The 57 Bus By Dashka Slater Sparknotes

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. The message in this novel is that you have to forgive and move on to find freedom for yourself. The protagonist in this story is conflicted by his own personal contradictions. The second protagonist feels discriminated against by an unfair society. Lastly, the main character has a positive impact on the reader through his personal

To begin, the novel The 57 Bus should be studied in a grade 9 English classroom because of the compelling message of forgiveness. Richard had caused Sasha pain by lighting their skirt on fire which led them to being hospitalized. When he was in jail for his actions, he felt a large amount of guilt, so he wrote an apology letter to Sasha saying “Dear Victim, I apologize for my actions, for the pain that I brought to you and your family. I was wrong for what I did. I was wrong”. (Slater 190) When Sasha and their family read this letter, they were happy that Richard went out of his way to apologize to them and admit he was wrong. As Richard wrote more letters he started to feel less guilty and more happy that his forgiveness was not denied but accepted by Sasha and their family. Richard's burden of guilt comes off his shoulders, and he starts to accept what he did was wrong, and he will not do it again. This should be studied because it tells the reader admitting wrongdoing can ease guilty

Indeed, Richard is known to go along with peer pressure. The book says “You can’t hear what Jamal says as he hands Richard the lighter…He flicked the lighter by the hem of Sasha’s skirt.” (Slater 111) Richard listens to his friend Jamal who says to light Sasha’s skirt on fire. Richard falls for the peer pressure and makes a horrible mistake which made him face the consequences while Jamal and his cousin did not. Grade 9 students should study this because it proves that falling for peer pressure always leads to something bad. However, Richard makes up for his actions when he is in jail, and he shows that he can be a good role model. When Richard was in jail, “He’d had no disciplinary violations and the staff at Chad had described him as motivated to participate in treatment programs and remorseful about his crime”. (Slater 284) Despite Richard being seen as a goofy teenager who does not care about anything, he changed his attitude to a more positive and sincere one. This novel should be read by students because it shows progression through mistakes. In Brief, the character Richard should be studied by students in an English classroom because of how he changed into a good role model and someone to look up