Sam Patch

The history behind Sam Patch is nothing out of the ordinary; he grew up in a mostly small mill town in Rhode Island where he was caught in a cycle of families working in the mills when they got older. He was destined for a poverty stricken mill workers life. Sam and his friends enjoy being daredevils though and would jump off bridges in their hometown for fun. That’s where Sam discovered his way out. He started his career of jumping off things by jumping off a bridge in Paterson, New Jersey in protest of a new bridge through a forest area. This is where the buzz of Sam Patch came alive and from that point on his glory and fame kept growing. The author’s underlying meaning of the book to me was how social structures influence us to be a certain way. Sam Patch was supposed to be a mill worker but instead he decided he wanted to jump from very high areas into water. A lot of people at this time were just like him in the way that they were born into their life and struggled to make it better for them. Sam Patch gave them hope that they could make their life whatever they wanted it to be. I think the author chose Sam Patch as the subject of his book because Sam was a symbol for people who where caught in the same cycle he was caught in growing up. He was an idol for impoverished towns and people. They looked up to him and appreciated his help by publicizing issues involving populations that couldn’t stand up for them because they were too poor. I think Sam chose to jump off things because he grew up jumping off things with his friends and learned he could gain fame and fortune from it. He pursued it because it was also a hobby of his that he enjoyed doing. He was one of those people that enjoyed taking risks and living on the edge. Sam Patch was loved by many but also thought of as a threat to some. The people who saw him as a threat were the upper class people because he was trying to bring the lower level people out of poverty. By