Black and White

I think that this book pays tribute to many true life experiences. The one that stuck out the most to me was that of loyalty and dependability (or lack of) in a friendship. Best friends, in my opinion, should treat each other with respect and understanding. In this novel, Marcus shows Eddie true friendship by refusing to turn him into authorities, even when it could help Marcus out with his own case. Marcus also tries to understand Eddie’s thoughts and feelings and doesn’t get truly angry at him for looking after only himself. Eddie, however, does not return the favor to Marcus. Eddie does not act like a good friend, or even a decent human being, even though Marcus is acting exactly how a best friend should act. I know that this situation happens all the time with friends. It does not necessarily under the same circumstances, but it still happens.
The book also discusses issues that have to do with race. I think that it does a pretty good job of explaining a realistic point of view. Marcus definitely has worse luck than Eddie in this book, but it is not because he is black and I don’t think the author wants the audience to believe that Marcus’ race led to his bad fortune. His race, however, was a big deal because the book described how blacks generally had different fates than whites in the court system. Marcus, who is black, could not make bail right away and had to go to Rikers. Eddie, who is white, immediately made bail and never set foot in a cell. When Marcus was in Rikers for a short period of time he noticed that it was mainly blacks and no whites.
Monetary differences were also discussed in this book. Eddie’s family had enough money to hire a good lawyer and (at the close of the book) Eddie did not have to go to trial. Marcus’ family did not have enough money to hire a lawyer, so he had to work with a state appointed lawyer. He never had a trial, but that is only because he took a guilty plea. I believe this must happen all the time in real life. I would imagine that many innocent people go to jail for crimes they didn’t commit because they didn’t have the money to hire a good lawyer. I also strongly believe that many guilty people walk free because they have the money to hire a good lawyer.
I definitely think that this book is very realistic. I would recommend it to kids because I think it touches base with many things kids are dealing with in life. I also think they would be able to learn from this book. I definitely enjoyed it and would read the sequel if he were to write one.