The Convicts, by Iain Lawrence, is a story of a young boy who faces great odds to complete his quest to help his father. This novel takes many twists and turns through the landscape of London, more specifically in nineteenth century London. However, London is not described in the picturesque view many people have come to know London as. Lawrence shows the uglier more rugged lifestyle of many poor people in London during this time period. Within a society like this in London, swindling, gangs, and prison become common subjects among the lower classes, especially in this novel. Although life was hard for many, the characters in this novel find adventure along the way while aboard ships and through underground sewers. The main character, Tom Tin, faces hardships and struggles many fourteen year olds do not have to face so early on. His father has mistakenly got himself into trouble and it is up to Tom to save his father and help make his family’s future bright again. Tom has good intentions throughout the novel, but he gets himself into trouble. He turns out to be an unlikely hero after pushing through his doubts and finally triumphing over his mistakes along his journey. The antagonists in this novel play quite a significant role in this story unlike most traditional villains. The early villain in the story is Alex Goodfellow, the man responsible for putting Tom Tin’s father in debtor’s prison. Mr.Goodfellow is definitely one of the people Tom hates the most and the reason for Tom’s strong will to avenge his father. Walter Weedle is yet another antagonist who tortures Tom in is already tough situation. Together however, these antagonists turn on an internal switch in Tom to keep fighting until the end. The plot of this novel ha... ... middle of paper ... ... serious crimes could be sentenced to a life of hard labor back in the nineteenth century. In addition, the author demonstrated the life of poor people and the struggles placed upon them. In real life, some people were even so poor that they had to rob graves like Worms did. Finally, some children had to resort to robbing from other living people to help feed themselves like Darkey and Penny. All in all, these events could have actually happened in history. Most of these events were pretty realistic, but some events seemed like a stretching of the truth. For example, it would be extremely hard for Tom and Midgely to escape the convict ship in real life. Yes, they may have a strong mind set, but they are still small fourteen year old boys. Other than that particular instance, Tom Tin could have been a real person in history based on the other events in the novel.
well of not been there as he owned a pub outside of the town so he
The book is not very long and is organized in chapters, which makes the process of reading more comfortable. Despite being a historical piece of literature, the language is not formally harsh and the readers are given an opportunity to delve into the feelings and emotions that the main character, young slave Celia, has to go through in her daily life in slavery. In the introductory part of the book, McLaurin puts forward the purpose of
The authors begin the book by providing advice on how a convict can prepare for release from prison. Throughout the book, the authors utilize two fictional characters, Joe and Jill Convict, as examples of prisoners reentering society. These fictional characters are representative of America’s prisoners. Prison is an artificial world with a very different social system than the real world beyond bars. Convicts follow the same daily schedule and are shaped by the different society that is prison. Prisoners therefore forget many of the obl...
Most prisoners that are in prison now are more than likely to be free one day where some will spend the rest of their living life there. When they enter into the prison system, they lose more than just being able to wear what they want. They even lose more than just their civil liberties. Gresham Sykes was the first to outline these major deprivations that prisoners go through in his book The Society of Captives. His five major pains, which he calls “pains of imprisonment”, were loss of liberty, loss of autonomy, loss of security, deprivation of heterosexual relationships, and deprivation of goods and services. Matthew Robinson adds onto Sykes’ five pains with three more of his own. His additional pains are loss of voting rights, loss of dignity,
The prison system in the United States was not always like it is today. It took mistakes and changes in order to get it to the point it is at. Some people think that prisons should still be being changed while others feel that they are fine the way they are. It is hard to make an argument for one side or the other if one does not know about the history of prisons as well as the differences between prisons structures and differences in prison management. Knowledge of private prisons is also needed to make this difficult decision.
Between 1990 and 2007, the number of children under 18 years old with an incarcerated parent in the United States increased from 945,600 to 1,706,600, reaching 2.3% of the nation’s children (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008). These children can suffer from traumatic separation, loneliness, stigma, confused explanations to children, unstable childcare arrangements, strained parenting, reduced income, and home, school, and neighborhood moves. (Murray, Farrington, and Sekol 2012). Additionally, these children are put into high stress life events while their parents go through the process of being incarcerated and likely had other stressors before their incarceration. The behavioral effects of these children and their families have urgent social concerns, as incarceration effects go far outside of prison walls.
The overall goal of correctional facilities can be broken down into three main functions which are retribution, deterrence, and rehabilitation of the inmates. Today, there is much debate on rather private or public prison admiration is best to suit those goals. In a private prison the inmates are contracted out to a third party from either local, state, or federal government agencies (Smith 2012). Public prisons are where the government themselves house and supply the inmate’s basic needs with no third party involved. However, a large portion of the argument of private verses public prisons is over, which is best in achieving those goals more efficiently.
The exact time and location of the world’s first actual prison is unknown, but obviously at some point in time incarceration within a prison system became a common consequence for criminal activities. Schmalleger writes that punitive imprisonment appeared to have been introduced in Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries for debtors and certain offenders against canon law (Schmalleger, 2009). In those decades penalties for criminal activities dealt more with shaming the offender in hopes of deterring them from future criminal activity. Examples of shaming include the ducking stool, the pillory, whipping, branding, and the stocks (History of the Prison Systems). In addition to the various forms of shaming and deterring, the death penalty was a common punishment for criminal activity, such as hangings, stoning, or burning. Within these decades, prisons were occasionally used as an alternative to corporal punishment. However, as years went on society’s view of an individual’s liberties and humanity were changing thus changing the views of how criminal acts should be handled changed as well. Schmalleger writes that near the end of the eighteenth century is when the concept of imprisonment as punishment reached its fullest expression. The prisons that had been established and continually altered in the United States eventually become models for European reformers that were in hopes of creating a prison system that would humanize criminal punishment (Schmalleger, 2009). The concept was that restricting a person’s liberty would be retribution enough, and that an exact period of time served in a prison could be assigned depending on the severity of a crime committed (Prison History). Early prisons came in the forms of ...
The issue of Slavery in the South was an unresolved issue in the United States during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. During these years, the south kept having slavery, even though most states had slavery abolished. Due to the fact that slaves were treated as inferior, they did not have the same rights and their chances of becoming an educated person were almost impossible. However, some information about slavery, from the slaves’ point of view, has been saved. In this essay, we are comparing two different books that show us what being a slave actually was. This will be seen with the help of two different characters: Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass in The Narrative of the life of Frederick
In the United States of America, the assumption is that all citizens are equal under the justice system. If a person breaks a law, they are punished according to their crime. Once their time has been served and their debt paid to society, the person is allowed to rejoin the community as a productive member of society. What truly happens when a person leaves a prison setting? What makes a person commit another crime, thus making them reenter the criminal justice system and prison, leading to a life of recidivism?
America, the land of the free, as well as the not so free. As well as being the largest in the world, the prison population within the United States provides proof that it is the most broken forms of incarceration. The U.S. subscribes to the notion that all people that have committed a crime can be rehabilitated and released as a fully functioning member of society. However, this entire concept is wrong.
By being called “slaves”, the twelve hanged, desperate and angered maids have their social rights, their political rights, and their economic rights stripped from them relieving them of their duties as human beings, leaving them to rot on Earth and in Hell. By using the words “cold blood”, the author illustrates the murderer as being emotionally detached and having the cruel intent to torture the maids and have them embarrassed and ridiculed. The fact that the attorney only has to mention that it was “within his rights” to kill women without a blink of an eye shows the reader the patriarchal world these desolate souls had to live on, get r...
Toni saw this opportunity to write this particular article into a novel to show people how the days of slavery were and the sacrifices those that had run away would make if they stood a chance to be recaptured. The novel also introduces us to the spirits of the souls that were lost and how they never rested in peace until they finished what they had left behind. Toni really captures the audience’s attention in this particular novel.
The article titled “Growing up in Prison” by Elizabeth Calvin was published in the Los Angeles Times on January 13 2014. It discusses the case of Eden Gonzalez who was sentenced to life imprisonment at the age of sixteen. Gonzales sentence was punitive owing to the lack of parole for the entire sentence. This is because the inmate tried to steal a car in the company of two adults, but a murder occurred in the course of the crime. It is notable that Gonzales was sentenced to a life imprisonment despite the fact that he did not kill. In an online article by Ashley Hayes, the author discusses the case of Ethan Couch who was driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.24. The judge ruled for Couch to serve ten-year probation despite the fact that Couch killed. This paper argues that even though the law promotes a fair society, a person’s economic status can influence their jail sentence. Is also opposes life imprisonment without parole for children.
Tom is a character many people in this generation can relate to. Although the play was written many years ago Tom is just like any other millennial from this day and age. He basically hates his job because it’s not fun. He can’t cope with the fact that he has to pick up all the slack his father left behind. He even seems to think that running away will fix everything. All of these things are very common in society today.