Barking to the Choir

Choose one homie Boyle depicts for an extended period (three paragraphs or more). Using direct quotations from the text, write an essay that explicates how Boyle’s depiction of this homie articulates one of the work’s central themes.

Boyle spends considerable energy upending both social and Christian norms. Identify a few of the subversive elements in Barking to the Choir. Explain what, exactly, Boyle’s subversive message is. Within your selected passages, what normative narrative(s) or ideas are Boyle undermining or reversing, and why?

Within the text, Boyle asserts that although he champions the leadership of the marginalized, he is not fetishizing them. Do you agree or disagree? Why? Support your answer with both direct quotations as well as outside sources defining fetishization.

What is Boyle’s conception of evil within Barking to the Choir? How does this conception push back against normative Christian standards? Use direct quotations to support your perspective.

Explain the organizational schema of Barking to the Choir. How does Boyle’s form enhance his content?

Analyze the stylistic aspects such as tone, diction, and figurative language of Barking to the Choir. How do Boyle’s stylistic choices help him to defend the text’s central message(s)?

How do Boyle’s ideas and contentions regarding gang members in Los Angeles destabilize or challenge the narratives put out by law enforcement? Use public statements from the LAPD or Los Angeles Sheriffs regarding gang activity in your answer.

Barking to the Choir can be viewed as a text offering very specific religious principles, which are often thematically announced by the chapter titles. Several chapters, in turn, parse one specific religious principle. Choose one chapter/principle pairing and explain it. What is the principle Boyle hopes to impart, and how does he demonstrate the validity of his perspective?