Bucking the Sarge by Christopher Paul Curtis is about a young Luther T. Farrell, a 13 year old black boy and freshman in high school, who lives with and works for his Mom, also known as The Sarge. The Sarge has decided that she will make it on her own and has gone into the real estate business in Flint, MI. She owns houses and rents them out while also doing a number of other underhanded types of things. However, her way of doing things isn’t always clean. She cheats the State government and runs a loan shark business that loans money to people. The Sarge manipulates people and accomplishes her goals through shady business. Through all of this Luther, the protagonist, does not agree or appreciate the actions of his mother. He become disgusted on the way his mother has made her fortune. As a result, he decides to revolt against her.
Overall, I think that this is an interesting book and should be a required reading in high school. I think that readers between 13-18 would benefit from this the most as the book as the book deals with the idea of prejudice in American society. It also shows a flawed situation in American culture and gives a different perspective that young adults maybe able to connect to.
During our discussions Natalie (@nataliedelin) and I discussed:
- Luther’s reputation. From the outside 15 year old Luther seems to have it all a “luxury” car, a great education along with an education fund that is worth over $90,000, he is a top student and loves science. He seems to be living the life, except for one thing, his overly strict mother, The Sarge. His mother is known to cheating, lying, and scaming her way into owning most of the ghetto.
- Luther’s character. Luther seems to have a good and gentle heart. He helps take care of the people in the rehabilitation center his mother owns. He also cleans up the rat and mold infested apartments that are now left empty. Though he does this work, it is because if he doesn’t he will have to deal with his mother.
- Luther’s motivation/ major plot points. Luther decides that enough is enough. He does not deserve this foul treatment from his mother any longer. He starts to build up a caseload to help others sue his mother for a lack of safe living conditions and more. He is in hopes that she gets what is deserved after all of the scamming she as done to everyone around.
- Luther and Sparky’s relationship. Luther and Sparky start become close as they realize they can help each other out. Sparky needed Luther to be a witness to the tile falling incident on his head for his lawsuit. He planned to sue Taco Bell to get money, when really, he needed Luther to hit him on the head with a tile- scamming for money.
- Luther’s character. We also discussed how Luther seems to have a great head on his shoulders and he does not deserve to live a life being abused in the ways he has been. If he can get away from his mother it is believed that he will set out into the world and really try to make a difference!
Jess Reynolds 