The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater is compelling nonfiction following a real story about two teenagers who faced the consequences of a life-altering crime. In 2013, an assault, considerably a hate crime, took place on a city bus in Oakland, California involving an agender teen, Sasha, and a black teenager, Richard. With ample detail, Slater describes the lifestyles of both characters, such as how Richard didn’t grow up in the best environment but was still a good person. Sasha, on the other hand, was constantly surrounded by supportive people; they were named Luke at birth, but decided it didn't apply to them correctly and identified as agender. While riding home on the bus, Sasha falls asleep and Richard, not intending the harm that occurred, lit
Consequential Decisions Many people challenge the following idea: how far can a prank go before it is no longer a joke? Richard Thomas, a 16 year old African-American male, battles this idea in Dashka Slater's narrative nonfiction book, The 57 Bus. While on the bus with his friends, Richard gets pressured into lighting a sleeping person’s skirt on fire as a funny prank. The prank immediately gets out of hand and results in his arrest and the hospitalization of the victim. Intended as a joke, the media views Richard as a terrible monster for what he’s done.
Elijah Singh Mrs. Kaminski-Moss ENG1D January 12th 2022 The Fire That Started It All Finding a good book can be a daunting task, especially for teenagers. This book however unfolds a thrilling, yet heartbreaking real life tale that would appeal to the average teenager. The 57 Bus By Dashka Slater is a novel that uncovers the true story of an agender person being set on fire in a transit bus by a teenage boy.
Matthew Delmont’s book challenges us to rethink the history of “busing,” Delmont intentionally places in quotation marks to show its importance . Before Brown v. Board of Ed in 1954, riding the bus was only for white children. School integration movement headed up North during the 60’s, and white people did not like this so they made the issue about busing. This allowed white people to stop school integration and use different terms to not sound racist or bigoted. Delmont examines how the media went along with this new racist idea.
Sasha has overcome many things including a traumatic accident. Sasha's skirt got lit on fire on a bus giving her 3rd degree burns all over her legs. Sasha also showed it when an older woman was questioning them for wearing a skirt “ one day at a bus stop an older woman approached Sasha and said why are you wearing a skirt ? she demanded you’re not a girl! I'm wearing a skirt because I like wearing skirts.
Richard, another character in The 57 Bus, shows
Ara Anderson Elyse Grossman English 8, Hour X1 2 February 2022 Power and Privlige Dashka Slater’s impartial nonfiction “The 57 Bus” illustrates how the justice system’s stereotypes and bias can affect how someone's life will turn out. The 57 bus is the real-life story of 2 teenagers and how their lives crossed and changed forever that afternoon in 2013. The teens are Richard a 16-year-old African American who was raised in east Oakland and Sasha an 18-year-old agender senior raised in the foothills of Oakland with their parents Debbie and Karl. It follows the story of Richard lighting Sasha’s skirt on fire and the repercussions with the teens' families and the justice system after the incident. Slater's purpose for writing The 57 Bus is
The poem “Facing it” by Yusef Komunyakaa is a deep poem that shows the aftereffects of war in modern society. The article called: “Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders Among Vietnam Veterans”, by Robinowitz and Walter Penk shows the cultural context we need to understand about soldiers after the Vietnam War. By analyzing the article and the poem together we will discover the full cultural context and meaning behind the poem. The message of the poem is that PTSD is a serious issue that has been ignored for far too long, and now is the time to consider those who fought for us.
In Hannah Greendale’s review about The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater, she argues about how the transgender community or those who identify as agender are being mistreated. She writes her review base off of a sociological lens. One of the main characters struggles with there sexuality while the other one is presented differently due to his race. Sasha is the name of one of the characters, and she identifies as neither male nor female. Sasha was born as a male named Luke, but as she grew up, she realized that she enjoyed wearing skirts instead of clothing that boys would typically wear.
Never play with fire; it could ruin your life and someone else you don’t even know. In the novel The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater, a true story novel focusing on themes of homophobia and arson. A 16 year old boy named Richard, lit an agender’s skirt on fire. The reasoning behind his actions was because he didn’t agree with transgenders, saying: “I don’t have any problem with somebody if they like men. But what if you do too much?
Humor is part of everyone’s personality. Anyone can crack a joke or pull a prank to make someone laugh, but what happens when the joke goes too far? Who stands up for you when a prank ends up hurting instead of helping? Dashka Slater's 57 Bus explores what happens when what was supposed to be a funny prank turns into hospital rooms and court hearings. This book follows Richard, a black teen who is called "the funny one" by his friends and lives in east Oakland battling racism and poverty, and Sasha, a non-binary teen, as they struggle with their gender expression.
Twisted Reflections From Oppression In his short story entitled Amusements, Sherman Alexie resignedly explores the impact discrimination against Native American people has in everyday life through the main character Victor’s experiences at an amusement park. Alexie portrays a young boy, Victor, who narrates his time spent with his friend Sadie and drunken “Dirty Joe” at the carnival. The two put “Dirty Joe” on a rollercoaster but soon regret their prank when they are faced with hate, making them oddly aware of how their presence as indigenous people is viewed from the outside perspective of white people. By focusing on social situations in which Native Americans are treated as lesser than white people, Sherman Alexie in his short story Amusements,
Being a black woman raised in a white world, Ann Petry was familiar with the contrast in lives of African Americans and whites (McKenzie 615). The Street, centered in 1940’s Harlem, details these differences. While Petry consistently portrays Harlem as dark and dirty, she portrays the all-white neighborhoods of Connecticut as light and clean. This contrast of dark vs light is used in the expected way to symbolize despair vs success.
The sixties was a decade unlike any other. Baby boomers came of age and entered colleges in huge numbers. The Civil Rights movement was gaining speed and many became involved in political activism. By the mid 1960s, some of American youth took a turn in a “far out” direction. It would be the most influential youth movement of any decade - a decade striking a dramatic gap between the youth and the generation before them.
Jocelyn Chan Ms. Heaney, Period 5 English 3-4 Honors 20 April 2016 A Midsummer Night's Dream | Act III: Questions 1. Quince’s emotion of the place were the play is taken place was as if their practice spot was ideal due to how not only was the forest flat but it had a green plot which would represent a big meaning in the play such as the ground. 2. Bottom’s feeling is that they need two Prologues for the play to be able to not only fit the whole scenes correctly but also to show that not only is the lion fake but also the swords scene.
