All american boys analysis

ALL AMERICAN BOYS BRENDAN KIELY AND JASON REYNOLDS ALL AMERICAN BOYS SUPERSUMMARY 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS PLOT OVERVIEW 2 CHAPTER SUMMARIES AND ANALYSES 6 Chapters 1-4 Chapters 5-8 Chapters 9-12 Chapters 13-17 6 11 16 20 CHARACTER ANALYSIS 26 Rashad Butler Quinn Collins David Butler Jessica Butler Randolph "Spoony" Butler Paul Galluzzo Guzzo Jill English Jones Carlos Greene Shirley Fitzgerald 26 27 28 28 29 29 29 30 30 30 30 THEMES 31 SYMBOLS AND MOTIFS 35 IMPORTANT QUOTES 38 ESSAY TOPICS 48 COPYRIGHT 2018 ALL AMERICAN BOYS SUPERSUMMARY 2 PLOT OVERVIEW All American Boys is a young-adult novel published in 2015. This modern-day narrative tells the story of an incident of police brutality through the alternating voices of two high school students: Rashad, whose chapters are written by author Jason Reynolds, and Quinn, whose chapters are written by author Brendan Kiely. While Rashad and Quinn never actually meet in the novel, their lives intersect in a powerful way after a violent act of racism rocks their hometown of Springfield, Illinois. The novel begins on Friday afternoon. Rashad Butler, an African-American highschool junior, changes out of his Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) attire. He’s ready to ditch the “stiff-ass uniform” (6) his father imposes on him and let loose for the night. Rashad and his friends, English Jones, Shannon Pushcart, and Carlos Greene, plan to attend their classmate Jill’s party, but everything changes when Rashad experiences police brutality at Jerry’s Corner Mart. In Jerry’s, Rashad is picking out chips when he sets his duffel bag down to retrieve his cell phone. A female customer backs up and trips over Rashad, causing him to drop the chips. The store owner sees the open duffel and thinks Rashad is trying to steal the chips, while the police officer guarding the store thinks Rashad is attacking the woman. Without giving Rashad a chance to explain, the officer pulls him outside, slams him to the ground, and begins to beat him. Rashad instinctively moves to avoid the pain, but the officer says that he’s resisting and beats him harder. A crowd gathers as Rashad, thinking “please don’t kill me” (23), hears an ambulance arrive. Quinn Collins, a Caucasian highschool senior and basketball player, is also planning to attend Jill’s party. Quinn and two of his buddies, Guzzo and Dwyer, head to Jerry’s. Their custom is to pay one of the loiterers outside the store to buy beer for them. While Guzzo and Dwyer are waiting around the corner, Quinn witnesses Rashad being beaten. Quinn only vaguely recognizes Rashad as someone who goes to Springfield Central High School, yet he distinctly recognizes the policeman as Paul Galluzzo, Guzzo’s older brother. As more police arrive, Quinn and his friends hurry away before they can be spotted. It’s Saturday morning, and Rashad is in the hospital with a broken nose and fractured ribs. His parents, Jessica and David, are there with him. His mother is COPYRIGHT 2018 ALL AMERICAN BOYS SUPERSUMMARY 3 worried and sympathetic, but his father insists that Rashad must have done something to bring on the attack. Randolph, nicknamed “Spoony,” rails against the injustice done to his little brother and is determined not to let the authorities “sweep this under the rug” (59). Meanwhile, Rashad learns that he’s suffering from internal bleeding and must stay in the hospital for a few days. On Sunday morning, Spoony visits to show Rashad that he’s the main feature on the TV news. Spoony reveals that he and his girlfriend, Berry, found a smartphone video of the beating online and sent it to the news station, along with Rashad’s name and a picture of him in his JROTC uniform. As the news continues, Rashad also learns the name of the officer who beat him: Paul Galluzzo. On Sunday afternoon, Quinn, his mother, and his younger brother, Will, head to the Galluzzos’ barbecue where Paul is manning the grill as if nothing is wrong. Quinn has always viewed Paul as an older brother because Paul stepped in to teach him basketball and offered support after Quinn’s father died in Afghanistan. After witnessing the extreme act of violence, Quinn isn’t sure what to think of Paul anymore. Quinn then converses with his crush, Jill, who is also Guzzo’s cousin. He discovers that they both are questioning Paul’s actions, while the others support him without hesitation. On Monday, Quinn returns to school to discover that Rashad’s beating is clearly on everyone’s minds. During basketball practice, the coach urges the players to leave their issues—indirectly referring to Rashad—off the court and to play as one team.