The 57 Bus Quotes

Nature: A predetermined trait. Nurture: A learned trait. How do these terms affect a person's life? This is a heavily debated topic when referring to an environment, one such environment is Oakland. Oakland is a city in California that has a race, wage and wage disparity between the east and west sides. For instance, East Oakland has issues with drugs, murder, and housing; whereas West Oakland, while equally diverse, is said to be more open with said diversity. For example, Sasha, who lives in West Oakland, is agender, white, and queer. However, Richard, who lives in East Oakland, is black, and straight. These are two characters in Dashka Slater, The 57 Bus, in the book, Richard, in an attempt to make his friends laugh, sets fire to Sasha’s skirt, the preceding court case and after effects of it

In this quote, Slater uses the phrase “it was too late” to show how hard it was for Jasmine to even find out she was pregnant; she is ignorant to how taxing having a child is physically and mentally, saying, “she was prepared to raise a child” (Slater 77), showing her trait of pride even though it’s unwarranted. In communities that are predominantly made up of minorities, it's often difficult and stigmatized to access healthcare, especially in the case of pregnancy: she believed her ability to babysit her relatives would translate into being able to have one. She did a good job raising Richard, but didn't think about how it would affect herself. In contrast, Slater describes one of Jasmine's cousins, who although related was able to express himself more freely just for living outside of Oakland. Richard’s court hearing, for the fire he set to Sasha’s skirt, was drawing near. Slater stated, “Richard's extended family showed up for his court appearance, on November 15, including Jasmine's cousin Regis, who is gay, tall, attractive, and androgynous, Regis didn't talk much to the press. But his presence was a statement in itself.”(Slater