Discussion – Part V

1. Discussion – Part V The Devil in Track Suit From Lullabies for Little Criminals By Heather O’Neill

2. I was almost thirteen and [Jules] thought I was old enough to be left alone in the house. I didn’t think that I was because I was still afraid of the dark. (142)

3. That whole weekend I missed waking up to Jules screaming at the radio. “Play another song, motherfucker,” he would scream at the announcer. “Come on! I can’t stand all the commercials!” (142)

4. Vladimir Vysotsky??? (Page 143) “These were all sounds that you would not think were music. It was exciting.”

5. These days [Jules] only seemed to speak to me when I’d done something...when the music was playing, he would say something just regular and thoughtful as if we were still friends. (144-5) Expression?

6. But I’d still sneak around behind my dad’s back and push [Emmet] and that wheelchair up the hill. (146) Metaphor?

7. It didn’t mean you were attractive if Peaches liked you...If Alphonse liked you, it meant you were one of the foxier girls in the neighbourhood. (148)

8. “Look at the garbage picker man!...What year we living in, man? Get a real job. Motherfucker!” (150) Irony?

9. Guys would whistle at [Zoë] from cars and she’d give them the finger all heroically. (150) P.O.V. = Tone?

10. I...smoked the last of my joint just like that, lying in bed, the way bank robbers and rock-and-roll stars did it. (152) Allusion? Defiance?

11. Usually I went around with so many ugly insecure things flying around in my head that when a pretty thought came to me, it usually died a lonely death, afraid to come out. But when I was high I simply had to utter it. (154) Personification

12. They were the first pretty things I’d ever owned... I wore [the stockings] everyday for the next few days, even though my thighs and but were freezing. (155)

13. I liked having a curfew. Without a curfew the nights seemed shapeless. (155)

14. As I walked down the street, I noticed everybody turned to look at my black eye. I liked the feeling, although I couldn’t quite understand what I liked about it at the time. (158) Attention

15. Tito Puente

16. The first thing [Alphonse ] said was that he was going to take me to the hairdresser for fun one day. (162) “Beware of strangers bearing gifts.”

17. Since I’d turned twelve, a lot of the adults that I knew had started to pretend that they didn’t know me. They gave me disapproving looks. (167)

18. “I want that girl.” (168)

19. [Lester and Jules] spoke in conspirational tones, as if it were a criminal plan that only street-smart people with a lot of guts could pull off, but the plan wasn’t illegal in any way at all. (170) Jules’ Junky Logic

20. I knew that somewhere, somehow, [Leelee] was calling me a fool. (172)

21. I decided to turn in a couple of bottles at the corner store in exchange for a cigarette so that I could look like a big shot smoking it. (173) Is smoking cool?

23. Most kids weren’t allowed to go to [the Etoile] because someone had gotten stabbed in one of the bathrooms... It made me feel safe. (175) Irony

25. “You’re wild, you know. You have your own ideas.” (179)

26. Jules always told me not to tell people your business, not to tell them your past. He said to keep them guessing. He said that once a person knew all there was to know about you, they’d take advantage of you. Trust nobody. (180) Jules’ Advice

27. The real first kiss is the one that tells you what it feels like to be an adult and doesn’t let you be a child anymore... The one that you suffer the consequences of... How could they know I was a messed-up, ragged, dirty, nasty thing? (182)

28. Galileo

29. It never occurs to you when you are very young to need something other tha[n] what your parents have to offer to you. (184)

30. Thank You. Come again!