Hope

The major theme of the book is that there is hope. This is the message of the book and the overall point Rose is making. He, himself, is a symbol of hope despite the problems he had in school. Rose came from the poverty of South Los Angeles, the son of Italian immigrant parents. A mix up of records at the beginning of high school had him assigned to the Vocational Education program, which is basically for remedial students, instead of the college prep curriculum in which he belonged. This error was remedied during his junior year when he had an English teacher, Jack MacFarland, who became his mentor and helped him gain entrance to Loyola University. Recognizing that Mike needed special help, MacFarland arranged for some of the teachers at Loyola to mentor Rose. Mike managed to overcome his problems and perform well enough to receive a...