My summer reading was Jude by Kate Morgenroth. We had to answer some questions and here are some of the answers.
The main character was a troubled boy named Jude whose father was a drug user/dealer. As a result of this, Jude was a very hateful and angry teenager who never felt that he fit in.
Jude’s father is killed by two men forcing him to go live with his estranged mother who he finds out is the local DA. Jude frames himself on drug charges with the help of his mother’s boyfriend, Henry, to help boost his mother’s career but, instead of him going to prison for three months, like the boyfriend said, he was put away for five years. Jude is released from prison and gets Henry to admit that Jude was framed on the drug charges that he lied to Jude about what would happen if he admitted to the false charges, and that Henry knew his whereabouts during his childhood and kept that information from his mother.
Considering the challenges that Jude faces during the story, I believe the author is trying to tell the readers that you always have a choice and that you should think about your options fully before you make a decision that will ultimately affect the rest of your life.
As a result of Jude going to jail on the false drug charges, his self-esteem and confidence was diminished even further than it was to start with. Also, because he was in prison he would always be considered an ex-con which would cause him to have a hard time getting a job and living in society. Since he had to live with fear and anger while in prison, these are issues that will probably plague him for the rest of his life. Because of the deceit he experienced with Henry, he will more than likely continue to have issues trusting people.
At the beginning of the story, the police are questioning Jude about what happened to his father. Jude tells the police that his father was “skimming too much from his shipments.” When asked was the shipments were, Jude tells them that his father was dealing in heroin and cocaine. At this point, the reader knows that the death of Jude’s father is going to completely change Jude’s life and that now everyone he knows will find out that his father was a drug dealer. The reader is caught up in feeling sorry for Jude and wondering whether the men that killed his father will come back and kill him.
After Jude is seen with another boy buying drugs, Henry tells Jude that he must frame himself in order to save his mother’s career. Although he knows that she is going to be disappointed in him, he knows that he has to do this for her. It is obviously the most difficult decision he has ever had to make, but does it out of love and respect for his mother. His hope is that by showing people that she doesn’t show favoritism she would be the best candidate for mayor. In the end, he is sure that once his mother finds out what he has sacrificed for her, he will earn her complete love and respect.
