Chapter 6: August

Chapter 6 was one of the saddest things I’ve ever read. I usually don’t cry reading books but this book had me going at least three different times. The tragedy about this book is that everything in it is true and that it didn’t just happen to one family, this is just one families story.

This chapter focuses mainly on MacDonald’s older brother Davey. Davey was admitted to a mental hospital and was definitely mentally unstable. He eventually was released to come home on weekends and at some point I think left the hospital entirely because he began living with his older brother Frankie (the boxer and pride of Southie) – Davey was really beginning to lose it in this chapter, he wasn’t only a little nutty anymore, he was entirely out there, but things started to look better for him once Frankie got more involved in his life. He took pride in his appearance, began working out, and even proclaimed he wanted to meet a woman.

Earlier in the chapter violence took place but teaches the reader about the bond between Southie folk and not being a rat. This bond was also Southie’s downfall. It stopped families from getting justice and I’m sure was one of the top reasons for suicide as well as drug addictions, holding onto guilt will do that to some people. One of their neighbors stabbed both of his kids with a knife, a thirteen and a sixteen year old. The EMTs were called and witnesses were everywhere. As the kids were loaded onto the ambulance, the father just stood there like they weren’t even his kids and absolutely no one ratted him out. The father got off scot-free, and the boys were both fine and never told a soul about it. This is baffling because I would never even be able to sleep in the same house as someone who stabbed me, even if it were my father, but Southie’s pride was too big and it got the best of them in the end.

Later on in the chapter the MacDonalds apartment got raided because Kevin was still selling drugs and Davey was there to witness the whole thing. Frankie took the fall for Kevin and was sent off to the Marines. Davey was depressed until Frankie came back and eventually everything went back to normal. One night Davey threw himself off the roof of the apartment complex and died later that night in the hospital due to complications.

One of the parts of this story really stuck out to me. It showed me the absolute selfishness of Southie. MacDonald was minding his younger brothers when Davey threw himself off the roof. He could see Davey from the window but couldn’t leave his brothers alone, so a girl came upstairs to watch the boys. However when she realized she couldn’t bring them downstairs as well, she left, leaving MacDonald stuck in the apartment, unable to do anything except call the police for help while she watched “the show.” The selfishness of these people really got brought to the light after this incident. No one “ratted” anyone out, when they could have stood for justice. No one helped anyone, and everyone had to focus on their own wants and needs. This is fine if you’re trying to survive, or eat, or feed your kids, but when it comes down to common human decency, Southie was lacking BIG TIME and it really pisses me off.