The Stranger

In The Stranger, by Sherman Alexie he introduces a character that is a teacher who teaches poetry in a prison. There was a riot that was going to happen in the prison and she had no idea. She was in the middle of reading her students a poem when the riot started. There was no way she could be rescued. All of a sudden her students carried her into a supply closest. They put her in a cardboard box and started laughing. At first I figured they were just messing with her but then I realized they were trying to protect her. They were laughing because they couldn’t believe they were doing something good for once. They told her to not to move until the guards come so they can help her. When people are in prison for a while they start to realize that they don’t want to live their life in a bad way. I have a cousin that just got out of prison and he started to do good by getting his GED and started to take care of himself better. When I read this article it made me think of him because he started to be a better person while being in prison. It was a huge wake up call for him and he doesn’t want to go back. He has now improved a lot. Being in prison can change how people think in life. Some people learn a lot from their experience in prison and don’t want to go back but there are the people that don’t learn their lesson. There are people that need to experience prison to realize it’s not a good idea to live their life that way. In the Stanger I realized that they were trying to help her because they said how they shut the box and tapped it loosely, she would still be able to get out so they weren’t trying to hurt her. Another clue was when they said to wait for the guards. If they were trying to hurt her they wouldn’t tell her that so they wanted her to get help. They were returning the favor because she goes in to teach them and they wanted to protect her.