Discussion Pages 200-285 Lullabies for Little Criminals by
Heather ONeill Mr. Wilson - LMAC - 2012
Slide 2
[The social workers] often got my file mixed up and thought
that I had gone to juvenile detention for being a prostitute, All I
had done was date a pimp. (202)
Slide 3
After I was in detention, my regular high school didnt want me
back. I was considered a system kid...That was just their policy
and had nothing to do with me, (202)
Slide 4
Funny! Pages 202-203
Slide 5
The system kids at Bobo Academy were proud of being messed up.
There was a hierarchy there and they were somehow at the
top...Being manic depressive seemed to be regarded as romantic.
(204)
Slide 6
More Funniness! Page 204
Slide 7
I didnt know how I felt about [Alphonse], but I did know that I
wanted him to like me. (206)
Slide 8
You belong to me, Alphonse had whispered...I knew what all the
hubbub about commitment was. I wanted desperately to belong to
someone. (207)
Slide 9
Slide 10
I looked in the cabinet mirror and told myself that it didnt
matter. So I believed my reflection, since there was no one else
telling me what to do. I filled the bathtub with hot water and the
mirror became fogged up and I couldnt see myself in it anymore.
(210)
Slide 11
I was hurting Jules and Jules was hurting me...We were both
just lonely drifters. (211)
Slide 12
I could no longer be afraid of the things children were afraid
of. (212)
Slide 13
As usual, I felt guilty about having fantasized about that and
I felt lousy for a few minutes. I lay there as if Id been shot.
(213)
Slide 14
After Alphonse noticed that I was beautiful, it seemed as if
everybody else in the world noticed too. (214)
Slide 15
I knew Alphonse was a pimp and that sooner or later I was going
to have to turn a trick. For some reason it seemed like growing
wisdom teeth. (215)
Slide 16
Eventually everyone would fall one by one like stars dropping
out of the sky...But during those first few days of delinquency
theres nothing that ever tastes sweet like that most everyone still
dazzled in my eyes. (216-7)
Slide 17
Id noticed that Alphonse made it a point not to touch me in
public. He would never do something like hold my hand. (218)
Slide 18
There were no doves with their heads bitten off or chain saws
in the car, so I guessed it was safe to get in. Suddenly I wanted
to see what the consequences would be.( 219)
Slide 19
It all seemed out of my hands somehow. It had to be done and
money was money. (220)
Slide 20
When I got back to my apartment building with the white bricks
I stood there a bit, just looking at it. Nothing had changed. The
universe looked exactly the same. (221)
Slide 21
So what if a hand came out from under the bed a grabbed me?
That would be nothing. (222)
Slide 22
I often lied about my age to people. When I said my real age,
they would laugh and tell me to get lost and go play soccer in the
park. (224)
Slide 23
Sadness fit me like blue jeans. Sadness fit me like a hangmans
noose. It crawled on me like an electric blanket and it was hard to
resist its warmth. (225)
Slide 24
I didnt know what to make of [Jules] doing drugs again. I
wished I didnt know at all. I was so confused by things that
nothing quite seemed real at that moment. (226)
Slide 25
I didnt even feel like a prostitute. (227)
Slide 26
Slide 27
I gave Alphonse all the money I made. Since I would have been
scared to death to do it without him, I figured he deserved the
money. (228)
Slide 28
It seemed ridiculous that I couldnt get into a club after all
the shit I was doing. (229)
Slide 29
Your little period of grace isnt going to last forever.
(230)
Slide 30
Slide 31
I had never been singled out at school or anywhere else for any
kind of achievement. I was happy. (231)
Slide 32
Slide 33
It was unusual to hear someone talk about their parents like
that. Most of the kids I hung around with only mentioned their
parents when they were telling anecdotes about mean or crazy things
that they had done. (234)
Slide 34
Slide 35
I wished there was an easy way to get out of ever seeing
Alphonse again. (239)
Slide 36
What could Jules do for me now? (240)
Slide 37
When two people are thinking the same thing, it sends a charge
through your whole body. My veins were telephone lines with people
laughing and screaming through them. (242)
Slide 38
The one single advantage of having a negligent parent was that
you got to hang out and do what you wanted when you wanted. There
was a very small period of glory when all the other children are
jealous of you. (243)
Slide 39
All teenagers start leading double lives anyhow; mine was just
a little more extreme. (245)
Slide 40
In stead of saving me, [Jules] had rejected me. If ha hadnt
sent me to a center for rejected children, I wouldnt have become
such good friends with Alphonse. (247)
Slide 41
My dad advised me against having a boyfriend... He said that
when your are in love with someone, you want to follow them to the
bathroom. He said love just makes you pathetic. (250)
Slide 42
Children make the best prostitutes because they re the most
perfunctory about the whole encounter. The whole act is like a
dare, like kissing a frog or something. (253)
Slide 43
Alphonse was probably the only person in the world who was
afraid of Jules. (254)
Slide 44
Alphonse always gave me the coolest gifts The girls at my
school were always jealous of it his gifts were way cooler than
Xaviers. (256)
Slide 45
Alphonse seemed to want to believe anything in the world other
than the fact that I had a boyfriend. (258)
Slide 46
Funny conversation pages 258-259
Slide 47
I assumed that it was somehow impossible for either of them to
occupy the same space at the same time. (260)
Slide 48
Zo had been working on her fucked-up image a lot during the
past year She was the most popular girl in our circle of juvenile
delinquents. (265-6)
Slide 49
Slide 50
Unfortunately, [Alphonse] was the most dependable person in my
life. (273)
Slide 51
I felt extinguished, as though I was a fairy and a child
stopped believing in me. (275)
Slide 52
Sometimes you would feel the staff putting their hand on you in
the middle of the night, making sure that you were real and not a
pile of clothes masquerading as a human. (278)
Slide 53
The part of me that had been with Alphonse was fake. (279)
Slide 54
I didnt like how she was looking at me. The way she looked at
me made me feel naked. I felt as if I was stripping at detention
all over again. (282)
Slide 55
Some guardian angles did a terrible job. They were given work
in the poor neighborhoods where none of the others wanted to go.
Every delinquent kid had one of these miserable angels that made
sure that they made the worst of every situation
Slide 56
I had never felt my angel jump so quickly to work as when she
heard the word heroin. I guess shed been waiting a while for
someone to say it. (285)