The Book: The Fortress of Solitude
ISBN: 0-375-72488-5
Suggested By: Dan Solomon
Where: Home
When: 9:30-10P
Music: None
Company: The Family
Pages: 112-167 (55)
The Lead In: Tagging is something I never understood, both as a young man and as a teacher. I get the psychology of marking territory and leaving a mark on your environment, but aren’t we beyond pissing on the walls? What good is it? I sometimes wonder if tagging is the poor man’s Next Great American Novel.
The 411 on the 55: Dylan and Mingus really embrace the concept of tagging, putting there mark DOSE, all over the streets of their neighborhood. Including on a bum’s back while he sleeps. Dylan’s father notices the tag later, and takes the bum to drug treatment. Turns out, this bum was the guy that Dylan saw fall earlier from the sky. He is the “flying man.” During one of his fits, he gives his flying ring to Dylan, saying he “can’t fight the air waves.”
Dylan toys with the ring for awhile, but nothing really happens with it until they are in the middle of a game of stickball in the street. All of a sudden he is jumping beyond anything he has ever done before.
On a side note, the issue of race is influencing the story heavily. At one point, Dylan and his three friends (all of color), go into a dept. store to steal paint. The three boys draw all the attention while Dylan, the white kid, fills his backpack. Interesting.
Line of the Day: “To be in this place is to admit you exist. To be in this place is to admit you want something.” pg 130
The Fact on the Fiction: Stop by this website for an overview on the state of graffiti culture. Graffiti.org
No comments:
Post a Comment