ROAR Blog #2:Finding Fish- A Memior

Courtney Patterson
Roar Blog–Book into Movie
January 24, 2010

Roar Blog #2

Summary:
In the book Finding Fish: A Memoir by Antwone Quenton Fisher, the readers began to see how Antwone deals with school. At first Antwone showed a lot of hope and process because he was following directions and learning how to be a good student, but all that soon changed. Antowne started to not pay attention to his school work because the kids at his school didn’t like him and there were more problems at home, because Mizz Pickett would find other ways to abuse Dwight and Antwone. The other problem that Antowne had at home was that people were starting to show their favoritism towards Keith, who was a young new forester kid that was living in the Pickett’s home. Keith was favored over Dwight and Antwone because he was biracial and Mizz Pickett said that he had “good” hair. This added to the reason why Antwone didn’t like his dark brown skin.
As Antwone continued the school, he began to skip school more often and he began to steal pennies and nickels from Mizz Pickett. He stole the money because he wanted to be able to buy some penny candy before school like his fellow classmates. When Mizz Pickett found out that he was stealing from her she told the case worker that she wanted him and Dwight to leave her home. When the case worker was in the process to take both of the kids out of Mizz Pickett’s home, she changed her mind. After hearing that Mizz Pickett wanted to keep the boys, the case worker decided to make Antwone go to Metzenbaum Children’s Center for a psychological evaluation. She wanted to help him and find out what was going on with him. Antwone had to take a few tests and the results were that he had the potential to do better than an average child his age, but he was not living up to his full potential. The doctor Mrs. Honhart also thought that there were more problems going on at home with Mizz Pickett and the way she treated Antwone.
As time went on Mizz Pickett took Antwone and Dwight to see Dr. Fisher, who was there to help them express their feelings because they constantly fought. When Antwone found out that the doctor had the same last name as him, he thought that he could possibly be his long lost father. When Antwone met Dr. Fisher, he realized that he was not his father because they didn’t look anything alike and he was white. Dr. Fisher was asked to help decide if Antwone should stay in the Pickett’s home, but there were not many visits to the doctor’s office because Mizz Pickett stopped the visits by telling social services that the visits were not needed any more.
Antwone began to express his self by drawing and this is when Mizz Pickett started to notice his talents. She was very happy and she bragged to anyone who would listen about how talented Antwone was. Antwone was happy that his drawings brought pleasure to people.
*Summarized Pages: 99-151
Quote:
“Inside, to myself, I make a promise, like a prayer, that if my father does keep me and I don’t have to go back to the Picketts, I’ll be good for the rest of my life.” (Fisher 144).

Reaction:
My reaction to the quote is that Antwone is desperate to find out about his family. He is desperate because he learned a few details about his father and he wants to know where his is, so he could save him for the Pickett’s home. Antwone wants to feel love and he thinks that his biological father would be the person to love him for who he is. Antwone Quenton Fisher’s writing style is to narrate the book with a younger and older voice. When Fisher was describing the events that happened in his life, he wrote in a younger voice. The younger voice was switched with an older voice when he was talking about how those events had affected him.