Critical Thinking Question: Reading Response #4

Question: What really hard things are happening in the book?  Are they happening in the world?

 I am reading the book Forged by Fire and I realized a few social issues in this book. Most of the issues in this book are about child abuse and child abuse is happening in many of the homes in New York. In this story “Forged By Fire” The main character Gerald, always is left alone just because his mom is “busy.” How do you leave a 3 year old alone in the house by him self?

The main problem in this story is that his mother only pays attention to him if she’s leaving the house or making him something to eat. That’s a shame because at three years old you are suppose to be taken care of and not forgotten. Also I feel that the mother should stop lying/making excuses to him just so you can meet some new guy or to get the “white powder.” In the book Gerald was yelled at because he walked into the room with her doing drugs and she said “When you see mama doing this, don’t bother her okay son?”

One other issue is neglect. Leaving a three year old by them selves is not right. Anything can happen to them like what happen Gerald. One day he is left alone and finds a cigarette liter in the floor and while playing with it he sets his apartment on fire. His neighbor decides to check on him, when he sees the flame he panics and find Gerald curled up behind the couch, panicking and scared. This problem could have led up to something more severe, what if that neighbor hadn’t check up on him? What if Gerald was trapped inside the house?

This issue today is happening everywhere in New York but sometimes we just cannot see it unless something like what happened to Gerald happens. I also feel that this problem could have been avoided because it’s not that hard to pay your child attention.