All God's Children The Bosket Family Analysis
[All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence] | [Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document. Type the abstract of the document here. The abstract is typically a short summary of the contents of the document.] |
The book "All My Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence", by Fox Butterfield focused on a real case about a young man named Willie Bosket who committed murder. This case is famous for many reasons, and the inmate who still resides in a New York prison has gained a reputation for being one of the most dangerous prisoners in the state of New York. Butterfield wanted to go into depth as to why Willie …show more content…
Bosket committed murder at the age of 15 and what caused him to be such a violent character. He also wanted to show his readers that violence is not just derived from past family incidents but from the community they come from. Not Willie, but his forefather did, however. Which Butterfield points out is in the south part of America, which happens to be one of the most violent parts of America. Willie Bosket comes from a family that is known for murder , yet are very intelligent. Both Boskets’ father and grandfather were imprisoned at one point in their lifetime; however Willie Bosket still resides in prison with three life sentences and will never again walk the earth as a free man. Butterfield spent more than 300 hours talking to the inmate and was fascinated with what a character he was and how he was actually interested in knowing what made him be so violent. Butterfield goes into depth how violence takes charge of the inmates’ life.
One thing you see in this book is how children will try to emulate their parents whether it is good or bad. Usually most boys want to be just like their fathers, so the fact that Willie’s mother would always exclaim, “Willie, when you grow up, you’re going to be bad. You’re going to be real bad, just like your father!” At this time Willie was only six years of age and had never met his father. One day at his grandmothers’ house he saw a picture of a man in a prison suit and asked who it was. His grandmother then replied and let him know that it was his father and he had killed two men. Willie took this stereotype and took it to heart and eventually became the stereotype and never stopped to think if he should really continue down this long dark path or not. If you have ever been labeled something negative or even positive you either try to live up to that label or you live it down. Willie at an early age was labeled a juvenile delinquent and then eventually a criminal. He did live up to his label. Willie felt as if his father made sure to make himself the “baddest” man you have ever heard of, but in reality it all started with Pud Bosket, Willie’s great-grandfather. Pud Bosket was the first Bosket to actually show the violence one can have. His motto was, “Don’t step on my reputation.” This motto went through generation to generation of Boskets’ and eventually made its’ way down to Willie. Therefore, Willie did the same thing and not became the worst and most feared criminal anyone has ever encountered. Throughout the book, Butterfield did a great job of going back through Willie’s ancestry and found the history of violence in the family. We can assume that some violence had to deal with the issue of abandonment of the father and sometimes mother, as in Butchs’ case. In addition, some violence came from the Southern States adoption of slavery and the way the white people treated blacks. Also the South basically had an unwritten code that if you have a problem with someone or something someone did, you do not go to court, and you handle it yourselves whether it is a duel and fist fight. It did not help the child, whoever it was, Butch, Willie, James or Clifton (Pud) that one of the parents (usually the father) would come into their lives briefly only to leave again. Butch by far had it the hardest. His father, James, left before he was put in jail for abuse, but eventually was put into jail and his mother, Marie, just did not want to be around any of the Boskets. She left Butch with Frances, Butchs’ grandmother, and took off. Eventually Butch worked his way through it, but usually you learn how to be a “man,” as society calls it, from the person who can teach you best, your father. Butch felt compelled to provide for his family and go as straight as possible once he had a family, but then came the struggles of income and Butch eventually started to take the dark path again and tried to sell some pornographic pictures to David Hurwitz in Milwaukee at a pawnshop Hurwitz owned. In this one act, Butch made the worst mistake of his life. When Hurwitz acted as if he did not know Butch and Butch attacked him without realizing there was another man in the store. As the other man tried to stop Butch, Butch did not realize what he was doing and ended up killing both men, left the store and fled with his wife, who was pregnant with Willie. Once Willie was born and eventually started to act up in school and outside of school, Willies’ mother started to become distant of him and realized early what he was going to become just like his father. His mother’s actions led Willie to believe he was on the path to be just like his father. With Butch and Willie, we tend to see over and over again that they showed suicidal tendencies.
We would usually think that the reason for this is because they were never really shown any love from family or friends. Willie was always picked on during school and in the streets. Tupac Shakur raps about this in his Thugz Mansion lyrics. Tupac raps, “…no one knows my struggle, they only see the trouble. Not knowin it’s hard to carry on when no one loves you.” Butch was only shown love by mainly his grandmother, but even then it was rare. Willie on the other hand, was shown love early by his mother but eventually she started to distance herself from him and he got less and less until she eventually did not want to put up with him and rather just give him to the legal system. As it seems, it was not all just Willies fault for some of his actions. Willie never met his father, due to Butch being incarcerated, and received the love he yearned for from him, then eventually he started to get in trouble and his mother started showing him less and less love. Therefore, he never fully developed a conscience. To develop one, a person needs some form of love and acceptance, someone to show them right and wrong and to be consistent with the punishments or rewards received. Without a conscience people tend to be more violent without regards to others safety or even theirs. It is weird how from Pud, who was the first to really begin violence in the family, the conscience level and the less fit for society level went down to Willie who seemed to not even have
one.
Furthermore, with Butch and Willie we see how much they are alike, but could it be because Willie knew what his father did and felt like he needed to top that or was it just in his nature to do the horrible things he did outside jail and inside jail. Every reformatory Butch went to Willie eventually ended up there at the same age or on occasions younger. Both of these men showed signs of genius in their reformatory schools. Butch showed signs of an artist and Willie showed signs that he was good in mechanical skills. Willie would make connections with mainly female workers and show that he could be a good child instead of the bad one everyone usually got.
Butterfield by far did a great job on showing the history of violence in that geographical area to which the Bosket family originated from. He went as far back as possible and showed statistics and background information throughout the book. Only thing I would change is to make all the background information all in the beginning of the book. Only reason for this is because while reading the book it threw me off when he would be talking about one of the Boskets then goes back before their time to show a relation to it. As I say this, I do see why Butterfield did what he did and it was more than likely the smart thing to do, to put the background information to where it was relative in the story of the Bosket family. I believe this is a great book for anyone to read, but as long as you are ready to deal with the in depth details of some of the crimes and sexual content that comes with reading the book. According to Willie Bosket, this book is a great recollection of the struggles he and his family have gone through. I feel as if this book can be a great reference for anyone who is studying sociology or criminal justice. When reading this book, you learn some things prisoners might due to escape from jail and you really have to be careful on who comes in and out of jail or what they take with them from lunch. It is best to know who you are dealing with and this book puts in detail how to deal with people who may be psychopaths. All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence gives any sociologist insight on how criminals or psychopaths may act. It shows how the location of where a group lives can make or break the mental make-up of them.
The book "All My Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence", by Fox Butterfield focused on a real case about a young man named Willie Bosket who committed murder. This case is famous for many reasons, and the inmate who still resides in a New York prison has gained a reputation for being one of the most dangerous prisoners in the state of New York. Butterfield wanted to go into depth as to why Willie …show more content…
Bosket committed murder at the age of 15 and what caused him to be such a violent character. He also wanted to show his readers that violence is not just derived from past family incidents but from the community they come from. Not Willie, but his forefather did, however. Which Butterfield points out is in the south part of America, which happens to be one of the most violent parts of America. Willie Bosket comes from a family that is known for murder , yet are very intelligent. Both Boskets’ father and grandfather were imprisoned at one point in their lifetime; however Willie Bosket still resides in prison with three life sentences and will never again walk the earth as a free man. Butterfield spent more than 300 hours talking to the inmate and was fascinated with what a character he was and how he was actually interested in knowing what made him be so violent. Butterfield goes into depth how violence takes charge of the inmates’ life.
One thing you see in this book is how children will try to emulate their parents whether it is good or bad. Usually most boys want to be just like their fathers, so the fact that Willie’s mother would always exclaim, “Willie, when you grow up, you’re going to be bad. You’re going to be real bad, just like your father!” At this time Willie was only six years of age and had never met his father. One day at his grandmothers’ house he saw a picture of a man in a prison suit and asked who it was. His grandmother then replied and let him know that it was his father and he had killed two men. Willie took this stereotype and took it to heart and eventually became the stereotype and never stopped to think if he should really continue down this long dark path or not. If you have ever been labeled something negative or even positive you either try to live up to that label or you live it down. Willie at an early age was labeled a juvenile delinquent and then eventually a criminal. He did live up to his label. Willie felt as if his father made sure to make himself the “baddest” man you have ever heard of, but in reality it all started with Pud Bosket, Willie’s great-grandfather. Pud Bosket was the first Bosket to actually show the violence one can have. His motto was, “Don’t step on my reputation.” This motto went through generation to generation of Boskets’ and eventually made its’ way down to Willie. Therefore, Willie did the same thing and not became the worst and most feared criminal anyone has ever encountered. Throughout the book, Butterfield did a great job of going back through Willie’s ancestry and found the history of violence in the family. We can assume that some violence had to deal with the issue of abandonment of the father and sometimes mother, as in Butchs’ case. In addition, some violence came from the Southern States adoption of slavery and the way the white people treated blacks. Also the South basically had an unwritten code that if you have a problem with someone or something someone did, you do not go to court, and you handle it yourselves whether it is a duel and fist fight. It did not help the child, whoever it was, Butch, Willie, James or Clifton (Pud) that one of the parents (usually the father) would come into their lives briefly only to leave again. Butch by far had it the hardest. His father, James, left before he was put in jail for abuse, but eventually was put into jail and his mother, Marie, just did not want to be around any of the Boskets. She left Butch with Frances, Butchs’ grandmother, and took off. Eventually Butch worked his way through it, but usually you learn how to be a “man,” as society calls it, from the person who can teach you best, your father. Butch felt compelled to provide for his family and go as straight as possible once he had a family, but then came the struggles of income and Butch eventually started to take the dark path again and tried to sell some pornographic pictures to David Hurwitz in Milwaukee at a pawnshop Hurwitz owned. In this one act, Butch made the worst mistake of his life. When Hurwitz acted as if he did not know Butch and Butch attacked him without realizing there was another man in the store. As the other man tried to stop Butch, Butch did not realize what he was doing and ended up killing both men, left the store and fled with his wife, who was pregnant with Willie. Once Willie was born and eventually started to act up in school and outside of school, Willies’ mother started to become distant of him and realized early what he was going to become just like his father. His mother’s actions led Willie to believe he was on the path to be just like his father. With Butch and Willie, we tend to see over and over again that they showed suicidal tendencies.
We would usually think that the reason for this is because they were never really shown any love from family or friends. Willie was always picked on during school and in the streets. Tupac Shakur raps about this in his Thugz Mansion lyrics. Tupac raps, “…no one knows my struggle, they only see the trouble. Not knowin it’s hard to carry on when no one loves you.” Butch was only shown love by mainly his grandmother, but even then it was rare. Willie on the other hand, was shown love early by his mother but eventually she started to distance herself from him and he got less and less until she eventually did not want to put up with him and rather just give him to the legal system. As it seems, it was not all just Willies fault for some of his actions. Willie never met his father, due to Butch being incarcerated, and received the love he yearned for from him, then eventually he started to get in trouble and his mother started showing him less and less love. Therefore, he never fully developed a conscience. To develop one, a person needs some form of love and acceptance, someone to show them right and wrong and to be consistent with the punishments or rewards received. Without a conscience people tend to be more violent without regards to others safety or even theirs. It is weird how from Pud, who was the first to really begin violence in the family, the conscience level and the less fit for society level went down to Willie who seemed to not even have
one.
Furthermore, with Butch and Willie we see how much they are alike, but could it be because Willie knew what his father did and felt like he needed to top that or was it just in his nature to do the horrible things he did outside jail and inside jail. Every reformatory Butch went to Willie eventually ended up there at the same age or on occasions younger. Both of these men showed signs of genius in their reformatory schools. Butch showed signs of an artist and Willie showed signs that he was good in mechanical skills. Willie would make connections with mainly female workers and show that he could be a good child instead of the bad one everyone usually got.
Butterfield by far did a great job on showing the history of violence in that geographical area to which the Bosket family originated from. He went as far back as possible and showed statistics and background information throughout the book. Only thing I would change is to make all the background information all in the beginning of the book. Only reason for this is because while reading the book it threw me off when he would be talking about one of the Boskets then goes back before their time to show a relation to it. As I say this, I do see why Butterfield did what he did and it was more than likely the smart thing to do, to put the background information to where it was relative in the story of the Bosket family. I believe this is a great book for anyone to read, but as long as you are ready to deal with the in depth details of some of the crimes and sexual content that comes with reading the book. According to Willie Bosket, this book is a great recollection of the struggles he and his family have gone through. I feel as if this book can be a great reference for anyone who is studying sociology or criminal justice. When reading this book, you learn some things prisoners might due to escape from jail and you really have to be careful on who comes in and out of jail or what they take with them from lunch. It is best to know who you are dealing with and this book puts in detail how to deal with people who may be psychopaths. All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence gives any sociologist insight on how criminals or psychopaths may act. It shows how the location of where a group lives can make or break the mental make-up of them.