Donnell Furlow Summary

Thesis: By including “Donnell Furlow” in her collection, the editor intended to explore the different effects that growing up surrounded by drugs and violence has on people.

“Donnell Furlow” appeals to readers’ emotions by demonstrating how Donnell’s heart-wrenching situation led to his moral ambiguity and blurs the line between good and evil. Donnell grows up in the Rockwell Garden project, a low-income housing community rife with gangs and the problems they provoke, such as violence and drug use. Donnell’s two older brothers were both involved with this lifestyle, and dragged Donnell in at a tragically early age. As he recounts, “by the time I was in grammar school, I was learning how to clean guns, how to shoot a gun, how to hide a gun, how to bag up cocaine and how to shake dope… [he] had
To the uninitiated, truancy at the age of nine or ten appears extremely misguided, and dealing with drugs or guns unethical. However, because he is so young, readers often assume he is not capable of making educated decisions due to his age and therefore conclude he is being forced or unwittingly drawn into this lifestyle, and that it is beyond his control. This provokes pity and concern for Donnell, and provides an excuse for his lack of academic motivation. Because of the pathos used, gangbanging is not a misdeed he has committed, but rather something that he is forced into and must attempt to overcome. That narrative is continued throughout the novel and is alluded to again when, many years later, Donnell writes: “But what would I do if I saw your son ditching school, I might kick his little butt. He’d come to you and say, ‘That boy downstairs jump on me,’ and point me out. And you’d talk to