Exposition

This book had an extremely long exposition. At some points it almost seemed as if the author was trying to tease his readers-  things would pick up and get exciting, then calm back down. At some points I was wondering how the author was going to fit the rising action, climax, and resolution in the few pages left in the book. However, after reading the story I realized that the author was setting up the story and giving the readers a lot of detail to make the climax even better. Still, it seemed like the exposition dragged on a bit too long. At some points in the story, I wondered if even the author knew where the story was going. Jose and Ray did a lot of things together, mostly stealing. Maybe the author was trying to show how Ray began experiencing guilt for his actions. A lot was learned about the relationship between Jose and Ray, and how close they are. They did everything together and seemed like they could be brothers.  Overall, I thought the book had a decent exposition, but it was just too long.

Ten Mile River is a very popular place for Boy Scout camps in New York. Above is a picture of it.

Photo from: http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1370/1120587516_ca05dfb2d4.jpg

Symbols

  Most of the symbols in Ten Mile River are pretty discreet, but I was able to pick up on a few. For example, the Ten Mile River symbolized a path to a new life for Ray. Throughout the story Jose kept talking about his favorite dog, "Fatty", and how he seemed smarter and different than the other dogs. Fatty represented the differences between Ray and Jose. Breon, the thief who wanted Ray and Jose to live with him and steal things with him, represented the things holding Ray back from going on to a better life. Breon was evil and cared about little other than himself. I thought the author did a pretty good job with the symbolism in this story, even though there are no obvious symbols. Two readers could read the story and interpret the symbols different ways. However, I like this about this book- it gives you a little room to imagine what happens yourself.

Falling Action

   The falling action of Ten Mile River was just the way that I think any book's falling action should be- short and sweet. I strongly dislike books that drag on the falling action for page after page even though the conflict has been resolved and there isn't really much else to write about. In this book the falling action is when Ray has gotten away from the cops and gets in a boat to go down Ten Mile River. It has already been established that he's left Jose for good and has plans on starting a new life, and the author doesn't drag it on too long. He talks about his dreams of going back to school and remembers some of the things he and Jose did together. The falling action left me very satisfied because it led into a peaceful ending. Ray realizes that things will work out, and that he has a bright future ahead of him. It's a simple but elegant ending.

This ending reminded me of a song about floating down a river. Here's the song, called "Floating Down a River" by Jason Damato.

Video from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqzitW5cKdM

Point Of View

  This story is told in limited third person, with the narrator having knowledge about Ray's thoughts and emotions. At the beginning of the story it is hard to tell what point of view the story is told from, because the narrator doesn't say much about Jose or Ray's thoughts and feelings, but as the story progresses the narrator starts talking about what Ray is thinking. The narrator doesn't say much about the other characters other than their actions and words. The narrator also follows Ray when Ray and Jose split up, which helped me to realize the story was being in the limited third person point of view. I think this was probably the best way to tell the story because it really helps the audience to sympathize with Ray. By revealing just his thoughts and feelings, the audience can see the conflict in the story more easily.

Climax

I thought that this book had a great climax. Ray fights Jose out because he was drunk and trying to do things Trini didn't want him to do. He knocks him out while Trini goes back to her house. Trini calls the cops and they come to get Jose and Ray. It is not specifically said that Trini calls the cops on Jose and Ray, but it can be inferred based on what's going on in the story. When the cops get there, Jose is hurt so he can't run away, but Ray is able to because Jose tricked the cops into thinking he ran the opposite way that he really did. This is probably one of the best parts of the book, with a lot of suspense and action.  Jose gets caught by the cops while Ray runs away, meaning that Ray has gotten away from Jose and his criminal life.

Themes

   This is a story that could have multiple themes, but after reading the story I've found that there has been one main theme throughout the story: Sometimes in life you need to do what you feel is right and ignore those who don't know. This is most evident towards the end of the story when Ray starts to realize how wrong the things he is doing- stealing, not going to school, etc. are wrong. At one point he even throws a laptop into the river because he feels so bad about stealing it. He also "ignores" Jose at the end of the story when Jose is caught by the cops. He runs away in hopes of having a better, "normal" life even though that means he has to leave his friend behind. This theme is mostly shown through the conflict and plot of the story, but is also shown through the direct and indirect characterization of Ray. As Ray starts to realize that he could be a better person, he slowly begins to think about how the things that he does affects other people. He looks at things from another person's view, one thing Jose has trouble with throughout the story.

http://yourlifeuncommon.blogspot.com/2011/11/fhe-choosing-good-friends.html

Conflicts

   At the beginning of this book I really wasn't quite sure what the main conflict was. There were many minor conflicts such as avoiding being caught by the police, Jose's girl problems with Trini, and earning enough money to buy food and survive. However, as the story went on, I found a few important quotes and parts of the book that really helped to reveal the main conflict. The main conflict of the story is that Ray has dreams of a good future of being a good citizen, but Jose wants to continue his life of crime and getting into trouble. In order for Ray to do this, he has to realize that Jose is only going to weigh him down. This is extremely difficult for him because Ray and Jose are "like brothers" and are really close. Throughout the story, Ray progresses into a better person trying to live a normal life, while Jose seems to have no intentions of changing. I liked how the conflict wasn't extremely obvious and really had to be inferred through the things that were said.