Friendship

The central relationship of the story is the former friendship between Beto and the protagonist, and one of the story’s central concerns is depicting the ways in which such a relationship is a necessary coping mechanism for personal adversity. Beto and the protagonist live in the same impoverished New Jersey neighborhood, and they serve as mutually supportive companions in the face of the personal challenges presented by their environment. The protagonist exemplifies this adversity thusly: “Beto was leaving for college at the end of the summer and was delirious from the thought of it—he hated everything about the neighborhood” (91). The narration then goes on to describe the various dilapidated aspects of the neighborhood. Beto and the protagonist’s friendship is generally based on mutual antipathy toward the neighborhood and rebellious actions in service of this antipathy, thus creating a mutually positive relationship out of...