Eventually, one lady says something and they completely disregard her. This is obviously not the case, horrible tradgies can happen to anyone, any place, and any time. Throughout the story, these four kids were seen to be stupid, idiotic kids. With everything comes a lesson, and Samuel dying in this story is a lesson to his three other friends that everything may seem fun and games until somebody gets hurt. The women look at the boys disapprovingly and hope theyu get the message to stop what they are doing. There are 4 perspectives of this short story. The boys try to give off the appearance that they are cool, calm, and collected even though they know they have no real control over the situation, but they believe they do, which is why they are not brave and are just stupid. There have been numerous struggles and much success in the fight towards equality between the races. Maybe he did have a good childhood and just didn’t want those boys fooling around. This guy snaps and pulls the emergency brake which results in the death of Samuel. People of their environment felt angry and annoyed towards them and sometimes, in their mind, related to what they also used to do when they were children once. Although you could argue that the kids were asking for some kind of punishment, death was too much of a punishment. Samuel. The kids ignore the warning and start to act more obnoxious. They are young, naïve boys who feel like they can’t be hurt, so they do this crazy thing. 5‘ i { Üsg-uarrii 4. r IL r V N. , r W r .1: L_ , _r< a 2Hrr+ï-— un -A . This is just like society today. On the other hand, the women in the car are upset that the boys are doing this. It is up for debate whether or not the man pulled the emergency brake so that the boys would fall off the train and die. Samuel by Grace Paley takes place in New York close to the Bronx area. When Samuel s mother heard the news her heart tore in two. In Grace Paley’s ultra short story “Wants” (pg. No one speaks up until it is too late. As a result, Samuel went forward and fell in between the cars and died. Racial Barriers in Grace Paley's Short Story Samuel It is hard to distinguish the difference between which race is more important. Maybe he went through a situation like the boys when he was younger. The short story "Samuel" by Grace Paley is a story about four boys who are playing on a subway. One way to interpret this story is talk about childhood and adolescence. The men on the train are forced to think back to their childhoods when they fooled around and did all kinds of dangerous activities, while they witness the boys playing on the platform. Either way, Samuel falling definitely gave the boys something to be afraid of. This showed that sometimes being “brave” can lead to consequences. Past childhood expierences help shape one's adult personality, and how people may react to certain situations. It shows us that Samuel is a beloved son. Some people believe that kids only learn when they see what the outcome is and some kids only learn when there is an action being done. However, Samuel was not holding on so he fell under the train and was crushed by the wheel. In the universe of Paley’s short stories, a world ordered primarily by secular Jewish experience extends to the social problems that a lack of empathy can pose: in “Samuel,” this problem is embodied through the white adults on the train watching boys of color engaged in risky … The boys tend to be just fooling around and everyone else on the subway car was looking at them and wanting them to stop. February 2014. Four young, immature boys are playing and messing around on the platform that connects the two subway cars. Everything you do in your life makes an impact on you. Samuel's death in the story was very unecessary and easily preventable but in the end, stupidity took his life. I believe that one of "Samuel's" morals is that the good die young. the other difference of the story. like looking a mirror. Grace Paley (December 11, 1922 – August 22, 2007) was an American short story author, poet, teacher, and political activist.. Paley wrote three critically acclaimed collections of short stories, which were compiled in the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Collected Stories in 1994. He realizes how the boys’ balance is compromised due to the instability of the platform they are standing on. The short story "Samuel" by Grace Paley tells a story about 4 young boys and their adventures on a train going to New York City. These boys supported the idea that examples must be set in order to prevent tragedy. "Samuel" by Grace Paley shows the difference between social norms of boys and girls, along with racism. In the short story we see how risk can drawn a thin boundary between bravery/heroism and terrible consequence. But looking at one specific event can change one’s opinion. Paley doesn't only talk about the four boys doing "brave" things, she also talks about how the adult males on the train have also done "brave" things in the past. They are exploring their independence and developing a sense of self by replicating scenes from action movies with little regard to safety and possible outcomes. Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this Grace Paley study guide. He then went on to do the same to Tom. So I think the man intentionally pulled the break because either way the boys should not have been playing there because it was bound to happen if they kept doing it. After the failed attempt to stop the boys by a woman, a man on the train pulls the emergency brake, thrusting the subway forwards, thus causing one of the boys, Samuel, to fall and die. clearly these boys lack common sense and their tomfoolery ends in tragedy. He was more watchful and did not have experiences like these boys were having. The man who pulled the brake maybe didn’t have the childhood he wanted and now seeing the boys he is reminded of that. We had once been married for twenty-seven years, so I felt justified. Either way, the parents will never have another Samuel because of this incident. A woman tried to get them to stop but instead was just laughed at and ignored by the children. In addition, the author compares adults to the children. In this short story it's hard to decide if you should blame the kids for acting so foolish, the passengers who didn't really try to stop them, or the one person who pulled the brake. Another difference of the. Sure enough an angry passenger decided it was time to stop the rebels playing on the train and hits the emergency brake. bully and pushy child. A person of a higher stature and more life experience may just call it pure stupidity. Some of the viewers related to these kids and others just felt pure anger just watching them. You a baby, huh?" The only boy who stood up for what he thought was right ended up dying. People are probably debating whether or not this guy did it on purpose or if it was an accident. The main character Samuel demonstrates the risk you could take that leads to an unfortunate conclusion. To speak out is a basic theme in Grace Paley’s stories, and it reflects her own life and political principles. Children often have fine judgment on what is dangerous and what is not, but love to push their boundaries to see how close they really are to danger. Being that they had that characteristic of being brave and fearless, they were jumping from cart to cart, flirting with death. I'm going to call the conductor if you don't just go into the next car and sit down and be quiet." He contemplates what he should do when he stares at the boys, and then proceeds to pull the emergency brake “citizenly”. As the train stops, the boys fall off and are seriously injured. By the grace of God, she became pregnant and gave birth to another baby boy, but will never have a boy like Samuel. As one women thought, “Their mothers know where they are.” Although this can be seen as an assumption about these particular four boys, it can also be taken as a general statement about the back community of young adults. Samuel death show’s that People cannot be replaced. One women who is observing the actions of the children for some time, contemplates getting up and confronting the situation however due to their skin color she is worried of being made fun of by them. Paley is saying that every person is unique. In Grace Paley’s short story, “Samuel”, Grace describes a scenario where four brave, young, yet ‘dare-devilish’, boys are in between the platform between the locked doors of two subway cars. 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