A book review/Analysis of All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence by Fox Butterfield
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A book review/Analysis of All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence by Fox Butterfield
Authored by Fox Butterfield and published by Vintage books in the year 2008, All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence is probably one of the most outstanding texts in the areas of social science and criminology. In a total of 389 pages, Butterfield seeks to express the fundamentals of a tradition that has habitually been characterized by counts and episodes of violence and crime. In seeking to review the underlying factors that are causative of violence, he achieves a writing that tells the story of how violence can cumulatively affect a society when inherited. In this review, he tackles a transcending trend over five generations of black Americans that have lived in the culture of violence. Not only does he explore the causative factors of this violence and its inheritance but also analyses the effects of the violence in the American society (Regoli, Hewitt & DeLisi, 2008). One outstanding point is the existence of racism and the way it interrelates to violence in this same community. The author of the book is also the writer of an award winning text of the National Book Award, China: Alive in the Bitter Sea, and a previous Times correspondent, writing about crime and its effects on the society as well as violence (Lubin, & Coe, 1982).
In a considerably inhumane way, Butterfield reviews the high amounts of disregard, brutality, unkindness, percipience, discrimination, and cruelty that blacks in the American society experience over this duration of time. To an extent, he samples them out as an overally oppressed society that remains at pains and generally bitter. The way they are treated is quite wanting. In essence, this treatment elicits desires of revenge and tendencies of retaliation in them. It is in this that Butterfield takes the case of Willie Bosket to analyze how the effects of cumulative oppression can be transferred down through generations. In this case, the considerations have five generations in line that are analyzed. At the age of five, Bosket was already a criminal. As early as age fifteen, he had the potential of slaying and killing two subway riders without the help of anyone else. Markedly, this activity led to the establishment of law that subsequently authorized the trial of children as adults in murder cases, forming a unique precedent in the American criminology and legal landscape (Worth, & Sarat, 2001). By going back through to South Carolina and tracing the lineage of Bosket, Butterfield finds out something unique. Bosket is from a black family, who have considerably undergone seasons of perceived and existent oppression over the years. It is therefore possible to conclude that his act is a culmination of the effects of this; possibly the achievement of societal revenge and the expression of internal resentment, pain and overall reprisal (Butterfield, 2008).
These generations characterized by racism, slavery practices, and discrimination in national fronts run from the eras of reconstruction to the years in 1970s. In his examination and review, Butterfield reveals very outstanding points and realistic presentations of the situations.
All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence is presented in a prologue, sixteen chapters with each confronting a specific issue at a specific time and an ultimate epilogue (Butterfield, 2008).
Chapters one to four make up part one of the book which runs from page one to seventy and through the titles: “Bloody Edgefield,” “Masters and Slaves,” “Aaron after Freedom,” and “PUD ‘Don’t Step on My Reputation,’” respectively. In these chapters, Butterfield introduces the book and covers an infinitely significant perspective of the background and source of societal violence (Butterfield, 2008). In the opening of the prologue, Willie is presented in prison and the opening statements indicate an aggressed individual who throws excrement at prison guards. He is numerously subjected to solitary condemnation and kept under tight surveillance. In other cross examined episodes, it is revealed that he had previously hurled a typewriter at a female teacher and ultimately got thrown out of school by a judge at the age of nine. In Butterfield’s narration, he does not survive long in reformatory institutions. Possibly, he sets inmates on fire, escapes, or assaults the caregivers in the institutions. If this is the extent of aggression that societal oppression, discrimination and racism can ultimately build in an individual, then Butterfield achieves his point of proving the negative effects of the American tradition of violence (Cooney, 1998).
Nonetheless, it should be worth noting that these effects are across a group of individuals and not Willie alone. The essence of this explanation is the fact that the murders Willie commits bring him out a celebrity, luminary and superstar rather than the criminal we would expect him to be. It is his acts of bravery that make Willie a scarecrow to the judiciary that quickens the passing of laws that will see juveniles tried as adults if they commit acts like that of Willie (Butterfield, 2008).
Yet narrated from his own perspective, Butterfield tells us that Willie’s story too was worth listening to. Although unaware about his family’s background, Butterfield finds the elements of upbringing in poor Harlem, subjection to a chaotic and inconsistent juvenile and justice system, and the obsession with recklessness and violence all had something to do with his then status. The personalities in Edgefield where part of Willie’s life takes place make it an outstanding county in South Carolina. To the extent Butterfield refers to it as bloody. Another review on the interaction of slaves and the slave masters equally indicates this unprecedented trend of oppression that occurs in the American society (Springer & Roberts, 2011).
Part two of the book is made up of three chapters; five, six, and seven and starts from pages 71 to 130. The subtopics handled in this part of the book are presented as “James and Butch coming up in the Terry,” “Butch The Promised Land,” and “Butch The Pawn shop.” The first of these chapters reveals quite a tantalizing detail about the lifestyle in Augusta (Butterfield, 2008). The conditions are not quite favorable for healthy development. To begin with, it is marked by Butterfield as the “The Sin City,” that is characterized with gambling, violence and a lot of illegal products like liquor and drugs. With the presence of unpaved streets and deplorable conditions, this indicates a neglected society wallowing in violence and crime. Yet this is the backyard of the black society. In a way, Butterfield uses these settings to indicate the origins of Willie’s ultimately experienced personality (Cooney, 1998).
The presentations of chapter eight to eleven bring out the character of Willie as whe grows from a small child to middle ages. All with his name, these include him as a Bad Little Booby, Little Man, The boy No One Could Help, and The Baby Face Killer. Named as Booby because of his daring acts, Willie reveals the character of a very young child who cares very little about anything considerably repercussion (Butterfield, 2008). He has an internal belief that he is superior and is ready to commit anything to defend this position including violence. As narrated by a character called Debbie, he was among the toughest in the block, never giving up and remaining ready to fight individuals or groups of persons. In one episode, he picks up an iron rod, hits a fellow male boy, and then slashes at another girl so badly that the whole episode stands out as threatening and scary. At the same time, he can pick and assume to own anything that is not his as indicated in the case of the family court about the watch he has on his hands.
Probably, some of the most outstanding natures of this character is indicated when Willie tells another boy, “I will just kill you….”. As his case goes on, the family courts command confidentiality of trial information. As such, his name is not easily let out, and it is at this point that he acquires the name Baby-Face Killer (Butterfield, 2008). In all spheres, Willie’s character is indicative of violence and obsession with crime. He lacks feelings of humanity and does not fear reprieve of any form. The investigations carried out by Butterfield truly reveal the effects of violence he wishes to lay open, just as he plans them.
Still on Willie’s character, the last two chapters focus on the prison life, the defense process, the point at which Willie gains freedom and the character in him, whose source is the American social system. This character, Butterfield refers to as a monster. A clear review of Willie’s background indicates the presence of societal discrimination and oppression. In their lineage yet, there is the element of slavery and the existence of the harshness with which blacks were treated. In the ultimate, it is quite true as Butterfield puts it that Willie’s the monster and the killer is a creation of the system.
By using Willie and his family, Butterfield seeks to express to us the theme as he places it in his book, the American Tradition of Violence (Butterfield, 2008). In this tradition that is characterized by numerous controversies, he employs wonderful collection of evidence for proof of the activities that cause this violence. He outlines the stratification in the society that is both social and economic. He achieves the review of sensitive topics like racism and societal discrimination. And he lines up a great extent of evidential facts that support his supposition and prove various claims. In reality, his analysis brings the truth about America’s state of crime as well as its source. Most notable is the cumulative effects such cultures can have on individuals within a society as in the case of Willie. Considerably, he achieves his goal and comes up with an important text that is quite relevant for individuals interested in social structures, violence and crime, and the relation of the American black community through history. In sum, this is a well-researched Masterpiece of writing in criminology.
References
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Butterfield, F. (2008). All God’s children: The Bosket family and the American tradition of violence. New York: Vintage Books.
Cooney, M. (1998). Warriors and peacemakers: How third parties shape violence. New York: New York University Press.
Lubin, M., & Coe, P. (1982). Good guys, bad guys: Violent crime and psychiatry’s dilemma. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Regoli, R. M., Hewitt, J. D., & DeLisi, M. (2008). Delinquency in society. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Springer, D. W., & Roberts, A. R. (2011). Juvenile justice and delinquency. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.Bottom of Form
Worth, R., & Sarat, A. (2001). Children, violence, and murder. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House Publishers.
