For my Lit Circle Book, I read Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam. This book is connected to a real-world story by one of the authors, Yusef Salaam, about his life and how he was put in a similar situation as Amal when he was a teen. In Punching the Air, the figurative language is very powerful. The authors use metaphors, similies, personification, and more to help readers understand Amal's experience and feelings. It is also important that Amal shows us, from his perspective, how he works through these experiences and makes decisions as he is bombarded with forces against him. I enjoyed reading and analyzing this book during the Lit Circles because of the connective story behind it, the strong figurative language, and the perspective
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In 1989, when Yusef Salaam was fourteen years old, he was wrongly prosecuted for rape and sent to prison for 7 years. The character, Amal, was also a teen who was convicted of a crime and sent to prison wrongfully. Amals’s character was inspired by Salaam and he showed how to survive a situation like that and come out stronger from it. Amal has the support of his family, friends, books, and art to get through his sentence. Salaam showed resilience and used his creativity and poetry to stay positive during his time in jail. Salaam came out a stronger person wanting to fight the injustices he experienced. He is now an elected official in New York City and thinks that because he went through all of what he did, he came out with a purpose to make a difference which has earned him the respect of the city that wrongfully convicted him as a teen. Amal also shows signs of resilience throughout the novel. “And maybe there are small cracks in our walls and we start to see a sliver of light shine through in each other” (Zoboi and Salaam 338). Even in the walls keeping them locked up and in prison, the boys still found light in each other, in their art and in the hope that someday they would get out and things would be
In 1989, when Yusef Salaam was fourteen years old, he was wrongly prosecuted for rape and sent to prison for 7 years. The character, Amal, was also a teen who was convicted of a crime and sent to prison wrongfully. Amals’s character was inspired by Salaam and he showed how to survive a situation like that and come out stronger from it. Amal has the support of his family, friends, books, and art to get through his sentence. Salaam showed resilience and used his creativity and poetry to stay positive during his time in jail. Salaam came out a stronger person wanting to fight the injustices he experienced. He is now an elected official in New York City and thinks that because he went through all of what he did, he came out with a purpose to make a difference which has earned him the respect of the city that wrongfully convicted him as a teen. Amal also shows signs of resilience throughout the novel. “And maybe there are small cracks in our walls and we start to see a sliver of light shine through in each other” (Zoboi and Salaam 338). Even in the walls keeping them locked up and in prison, the boys still found light in each other, in their art and in the hope that someday they would get out and things would be