somebody who just loves to burn

An excerpt of this poem paints a picture of two brothers, John and Robert Wideman, leading different lives. Robert Wideman, embraced a path common for black men during that era; a life of crime, glamour, and drugs. Quietly sitting in jail, he reminisces deeply about his troubled past and the consequences of the future that now haunts him. John, on the other hand, chose the path less taken by those living in the same world as he did and in due time become a successful professor at a University. How did two people from the same origin, living in similar environments, and raised by a caring family choose such different paths? Some might explain the cause to be risk factors, lear

Delinquency at an early age may have contributed to Robert's behavior. According to Cohen, deviant behavior derives from an inversion of values. Robert's values can be best summed up by the statement "[t]he thing was to make your own rules, do your own thing, but make sure it's contrary to what society says or is" (58) . Inversion of values is practically portraying what society views as socially acceptable, unacceptable. A great example explaining this inversion of values is captured during a school strike. Robert recaptures the greatest moment of his life when he took over the school. Through his eyes, "[i]t was the white man's world and wasn't no way round it or over it or under it ... so I kept on cutting classes and *censored*ing up and doing my militant thing every chance I got." (114). It seems that Robert felt frustrated living in such an oppressed environment. He once believed that prosperity can be achievable but somehow his belief in what society has taught him relating

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 671
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)