Bucking The Sarge Notes

Luther and Sparky(real name Dewey) are the main characters in this book. Luther is well off and seems to have all a kid can want. The book starts by Luther dropping his wallet in class and how best friend sparky finding it for him. The scene moves to the car where Luther seems ungrateful for what he has and doesn’t realize how lucky he is. The Sparky reminds him of what he has and why he should be thankful and not complain about everything. They then made a list for Sparky where he stated that he is not well off like Luther is and he doesn’t have a job, money, or parental guidance. Luther seems to think not having a parent tell you what to do and you can come and go as you please is a good thing, but Sparky sees it as troubling and sad. The both seem to envy each others lives. Luther runs a group home for men, he has been involved there since he was around 13 years old. Sparky had Luther watch a commercial about a lawyer and he watched it in front of the men at the group home. The men then starting repeating the line from the commercial “sue em all” which was bad timing because the “sarge” of the place pulled in and she used to have a lot of law suit issues.  Luther is very into philosophy, he had gotten hooked off of one experience and now he looks at life philosophically. He wants to go to university to study Philosophy. In the first two chapters you do not get much action, it is mainly about introducing the characters and what their role in society is. The Sarge introduces a new client to Luther and he sees that the man has a lot of money and had no next of kin. He assumes this is why Sarge is so interested in helping this man and making sure he gets good care. While Luther goes through life, he uses philosophy to redirect his thoughts and to explain his thinking or peoples actions.