and he's reflecting his maturity by taking the gay comments thrown at him and not retaliating to them. Bobby knows that he likes men, and he doesn't try to fight it because he knows that's just who he is and that's how he always will be.