Erratic and Childish – the Behavior of Samuel

In Samuel’ short story, there are four boys jiggling on the swaying platform of moving subway cars in New York. Their names are; Samuel.Alfredo, Tom and lastly Calvin. The men and women in the cars on either side of the cars watch them Samuel and his friends are teenagers where they take everything easy and they jiggle and jump between moving trains . Paley says “They are tough boys whereby they are not afraid of anything.

They’re also men who are watching kids doing such risky actions and they seem nothing scary to them since they did something more dangerous than this. There are two men who looked at the four boys jumping and jiggling on the platform and remembered their childhood and what they used to do was more risky than this. It must be fun to ride that way, especially now the weather is nice and we’re out of the tunnel and way high over the Bronx. Then they thought. These kids do seem to be acting sort of stupid. They are little. Then they thought of some of the brave things they had done when they were boys and jiggling didn’t seem so risky.”(Paley, pg 11).

On the other side, there are women on Samuel’s train, who are worrying these kids dangerous action and how unsafe these actions can cost their life as we can be referred how there are more concerned about boys safety than men do. “One of the ladies could not take what the kds were doing and she saw as unsafe situation by getting up says, “be careful you dumb kids, get off that platform or I’ll call a cop. She was afraid they’d be fresh and laugh at her and embarrass her. She wasn’t afraid they’d hit her, but she was afraid of embarrassment.” (pg11).She tried to get over her fear and, and stood up with determination and tell the boys if they do not stop the risky behavior, she will call the police and they might be hurt as she warns them about their behavior but unfortunately, boys started laughing at her and continue to pound each other’s back.

One of the men stood up and reacted that they boys were going to be crazy and unsafe so he thoughts that if stops the train they might be safe. Then he walked to the end of the car, where he pulled the emergency cord and his intention was to help the kids and possibly save them from getting hurt. In the end, Samuel dies a tragic death. However, his action did more harm than helping the boys.

The police went to Samuel’s parent to notify the death of their son. Samuel’s mother sadly griefs and cries day-in and out and she hopefully assumed that she will get a son like Samuel. Meantime, she gets pregnant and prays to get a child like Samuel but unfortunately when she gives birth to a boy she realizes that she won’t find a child like Samuel.

In conclusion, Samuel and his friends play a risky game even though they see as fun but when it comes to real life many of our youth do not realize how important their safety is but they will regret when they see what they are action can lead and the consequences it can bring like we saw Samuel lost his life and many other tragic events. The death of Samuel can be referred to the risky actions those boys were doing and the action that the cord puller did, however, youth have to take responsibilities of their own life and they should know what right or wrong and more importantly, they should listen to and respect their elders as a matter of fact because they know better than us.