The central idea of Nathalie Granjeno 's "DeAndre Williams" was that people have to choose their friends carefully because the friends someone picks can stab them in the back. Juan told his friend, DeAndre Williams, that he should stop getting in trouble so DeAndre could get the job he wanted. DeAndre started officer training with help from Juan. For a few months DeAndre quit the drug business and became a cop. He was shot by his old drug friends when revisiting his childhood home. DeAndre Williams was the major character in this story. He had a dream but thought he couldn 't achieve it because of what he had done. DeAndre was involved in drugs, theft, and shootings. All of these things got him in trouble with the law, so he figured that …show more content…
Granjeno used language to show where the characters grew up. The way Juan told the story suggested that he grew up in "the hood." Stereotypically, people from poorer neighborhoods grow up around slang, drugs, and violence, and kids usually imitate what they see on a day-to-day basis. The way Juan talked would be a give away on where he came from. Usually only people from "the hood" talk in a more "gangster" way.Phrases like, "He was my homie." and, "he had my back" are usually heard from people from "the hood." Most times people who talked like that had the most confidence and easygoing. Granjeno went on to prove that just because someone talked like that and had a sketchy background doesn 't mean that they …show more content…
The tone of this story went from worried to proud to tragic. Juan was worried that since DeAndre was involved with so much crime, DeAndre wouldn 't be able to be a policeman. The worry could 've also came from the fact that drug dealing wasn 't the safest thing to do. Soon though, DeAndre for left his drug "friends" to pursue his dream of being a cop. Juan was very proud that DeAndre went the path that Juan suggested. This could be seen when Juan said, "He called to tell me that Big D [DeAndre] was doing great while he was training him at the APD academy. And that these past few months, Big D really committed himself of becoming the police officer he always wanted to be." When people give up harmful things to do what they 've always wanted, it would make anyone proud. The tragedy struck when Juan got another phone call about DeAndre. "I 'm sorry to tell you this but, Big D had been shot five times in the back last night over in his old neighborhood." Not only did DeAndre get shot but it was shortly after he was able