That Was Then This Is Now Essay

The Title of the book I decided to read was “That Was Then, This is Now.” Written by S.E Hinton. The characters in the story include Byron, Mark, Bryon’s mother, Charlie, Ponyboy Curtis, Angela Shepard, Cathy, and M&M (Cathy’s brother). The setting took place in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The key problem to this story is Bryon and Mark are growing apart, they started to become variance when both of them started to change. Bryon has a new interest in girls and is basically growing up and maturing. Meanwhile, Mark is a type of guy who wants to live a nonchalant life and getting away with things. Mark is not blood related to Bryon, but they still consider each other brothers since Mark moved in with them when Mark's parents shot each other because they had a quarrel and were drunk.

One of the key events that occurred in the book was when Charlie who is a bar owner told Bryon and Mark that M&M was looking for them. After hearing Charlie say that they went out to look for him. They got there in time before the greasers did any harm to him. Another key event was when Mark and Bryon’s mother was in the hospital. They were not financially sound, they could not afford to pay the hospital bills. With that said they were forced to get jobs. In the hospital Bryon met a girl named cathy, who is M&M’s older
Bryon turns Mark in. After all they been through and the brotherly bond they shared, Bryon still didn’t think twice about turning him in. Mark looked at him and said “Come on Bryon, you didn't really call the cops. You're joking right?” The police came shortly after that and arrested Mark. Mark received 5 years in the state of Oklahoma reformatory. Bryon couldn’t forgive himself. He distanced himself from everyone, including Cathy. Bryon tries to apologize to Mark by visiting him in the reformatory, but Mark won’t