The 57 Bus

The 57 Bus

by

Dashka Slater

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on The 57 Bus makes teaching easy.

The 57 Bus: Part 2: Fighting Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
One day back in 2012, Cherie and Richard skipped school with a group of friends, including their old friend, Skeet. They were headed to the beach when one of their friends began to have a verbal disagreement with another group of kids. Before long, all the boys were fighting, and Skeet ended up hitting one of them with a skateboard. “It was hecka savage,” Cherie says. Later, on their way back from the beach, they saw the other kids talking to the cops, and “then a cruiser pulled up behind the bus.”
This incident, like Richard’s attack on Sasha, bears the hallmarks of “hot cognition” (when a person’s emotions heavily influence their thinking) and poor adolescent decision making, especially in a group setting. The fight begins over seemingly nothing, and it is escalated to violence without thinking about the consequences.
Themes
Adolescent Crime vs. Adult Crime Theme Icon