Thursday, April 18, 2013

The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier

              I finished the book The Rag and Bone Shop by Robert Cormier. I though that it was a really shocking, good book that can also be a little confusing. In the book the main character Jason changes dramatically by the end of the book.



              At first in the beginning Jason seems like a very timid kid who doesn't have many friend, and is really nice and caring. For example: when in class, Jason wouldn't raise his hand ever in class, even if he knew the answer because he didn't want attention on him. Also, Jason would feel alone all the time, even if he is around other kids his age, because of how quiet and reserved he is.  From basically the very beginning to close to the end of the book, Jason kept up with this personality of being very quiet and just kind of staying to himself a lot.




               Near the end of the book, Jason completely changes. He goes from being reserved to really paranoid and basically insane. At the end, an interrogator makes Jason admit to a crime he didn't do. This completely messes his mind up completely. He then never wants to be alone, and always has the windows wide open because he would feel like he was suffocating (because there were no windows in the interrogation room). The book says : " Look, you already said you could do it, that you did it to little Alicia, when you could never do anything like that to her. But what about someone you could do it to? Like who? Like, oh, maybe Bobo Kelton." In this part he is basically talking out loud to himself about how since he said he could kill little Alicia, he could kill Bobo. ( Bobo was a boy who used to bully him). The last sentence of the book is "Then he went into the kitchen and took the butcher knife out of the drawer". This shocked me so much. I couldn't believe that it was the same person. It was so hard to believe Jason went from helping Alicia with jigsaw puzzles to getting ready to murder Bobo Kelton. 





                    The change Jason underwent was kind of scary. I had no idea he had it in him to be able to even think about comitting murder. I think this is because of how intense his interrogation was. And the fact he was made to confess to the crime of killing a 7 year old girl, when it was proven that he didn't. I really wish there was a second book, so i could see if Jason changed again, or if he is still being affected by the interrogation.

3 comments:

  1. Kimberlee- great post! You really made me want to read this book. You went into great detail about how Jason was at the beginning and how he was at the end and it is shocking that the book ended that way

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  2. Good post! The thing that's even more terrifying than Jason's change is the fact that people in real life can actually change like that. It's hard to believe that one event in a person's life cam change him/her forever. I don't know if I feel pity for Jason or shock, perhaps I feel both. Again, good post!

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  3. SPIFFY JOB KIMBERLEE! Though I must say, this book seems awfully creepy. The idea of admitting to a murder you didn't do (I would probably do the opposite; do the crime and deny it) is horrifying, but not like him actually planning to do it. Maybe he felt like since people already saw him as a murderer (and maybe he does too, an experience like his could have crushed his self- esteem and his image of himself) he might as well do it to someone who fits his idea of deserving. Jason sounds scary and the book sounds really very interesting. I like the whole idea of the story. You have a protagonist who's a crazy murderer, but you're not sure how to feel for him (like Nicole said), as you've just read a book about his life beforehand.

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