The 57 Bus Dashka Slater Character Analysis

“I believe that children are our future.” (Whitney Houston, 1985) The one sentence that will give all the children a chill, imagine the pressure faced on kids these days and how it affects their decisions in life. In the novel The 57 bus by Dashka Slater, two main characters are introduced named Richard Thomas; a resilient kid with a big dream ahead and Sasha Fleischman; a young queer with a big passion and a loving heart. One day, off and alone their lives cross and a life-altering incident happens and affects both of them for the worst. One second they were on the bus, the next Sasha and her skirt were engulfed in a blaze. This novel has shown the importance of brain development and peer influence and how they combine together and create

Firstly, one of the great issues in the world for children is peer influence and pressure. It greatly affects them in many different ways, such as trying to “fit in” with friends and family just to gain respect. They would risk it all. Often, peer pressure results in major mistakes where they have to learn great deals of consequences, this all happens since they want to impress and bring joy to their peers. For example, in the chapter 4:52 P.M. Jamal, one of Richards buddies “take(s) out his iPhone and point(s) it toward Sasha.”(111). “Jamal urged” Richard to light his skirt multiple times. Once, by saying “Go ahead, you do it”(112) and “You might as well do it,”(112). This shows massive amounts of peer pressure that concludes with Richard lighting Sasha’s skirt on fire so it burns up in flames. The problem is that since he was pressured he did not think about the consequences which lead to impulsive thoughts becoming reality. In this case, this impulsive action results in a transformative outcome that turns out to be the

In British Columbia, the juvenile justice system accepts offenders ages 12 and 18 because this system believes that since their brain is not fully developed, there is a good chance that they can learn from their mistakes and gain more awareness about the consequences and how they can affect you in the long term. In certain cases, if the crime committed is very serious, the judge can decide whether or not they should be tried as an adult, even if still a minor. For example, in this book the judge wanted Richard tried as an adult since Sasha was left in horrendous conditions. This example should have been laid out in a different way, no minor should be put in adult confinement no matter the crime since adult confinements are much more intense and violent than juvenile confinements. Teenagers and youth should not be introduced to the violence held in these confinements since it can create new bad habits that can more so affect their life and make it worse whether then rehabilitation which is the main focus in juveniles. Cases like this can be controversial to society, but in reality it is a bad