Monday, November 12, 2012

Chapter 5: The Wonderful World of Whitey


            About a year ago, the hard core criminal we know as Whitey Bulger was caught. Many of us know what Whitey is all about, but few have the personal experience of Michael MacDonald.
            In MacDonald’s neighborhood, Whitey Bulger is an idol, someone that everyone wants to have a connection with. This is far from the way we view Whitey today. At this time, there was a great amount of respect for all of the help that he provided for Southie (along with protection). Little did they know, he was really screwing over anyone connected to him through his relationship with the FBI. Reading what MacDonald had to say about Bulger was interesting because of what we know now.
            MacDonald’s Nana also passes away in this chapter, however when I read it, it felt like it was just thrown in there. Up to this point, I thought MacDonald’s relationship with his grandparents was strong, but when they went to have food and drinks with the other funeral guests, their grandfather shooed. He didn’t want his friends to know that his grandchildren were illegitimate. On one hand, this says a lot about family pride but on the other hand, I feel realy bad for the children because none of them know their father, and their grandparents are ashamed of them for something that is beyond their control.
            I also found that in this chapter, a lot of drugs start popping up, Michael’s siblings begin selling them, and eventually Michael himself begins to sell ‘red pills’ when he goes to the disco.
Although this chapter provided some interesting new information, I found it to be more of an “in-between” chapter

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