Fire Shut Up in My Bones

Although Blow has a large extended family—several grandfathers, aunts, uncles, and cousins—he remains isolated and introverted. What are some of the causes of his isolation? Why doesn’t his family provide a better support network for him?

Blow grows up poor in the rural South in a community coping with the disastrous results of segregation. But rather than becoming embittered individuals looking out only for themselves, the community is tightly knit: neighbors care for neighbors, and children run unsupervised through the neighborhood because an adult somewhere will always have their backs. Explain the relationship between privation and communal cohesion.

Chester’s manipulation of Blow begins when Chester “chooses” his young cousin. Why is this manipulation effective? What does Chester see in young Blow that he knows he can take advantage of?