Fish (250-305)

Summary
          The story is summing up as it should. Timmy is finally standing up for himself, and I feel like a proud mother. My child has finally grown up. He has informed the prison that "I am the pretties mother-fucker in this bitch, but ain't no one gonna tap this any day" (Parsell 270). By standing up for himself not even Red bothers him anymore. That is a shock because Red bothers everyone. He has built up his respect in prison.
          With the new found respect that Timmy has gained he tries to help the new comer's that arrive at the prison. He makes sure they learn the ropes, and makes sure they know what they did wrong. I almost thought it was a mistake when he came it to all the prisoners at one of the movie nights, but it was actually the smartest thing that he has ever done. he gave way for others to come out, in not be in danger. He has made some hook ups but nothing serious. Maybe it is because maybe he did have serious feelings for Slide Step. Maybe his death is what gave Timmy strength.
          He has loss total contact with his family because they do not answer their phones and no longer visit him, except for his father. His father tries to encourage him to do good. Since he lost his contact with his brother it seems he really tries to better himself. No one actually knows where his brother is at the moment. Unsurprising, but his brother is running from the law. He is being accused of murder, he might end up in prison for life this time. Hopefully he might see what he does wrong. 

Quote
          "I will have to wait" (Parsell 305).
Reaction
          After all that has happened in this book I feel like Timmy Parsell has finally grown from his child phase and has finally grown into an adult. In the beginning of the book all Parsell worried about was about getting out of jail, finding the easiest way to be safe and leave early. At times I actually found myself rooting for him to escape. The true reality was that he did not take responsibility for what he did, whether it was fake or not. But when he tells himself that he will finally accept the time that he has received shows me how mature he has become. 

Fish (188-249)

Summary
          I do not think I can continue the book. It seemed good at first because Timmy was transferred back to Riverside. Now one would Timmy was going to be reunited with Slide Step, but tragical this does not happen. SLIDE STEP HAS BEEN MURDERED! I know how? how? how? That was the exact question that Timmy was asking but no one would say a thing. Apparently, Chet has come back from quarantine. He waited until Slide Step did not know he was coming. I did not even know he was coming, because he kept himself hidden from all the prisoners from prison. I didn't think he could do it on his own, and he didn't. He had help from Red. He is such a backstabber I know. All the time in the hole helped Red relize which side he wanted to be on. He is out for Timmy. Of coarse Timmy is scared for his life, because he can not stand on his own without Slide Step. 
          Well, Chet's got him. Wonder what might happen? Amazingly enough a security officer caught Chet before he could try anything, he was being watched because he was on probation inside the prison. You know that really is not not important. Why did Timmy need the help in the first place, I hate the fact that he has no physical or even emotional strength in prison. He is like a sick sheep that needs to find little Bow Peep.  

Quote
          "I can do it, if I had your help" (Parsell 201). 

Reflection
          I think this has to be the most important quote in the autobiography. This is because it sums up the theme. The theme is about being alone versus es being in a group. Throughout the book Timmy has been venerable without anyone to protect him. However, when he is in a group he is stronger. HONESTLY THIS IS KEEPING TIMMY FROM BECOMING INDEPENDENT. The fact that he can not stand on his own two legs makes me upset because it shows me he is a very needy person.

Fish (124-187)

Summary
          I am so disappointed. Timmy is going to his sentencing, to finally know the amount of years he will be receiving. That may sound like a good thing but the at just means he will have to go through Quarantine all over again. He has to go into a whole new area ( like in the beginning of the memoir ), where he needs to make sure he is not found out for being gay. Without a man this is a very dangerous situation, because now he is fair game. It seems that that is the reason I am disappointed but the real reason is because not only is he leaving Riverside, but he is leaving Slide Step. Slide Step is such a nice guy who had real feelings for and if one were to take away the prison setting and the anally raped part, they could have truly made a nice couple. I wish they lasted because now I can't guess what is going to happen in the story, how about you?
          This time Quarantine did not seem as bad as it was in the beginning of the book. He met a new friend named Nate that helped him get his stolen cigarettes back. Apparently (as they like to say) "Nate runs that bitch" (Parsell 161). He had a whole gang that could defend that fact for him. Timmy did not know that he was going to stay in Quarantine. Since he was expecting only two and a half months he went to meet his probation officer. It seemed like a great thing. Maybe he was getting released EARLY? NO. During his actual trial The judge gave Timmy four and a half years, almost double what he was supposed to his original time ( even having plead guilty ). All because what that probationer officer had wrote about what Timmy said.
          It wasn't like Timmy was trying to be rude he was just trying to protect his ass, just like he has since entering the system. If you can believe it, the probation officer was hitting on Timmy. That fat sweaty man thought he had a chance. I guess the officer felt offended when Timmy immediately stood and said, "I'm not fucking gay" (Parsell 176). It was a stupid thing to do because that man was going to determine his future. Since his crime was armed robbery the sentence was usually fifteen to life in prison. 


Quote
          "You have to tell me who, if you want to be moved" (Parsell 187).


Reaction
          This is a chapter in the book called compromise, and a compromise is what Timmy has to do to keep his ass safe in Quarantine. I almost forgot to tell you that Timmy was sadly raped in his cell by his new friend Nate, and had to give face to Nate's friend Load Mouth. So he told the officers, compromising his life. Everyone in prison knows if you snitch you get killed. I was happy the Timmy had the courage to speak out but that is what landed him bunking with the transsexuals.

Fish (61-124)

Summary
          Wow, your in for a doozy. There is so much filled in this chapter, I am going to have to take it slow this time. Timmy was not sent to Michigan Reformatory due to his evil phycoligist. He was sent to Riverside because he was seventeeen. Even though he was sent to a medium security place it did not save him from what he was going to have to endore. When he walked though the doors all he could think about what his brother had told him "Don't let no one fuck with you" (Parsell 70). Either way I don't think he decided to pay attention to him. It seemed like he wanted attention. The first man he met at Riverside was named Chet. He claimed to be thirty years old, but I  beg to differ. He was SOOO nice to him it was unreal. He started to give him clues apparently that he was sent to Riverside for HOMOSEXUAL ACTS. After drugging him, Chet and his loop of friends, Taylor, Red, and Slide Step, took turns "raping the shit out of him," literally. Thank goodness Slide Step had stepped in when he did because Timmy was  in so much pain. Slide Step and Red, the meanest of them all, began arguing on whether they should stop or not. The next thing Timmy knows a nice young gentlemen named Eddie was dragging timmy away from that torturous room and into his, and under the bed. Not again! Timmy thought. He was raped for the third time in a row. But I guess Eddie was more easy on him because he offered the let suck him off. 
          Still under the influence, Timmy returned to Chet's room! They were flipping a coin to see who was going to be Timmy's man. Timmy was so lucky to have Slide Step win the game, because he ended up tuyrning so nice. Slide Step enjoyed baseball just like him, always bought him new things, and even had tickle fights with Timmy just to see him laugh. All with this in mind cheating on your man was the absolute worsth thing that you can do. When someone cheats on their man then they would be punished by sucking off a whole row of guts, sometimes you just got beat. I am sorry to say but excluding the fact that Slide Step was such a good man Timmy cheated on him with a guy named Scatter who was closer to his age. I knew Timmy would end up doing something like that because he always said how Scatter would get him hard when he passed in a room. But soon Timmy moved on because he knew he might not get him because he was white and Scatter was caramely. So he moved on to a guy named Brett, he had the hugest crush on him and everyone knew he wanted to hook up with him (It was ok to hook up with boys when your man knew, just not other men). I don't know why he hooked up with Scatter if he was going to leave in like two days. He was so scared the last day he was staying at the prison and would have to go to sentencing. Even Slide Step knew something was up. Then an immate came to Timmy's room telling him that Slide Step told him to take a shower, knowing he had already took one after they had hda sex. But he went frightened out of his mind. He heard noises and was scard that maybe Slide Step was going to let him be gang Raped. When he walked through the door there was Slide Step and Scatter! What was going to happen? "Go for it", said Slide Step and there was Brett in the shower. Now how nice was that. 


Quote
          "The Last one locked up for protection," he said. "Red chased him across the yard" (Parsell 120).


Reaction
          I was not surprised by the fact that Red's boy would run out on him. Red was such an abusive man, he was nothing like Slide Step. Not only would he abuse his boy, but he would loan him off to other men. The protection unit was were people would go if they were special and had to be watched, because the population would be dangerous for them. Red's boy ran to the protection unit butt naked while being chased by Red. After that Red never got another boy. Probably loss too many coin tosses. Again, Timmy is soo lucky that he did not get Red as a man.   

Fish (1-60)

Summary

           In the memoir Fish, 1-5-3-0-5-2, better known as Timmy Parsell, describes his day-in-the-life of a prisoner in Michigan Reformatory. He was seventeen years old when he was enrolled into the government facility. He was sentenced four  to twenty-one years for holding up a photo mat. The irony is that he was able to hold it up with a toy gun. Yet, still he was convicted as dangerous, and did he get his comeuppance. He was sentenced to a medium security prison, which was recorded as one of the worst. The day his ordered psychologist had assigned him, he had made blatant remarks about him having to get a man in jail because he was too pretty to be alone or else he would be fresh meat. Along side his experiences with prison he reminisces about his childhood experiences. He recalls his fighting mother and father, his sister Connie, and his beloved older brother Ricky. Ricky was five years older and Timmy would always follow Ricky around even if he was tortured fore it. He came from a poor white family in Dearborn, an all white community. They did not allow black others from Detroit because they wanted to keep their neighborhood free from the Race Riots in the late 1970's. 

             

Quote

          "I was toot ashamed to admit it at the time, but the fact that she was a black women, or that she had on way too much make-up, had nothing to do with it. It was because she was a women" (Parsell 39). 

Reaction

          This showed me a lot about the author and what lies ahead in the story. I can not image a seventeen ear old gay boy entering a prison full of sexually stressed men. He says that he had to fail gym in middle school because he could not take a shower in the locker room without having a Bonner. Timmy could not even tell anyone he was gay because not only did he not want to believe it, but he would be shunned from his community because there definition of queer was a sissy, or a friend that your mad at. I can actually relate that to my life because teenagers these days, or any day, are absent minded when it comes to sensitivity. What one kid does the other does the same. All day what you hear is "thats so gay", when what they mean is that is so stupid or dumb. They do not to it because they do not know what it means but because they want to do what the other kids are doing. Like I said monkey say monkey do. I think that is going to soon tie in with the story because to survive in prison he is going to do what his other inmates are doing and not stand out.