BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN #3

Lately, in Beautiful Children, Bock writes about Kenny from his youth to his current teenage years. He seems to be a pretty well rounded kid but the way he is described makes him seen to have a troubled childhood because of his mother and father's frequent absence. Thankfully, Kenny is often with his aunt. She works at a pawn shop but she is very kind and one of the closest persons in Kenny's life. Bock writes, "Kenny could not help but feel the weight of the past" (68). Although the author does not tell us exactly what has happened to Kenny we can assume it was because of his father's addictions and his mother's bad parenting. Bad parenting is a very big reason why kids throughout the world suffer and maybe make choices that can lead to others suffering. For example; their own children. I am afraid Kenny will learn enough from his aunt so he doesn't have to make the same decisions his parents have. Also, Kenny is surrounded by very inappropriate people and language while still a little boy. A customer at the pawn shop starts yelling at Kenny' aunt for not pricing an engagement ring high enough. He yells, "MOTHERFUCKING KIKE" at her and Kenny is very surprised and scared (64). These types of things can lead Kenny to use the same language when he gets older getting him into a lot of trouble. Before you know it he will be another one of them. One's bad examples truly do impact younger generations and can be the leading cause of many people's suffering.

Beautiful Children Post # 2

As I continue to read Beautiful Children characters are focused on more and I am able to make out their own sad stories little by little. Currently I am getting to know Bing a bit more. He is a man seemingly going through the motions of life without really living it. He has no relations with woman what-so-ever, and he doesn't socialize much at all, (with the exception of the on going chat rooms he attends). Although Bing's life seems quite dull from my past descriptions, he has real talent: he is amazingly creative and intelligent. One night Bing is in a chat room with a few friends. As he explains his new genious ideas he types, "BBIXXE: If it has dimension & perspective, it kind of stops being your average tatt" (55). It may be hard to make out at first but after I read this quote I knew it had a double meaing; I believe Charles Bock writes this in attempt to describe who Bing really is as a character. Sure, from the looks of him, Bing looks like the average guy walking down the street who is neither particularly special or important. But when you stop to look at him with perspective and look at who he really is, intelligent, artistic, kind, he begins to have more hidden dimensions.

As Bing continues to venture out I believe he will finally be recognized for his dimension and his life will change for the better. I think he will be respected more and then be able to become more social and really blossom from his isolated personality. During Bing's time in the chatroom his friend under the name of ] KC_FTT_B, writes, "R_naways d_de. Nobody cares abowt r_naways" (61). I believe this quote will forshadow the rest of the novel because how I see it so far, this book is all about runaways. It could be someone running away from their emotions, someone running away from home, or someone running about from life, like Bing.

Beautiful Children # 1

This quarter I chose to read Charles Bock's novel, Beautiful Children. This book takes place in Las Vegas where Newell Ewing's distraught parents try to unravel the mystery of their son's sudden disappearance. The stories of multiple "misfit" characters categorized as: "a shy and possibly disturbed young artist; a stripper who imagines moments from her life as if they were movie scenes; a bubbly teenage wiccan anarchist; and a scheming gutter punk" are brought up in the story, all linking to the Ewing's missing son.

As I begin to read the novel many different characters are introduced along with their interesting stories. The main character, Newell Ewing is a troublesome twelve year old boy with a huge interest in comic books. Readers can see through Newell's relationship with his parents that he is ill tempered and very immature. The day Newell goes missing he makes plans with his friend Kenny who is an artistic comic book illustrator. Kenny then meets an older man, Bing Biederboxx. Bing is a self conscious 24 year old man who is also involved with comic books; having his own nude comic book series.

Although I am only 50 pages into the story I can tell the rest of the story will be filled with darkness and unfortunate instances. So far I get an uncomfortable vibe from the story and the characters make me feel very uneasy. For instance, Lorraine and Lincoln Ewing. This couple start the story off with what seems to be an awkward silence. Bock writes, "He watched when the house was dark and Lorraine was safely locked away inside what Lincoln still thought of as their bedroom" (12). Out of all the misfit character's in this novel I would expect Newell's parents to be the most "normal" but they actually make me feel most uneasy. Their quiet, shaky, non-sexual, relationship seems to be very off balance and it leads me to think they were not able to raise Newell correctly. The couple show no signs of affection to each other...Lorraine doesn't even look at Lincoln as her husband! The lack of nuture the couple show lead me to think Newell received the same treatment. The possibility of Newell running away because of his parents seems very likely to me right now. As Lorraine picks Newell up Bock writes, "her tanned flesh has all but spilled out of her baby-blue swinsuit top, and her wrap-around sarong had been clnging to her in something sttraight out of sophomoric dream" (24). This line shows how Newell's mom acts more like a teenage model than a mother. The fact she wheres very inapropriate clothes leads readers to believe she is in desperate need of attention. My guess is that Lorraine is used to getting attention more than giving it to her son.