Summary: The Last Spin

Emily Hawley
Mr. Guastella
English period 7
25 November 2014
What reading really teaches us
In the short story “The Last Spin” By: Ray Bradbury, two boys Tigo and Dave, they were both part of gangs that were enemies. This short story shows us what it means to really be yourself, how culture can affect you and the subject of life. This story shows us personal insights on what it means to live in an area with a lot of gang violence. Tigo and Dave never meet each other before the gangs sent them to battle to the death, but once they get talking we are able to see what they think, also their personal insight on being involved in a gang. In the last spin the boys had to learn how being a individual not just a member of the “club” and to do what

The way that the solve this issue is each gang chooses a gang member (one of the lowest people, not important to the gang. One of the members that they wouldn't care if he got killed) is chosen from each gang to play Russian roulette, a game that one person must die and the game doesn't end until that happens“The explosion rocked the small basement room, ripping away half of Danny's head, shattering his face. A small cry escaped Tigo's throat, and a look of incredulous shock knifed his eyes. Then he put his head on the table and began weeping” (Hunter 7). That was the way life worked in the gang, getting killed was no big deal and that was the scary thing about it. In most cases like this Tigo wouldn't care that he was dead, he would be happy that he won this round for his club. But in that basement with Danny, Tigo realized that there was more to life than the gang. During that game of Russian Roulette the boys understood that there were more than members of the gang that they were their own person and the gang didn't get to control everything that happened in their lives. Before Danny took that last shot the boys had made plans talked about their girlfriends, and what they want to do later in life. The boys understood the culture of the gangs and the area that they lived in. That because of what is going on around them they

The story is trying to tell the reader that they boys are doing what's right for their families, even though its dangerous and takes place in what seems to be an city where there is a lot of gang violence. Just because it is all around you doesn't mean that you have to take part in it “Like sometimes-well, don’t you wonder what you’re doing stomping some guy in the street? Like- who’s the guy to you? What you got to beat him up for? Cause he messed with somebody else’s girl” (Hunter 9). The boys are talking in the basement during the game and they realize that they don’t need to take part in it anymore and that they should be able to stand up and so no to it. By showing this in a book its able to show the reader that they can do the same thing as the boys did to question society. In the last spin the boys had to learn how being an individual not just a member of the “club” and do what they think is right. “in the gang, the characters begin to lower their guard through the story and as they do their dialogue becomes friendlier and the sentence becomes longer, more involved, the tone is more friendly. The tone is less tense, but as they come to the firing of the trigger the sentences are shorter to build up tension and concentration.” The tone at the beginning of the story at times In the last spin the boys had to learn how to be a individual not just a member of