| The Kool-Aid
Wino An Essay by D.J. Leffers The Kool-Aid wino was about a boy with an illness who lived in a very large poor family. But no matter how poor they were, or the fact that there was no sugar, he had to have his Kool-Aid. Upon reading this, I was faced with the decision of deciding whether I thought this boy was positive or a negative character. After rereading it many times and discussing it with a few people, I came upon the conclusion (somewhat), that this boy is a negative character. After a class discussion, however, I changed my response from negative, to either negative or positive. I decided that there wasn't enough information for me to decide. There was some information that wasn't included in the story though that I wish I knew about. For instance, why did the wino demand the money from his friend? Did the friend owe him? Mostly likely not because he came from a poor family, but one can't say for sure. I think he was irresponsible with the way he handled the money situation, but a negative person might've treated his friend more rudely then he did, where a positive person would've said "thank you" or maybe "I'll pay you back", but since he did neither, we can't say for sure. Other intonation that was missing was whether he shared the Kool-Aid with his friend, since his friend paid for the Kool-Aid. I would guess that he didn't because he "conserved" some of his Kool-Aid by mixing it with more water then supposed to so that he could savor it longer, and also because the story said he "settled for a day's drinking", but again, we don't know for sure. I also feel that a positive character would share his Kool-Aid with his younger siblings (or the older ones after work), but since he took it out to the chicken coop, I'm sure he didn't share with his brothers or sisters. Otherwise, he would take it into the house rather then hiding it. On the way to get the Kool-Aid, the boys had to sidestep many younger siblings with dirty diapers. I would think that a positive person would have taken the time to help his brothers or sisters by changing them before he left, or at least have some interaction with them, but he said not a word to them, he just ignored them. I think a negative person would've yelled at them to get out of his way or numerous other things, but he simply stepped around them. Later, while making the Kool-Aid, his mother asked when he would do the dishes. He replied "later," and after she left, he told his friend that the dishes could wait. Some people thought the mother came on as a negative type of person and could understand why he would be negative towards the dishes. I think that just because someone is negative towards you, doesn't give you the right to be negative too. For me, growing up with a negative mother gave me the incentive to be a positive person in every way that I could be. Of course, that was me, it doesn't always apply to everybody. He also had an illness, so that may be why he doesn't have a positive attitude. If that's the case, just because you're going to die, you shouldn't be upset or negative about it, but there are people who make peace with others and help as much as they can, and there are others who are negative about it. It's all how you look at life. A negative child might've yelled at his mother and told her to do it herself, or said something along those lines. A positive person would've done the dishes then. He did neither From what I understand, he laid around in the chicken house reading comic books and drinking Kool-Aid. We don't know this for sure, but the author kind of made it out to be like that was what he did. Now he did have a rupture of some sort, but if his mother thought he could do the dishes and he could also walk to the grocer's without pain, his illness must not have been that bad. However, a lazy, negative person would've stayed and waited for his friend rather then going with him to the grocers. For me, it's
hard to tell whether he was negative or positive, so my
conclusion is that there isn't enough information to
conclude which he was. I lean a little bit more toward
the negative side, but we also can't tell what the
child's tone of voice was. That might've been helpful as
well. Also, most children are too young to know any
better and we're not sure of his age, so kids will be
kids. Back
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