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Rickey
Lafeyette’s friend Bird Leg is a dog lover who, over time, becomes involved with the Conservative Vice Lords gang. Although he never sells drugs, he becomes passionate about gang rivalry and, at the age of fifteen, is killed by a member of the Disciples, a rival gang, during a dispute. Even though Lafeyette had started distancing himself from Bird Leg when he joined a gang, Bird Leg’s death impacts him deeply, marking the beginning of a long series of deaths of people close to the Rivers family.
Calvin “Bird Leg” Robinson Quotes in There Are No Children Here
The There Are No Children Here quotes below are all either spoken by Calvin “Bird Leg” Robinson or refer to Calvin “Bird Leg” Robinson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Preface Quotes
They have joined gangs, sold drugs, and, in some cases, inflicted pain on others. But they have also played baseball and gone on dates and shot marbles and kept diaries. For, despite all they have seen and done, they are—and we must constantly remind ourselves of this—still children.
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In this passage, Kotlowitz describes the difficult situations that children at Horner can find themselves in. He explains that not all children have succeeded in avoiding death or staying away from violence, but that some have actively taken part in harmful activities. While he does not necessarily argue that children lack agency, will, or the capacity to separate right from wrong, Kotlowitz does insist on children’s inherent innocence. His goal is to make the reader view the children’s actions with compassion and understanding. In contrast to the title of this book, Kotlowitz insists that there are, in fact, children here. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit u
Chapter 6 Quotes
Lafeyette confided to LaJoe, who tried vainly to get him to verbalize his grief, that talking wasn’t going to help him, that everything that “goes wrong keeps going on and everything that’s right doesn’t stay right.”
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After his friend Bird Leg’s death, Lafeyette becomes more withdrawn, keeping his thoughts and emotions to himself, even though he is visibly upset by what has happened. His reluctance to share his feelings comes from an underlying belief that sharing emotions should be useful in some way. If, on the other hand, reality is bound to stay the same and disappoint him, there is no purpose to sharing his emotions, since this will only make him feel bad about something he cannot change. Lafeyette’s cynicism at such an early age can be seen as a similar reaction to Pharoah’s daydreaming: Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupt
Chapter 8 Quotes
Often, when Rickey became embroiled in a fight, he began to relive Bird Leg’s last minutes, and as he did so, his anger turned to rage. In class, he once choked another child so long and hard that, in the words of Pharoah, “he put him to sleep.” These flashbacks, which were nor unlike those of a traumatized war veteran, haunted Rickey for well over a year after Bird Leg’s death.
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Pharoah’s new friend Rickey seems like Pharoah’s polar opposite. If Rickey is tough and aggressive, Pharoah is shy and soft-spoken. Rickey is rebellious and disobedient, whereas Pharoah enjoys the order that school provides him. However, beyond these appearances lie a similar sensitivity and trauma. Like both Lafeyette and Pharoah, Rickey is deeply upset by Bird Leg’s death, which strikes him as unfair and unacceptable. Instead of retreating into himself, though, he projects his anger and pain outward, thus harming others in the process. This shows the underlying, long-term effects of violence on young children. In this case, violence breeds pain Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessita
Chapter 21 Quotes
Memories for Lafeyette became dangerous. He recalled nothing of Bird Leg’s funeral. He couldn’t remember the names of any of the performers at the talent show. He sometimes had trouble recounting what he had done just the day before in school. Shutting out the past was perhaps the only way he could go forward or at least manage the present. Besides, he knew, nothing could bring Craig back.
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After Craig Davis’s death, Lafeyette’s mind and body react to grief in unconscious ways. He begins to lose his memory, as though his mind could simply erase unpleasant episodes from the past in order to feel better. This erasure affects not only memories of trauma and injustice, such as Craig or Bird Leg’s death, but also neutral or positive memories, such as his day at school. Such reactions prove that the trauma of living in a violent environment is uncontrollable and can have long-term effects on a person’s mind. However uncontrollable, though, these reactions follow a logic that Lafeyette has Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. V
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Calvin “Bird Leg” Robinson Character Timeline in There Are No Children Here
The timeline below shows where the character Calvin “Bird Leg” Robinson appears in There Are No Children Here. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
...to reckon with death and injustice on a deeply personal level. One of his friends, Bird Leg , known for loving and communicating with dogs, becomes involved in gang activity, finding love...
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In the summer of 1987, Bird Leg is becoming increasingly reckless. He has since dropped out of school, and his loyalty to...
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One day in August, Bird Leg is shot by a rival gang member with a buckshot and jokes to his family...
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...proceeds to lead a group of Vice Lords to seek revenge on the Disciples for Bird Leg ’s death. However, policeman Charlie Toussas, who knows Lee well, interferes to keep him from...
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A few days later, afraid that groups of Disciples would storm the young boy’s funeral, Bird Leg ’s family organizes the ceremony at a storefront church outside the neighborhood. At the church,...
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Carla Palmore, one of Bird Leg ’s friends, gives a speech about remembering that, more importantly than his membership to a...
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...They hear a mother tell her son that he could have been killed just like Bird Leg , and they see gang members make the Vice Lords’ sign at Bird Leg’s body....
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Chapter 6
While he has not developed a stammer like his brother, since Bird Leg ’s death, Lafeyette has become more introverted, refusing to show his emotions and concerns. He...
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Despite being haunted by Bird Leg ’s death and encouraged by his mother to articulate his emotions, Lafeyette concludes that talking...
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Chapter 7
...Lafeyette and Pharoah refuse to attend the funeral, because they still have not gotten over Bird Leg ’s death. The strike finally ends in early October, and Pharoah is excited to start...
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Chapter 8
Most importantly, Rickey was deeply affected by his cousin Bird Leg ’s death, since he considered him a big brother and actually witnessed him being shot....
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Chapter 14
...the head of the Vice Lords. Charlie Toussas recounts Lee’s plan to take revenge on Bird Leg ’s death by leading gang members to fight the Disciples. A police veteran expert on...
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Chapter 21
Unlike Bird Leg ’s funeral, Craig Davis’s is organized at a reputed place, the city’s most famous black-owned...
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Chapter 29
...the summer, Weasel gives Lafeyette and Pharoah two pit bull puppies, which remind Lafeyette of Bird Leg and his passion for dogs. While Pharoah ends up giving his away, Lafeyette enjoys taking...
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