Stephen D. Chennault's 'A Stick Between Friends'

Throughout life we are faced with many challenges that make us stop and think whether or not this is the right or wrong decision. Although these decisions can be minor in retrospect to our whole lives, they can still play a major factor on what or who we become as an individual. In "A Stick between Friends" by Stephen D. Chennault, our narrator faces many challenges that relate to our current problems in today 's society. Chennault 's story takes place in the sixties when drugs became a major factor in young adult 's lives. This issue is ever so present now as it was back then, and it is forcing kids to make certain decisions and question their friendships with certain people. The temptation to try "new things" such as drugs are probably on

It could be trying drugs or drinking alcohol, but all of us have been tempted to try "new things" that pull us out of our comfort zone. As a teenager, you are filled with temptation because you want to try all the new things that your friends are doing like driving and getting a job, for example. As you grow older, some friends turn out to be bad influences on how we progress into young adulthood. As you read "A Stick between Friends," you learn that Willie is willing to try new things on a much larger scale while our narrator is full of doubt. He is constantly thinking about the outcomes of the situation and how his parents have such high hopes for him in the future. For example, the narrator says "D-D-Dig, man, why don 't he hurry up?!" (Chennault 224) As you read this quote, it 's undeniably obvious that our narrator is trembling about trying the "stick" because he is afraid of being hooked on it, but at the same time, he 's trying to play it off as if he 's not scared to try it. Willie senses the fear within the narrator and reassures him by saying that he is going to "dig it" when he tries it, which makes the narrator feel a sense of security since he trusts his friend. By making the narrator feel secure, it brings us back to the fact that they have a very valuable friendship and neither of them wants to disappoint the other. Some people may think that Willie is a bad influence on the narrator. In my opinion, I think that their friendship makes the narrator a better person because where the narrator is book smart, Willie is street smart and they can learn a lot from each other. Although Willie has made some questionable decisions that have involved drugs and alcohol, it doesn 't make him a bad kid. Now if Willie falls into the crowd of people like Chappy, then he will most likely become a bad kid. That 's where Willie 's friendship with the narrator plays a key role in his life because our narrator can possibly