pLAygROUND
“She shifted in her seat, and I look around the room again. I couldn’t believe how depressing her office was. It was a small room on the second floor of a strip of a mall, above a dry cleaners, and one store front over from a Popeyes. The whole place stank like week-old fried chicken, and I was supposed to take this skinny white woman seriously.” (Pg.1) The story starts out with a combination of two leads. Butterball is talking to his therapist about why he’s there and what’s going on in his life. He reflects upon the office and how messed it is and how the smell of a restaurant can throw off his concentration. Through the dialogue and reflection 50 Cent incorporates Butterball’s behaviors and characteristics.
“Listen, lady, I’m sure you mean well, but let’s you and me get one thing straight now. I’m here because if I get expelled from school, I’ll have to sit around my mom’s apartment…..So….ease off.” (Pg. 2) This dialogue that Butterball is saying to his therapist helps me to gain knowledge on the main character that he’s a bully/gangster who talks smack and is very disrespectful. I think this was the goal of 50 Cent to pull in the reader by starting off strong and to the point. My first prediction is that Butterball will beat up this kid who is moving in on the girl he likes, but Nia has already seen her fair share of butterball beating up a kid with a sock filled with batteries, so she’s still very scared. My second prediction is that Butterball will change his ways after he realizes an action he committed hurts the people he cares about.
This story takes place in a modern society in a suburb, Long Island. I can relate to many things in Butterballs life. Like going to the movies or seeing girls in corners giggle as the boys play basketball. The story mostly consists of butterball going to the therapist in a small depressing office with a crooked picture of a sail boat. Also he spends days like a modern kid going to a school with segregated cafeteria tables and then going home. He has a messy home which he doesn’t like because his mom always asks him to clean his room. Like I said I am a kid about the same age as Butterball so I live a modern life like he does, but the only thing I haven’t experience is major bullying to a level where people fight. I don’t want to experience bullying, but I think I need to get into reality because I will be attending a school with ten times more kids than Barnard School. Hopefully I will not be affected by bullying. . Butterball is the main character in Playground which as a reader you experience his life through how he sees it. This story is told in 1st person point of view because the author uses the pronoun “I.” The narrator being butterball is limited because you only know what is going on within his mind and what he’s feeling. I think the author wrote this story in 1st person because he wanted the reader to know how directly Butterballs life is going. For example, how is the bullying effecting his life, how did it start, and how will butterball make a change. In a way I think this is good because I want to know what goes on in the mind of a bully and how they act, but it would also be interesting if it was omniscient and we knew what other characters think about Butterball and how they contribute to how Butterball is right now, a bully.
The main protagonist in pLAygROUND is butterball. Butterball, a bully that is known for beating up a kid Maurice with a sock filled with batteries. He a bully and that’s that no question needed. “I wacked Maurice right across that self-satisfied grin of his, and I pounded those batteries into his teeth over and over until I felt something come loose.” (Pg. 12) Why is he a bully? Well, the book doesn’t tell you but you can infer that he has become a bully due to his parents’ divorce and having to ride the train from one side of town to the other. Butterball mostly spends his time with his mom and every other week he gets to visit his dad. Every minute spent with his dad he cherishes. His mom is trying to do full time a St. Vincent’s Hospital so she’s never home. Butterball says to his therapist that he’s better off if his mom and him stayed away from each other and do their own thing. I feel like this contributes to Butterball being a bully because he doesn’t have a well built relationship with his mother. There are two antagonist that have had a big impact in the book. The first is Terrence Jackson. He’s a kid from a different school who is planning to go to a party where Nia will be andmake a move on her. Big mistake. Butterball has liked her since she first laid eyes on him because on his first day of school she was the only one who smiled at him. At the party Butterball is planning to show Nia who is the bigger man by showing Terrance whose boss. The Second, antagonist is Butterball. Being a bully has not yet clicked with him that it can be hurtful and draw people you like farther away from you. He has to learn to move beyond that and be known as“Hey, Butterball” not “Hhhiiii, Buuutterbbball.” I think he is starting to see the light because he admits that the therapist he works with who he hated at first is “alright.” Also he is showing her respect because he used to just call her lady, but now calls her Liz. It’s a small step, but every step counts. The main Character is Butterball. He is a short dark colored skinned boy who is a little on the heavy side. Butterball is rude and disrespectful. Heck he doesn’t care whether he calls people names or hurts them. The dialogue above about Butterball beating up Maurice shows how cruel he can be. Butterball loves to see people get revenge and just continues to hit the boy as people cheer.
“Hey , Nia, that thing you saw?” I said. “It wasn’t what you thought. I mean, Maurice and me, we had a private score to settle, that’s all. He got only what was coming to him, know what I mean?” (Pg. 57) This dialogue might seem that Butterball is still in the wrong mind, but he’s trying to apologize to Nia and what he did. It’s not good what he did, but I think this shows a new side to Butterball that he can make a change and be a person people will like.
A minor character in pLAygROUND is Butterball's therapist Liz. Butterball might not like going to see her because it’s a waste of time and her office reaks of fried chicken. But she is helping him to realize what is going on in his life like about his parents divorce and how he feels about it. By liz talking and asking questions to Butterball it really opens butterball's eyes and what he can do better to turn his life around. I think further in the book having talked to Liz will make Butterball a nice kid who will have everyone saying "hi," to him. The primary conflict in pLAygROUND would have to be Person v Person because the problem is happening within Butterball. Butterball is a bully and it affects his relationships with his family and friends. He swears to his therapist and mom which really gets his mom upset. He beats kids up. Underneath his troubles there’s hope for him. But one problem, his dad and friends. They are the reason why he can’t see the potential of being a really good kid that everyone likes. His friends egg him on to do bad acts like telling Butterball to beat up a kid who is moving in on his girl. “Here’s the thing man,” my dad was saying. “It’s cool what you did, you know? A man has his reasons and I respect that. In fact, I was kind of proud of you when she told me-maybe you’re not such a worthless fata#% after all, you know? But there’s just one problem, my brother, and it’s a big one…You shouldn’t have gotten caught, Butterball, man. I mean what were you thinking?” (Pg. 100) His dad is referring to Butterball beating up Maurice. His dad is actually saying it was cool, but you can’t get caught. Also his dad later on tells him that if you take control then you get what you want. It’s his dad telling him what he is doing is ok. So butterball thinks his actions can continue without consequences. But it’s hurting people he loves. This is what I think Butterball needs to see or else it might end up ruining his life.
“So yeah,” Nia was still talking obliviously on, “I had a little favor to ask you. It sounds kind of weird, but, well, I’d just be real grateful if I mean, if you’re not coming-and you are coming, I hope?-could you, like, help me keep an eye on stuff? Make sure nothing gets to out of hand, know what I mean?” I came to a complete stop again, before we finished crossing the street. I was trying to process what exactly Nia was asking of me. She hoped I was coming to the party tomorrow night? Had she really just said that?” I think this will be the turning point in Butterball’s life. He really likes Nia. She’s like the anchor that holds him back from his bad ways. Sadly I think Butterball will lose her trust at the party and realize that his life stinks having the girl he likes hates him. But it could also go well and Nia starts to hang out with him more because he helped contain things at the party. Knowing that Butterball can change his ways keeps you on the edge of your seat as you read. Butterball has to decide will he carry out the promise he made with Nia or will he mess it up and blow out the light of the potential he has.
There’re two major themes in the book pLAygROUND. The first one I am brought to that is probably the most important one and like Slam has changed me. I have learned a lesson that people can change. You might think someone is mean or stupid, but somewhere in their hearts there’s a plant waiting to blossom. People have problems that you don’t know about, so to judge someone by the first impression they give you that you don’t like can be wrong sometimes. Next time you look at someone with disgust or hatred just think maybe they have problems that are affecting their actions. Butterball experiences the theme of “Coming of Age/Loss of Innocence.” We all hold on to something from when we were little, but sometimes holding these things can break us. Sometimes we just have to let them go. Butterball starts out as a ruthless bully that no one would dare cross, especially after the sock and Maurice incident. This is what Butterball has known mostly all his life, to be a bully. Bullying masks the pain of reality. When Butterball enrolls in therapy he doesn’t think that he needs help. Why should he tell a skinny white lady his problems? I guess being overweight and having parents that have divorced really has had a negative impact on Butterball’s life. Even a bad bully like Butterball can see the light. When he goes to the party at Nia’s aunt’s house he goes up to Terrance. He is about to hit Terrance for what he sees is no good reason. But Terrance is too fast and punches Butterball to the ground. He pees his pants and gets punched many times. Butterball from that day realizes is this what I have been doing with my life? Why would I do these things to other people? This is what he talks about to his therapist Liz near the end of the book. Liz brings up the topic of Butterball attending a charter school. He really likes the idea of being able to show his talent by making and showing his movies. Movies are what help Butterball at the end of the book to realize who he really is. He has rised, fallen, and once again risen from the ashes. Butterball is now a new person and has a lot to do before attending school where he can pursue his passion. No more bullying, but seeing the good aspects of life through film making. Butterball also experiences “Stranger in a Strange Land or Alienation” because he was brought to Garden City, Long Island when the school season already started. He had no friends coming to this school and people just looked at his weight and laughed giving him the name Butterball. Throughout the story it seems that there’ll be no hope for him, but then Butterball notices that bullying a lure that will hook you in a bad way, almost like you see your life before you. His name is not Butterball; his name is Burton the kid who decided to make a change.
I would rate this book a ten. I just love when authors can teach me something throughout the stories they write that can change a reader. It’s amazing how 50 Cent can put time into a book with his rapping carrier. The ending could not have been better Burton realizes that there’s more to life than his life style. And he gets into a school that he thinks will change his life. It’s more to that than just getting in the fact that he put in effort by making a movie and filling out the work sheet shows how much he wants to change his life. Does Butterball grow up to being a famous movie maker? Does he go back to his bulling life in High school? I would definitely recommend this book to anyone because it has the power to touch anyone’s heart and tell them is your life heading in the right direction right now. Can you change as a person? I want to read 50th Law by 50 Cent. It will be interesting to see how he writes this book and what it is about. Hopefully this will help me to see something that will make me a better person.
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