This Boy's Life

Kevin writes:
 
The story of Tobias Wolff's childhood in his memoir, This Boy's Life has taken off since my last post. Jack and his mother moved in with his new and even more abusive and controlling stepfather and his family. Both Jack and his mother find it difficult to break free of his stepfathers controlling ways. Jacks stepfather, Dwight, takes Jack's and his mother's hard earned money and spends it on alcohol. Dwight also sells Jack's most prized possession, his .22 rifle for a dog that he does not even love. Like the dog, Jack begins to feel neglected by his family. Jack starts to hang around with the wrong crowd and begins getting into trouble involving stealing and drinking alcohol. Jack finds himself sneaking out and hitchhiking. He travels as far away from his home as he can each day but can never leave the town. Jack begins to write to different family members, over exaggerating his and his mother's situation. His family members all have different plans for him to move out with his. Eventually he takes his brother's advice and applies to a private school. He gets accepted because of his forged transcripts and recommendations. Everyone tells him that the school is very challenging which he realizes his senior year when he is kicked out because of poor grades. While staying in Washington, D.C, Jack and his mother encounter Dwight for a final time. Dwight tries to strangle Jack's mother but she knees him in the groin to keep him off. He is later arrested which puts an end to the abuse he inflicts on Jack and Jack's mother, Rosemary. The story ends with Jack reflecting on his sad, controlled, and neglected childhood.