Essay Questions

Fats reconciles with his parents at the end of the book. Why is this?

For most of his teen years, Fats has been having conflicted feelings about his parents, and the fact that he is adopted. His hurt over having been given up by his birth parents is manifesting as anger towards his adoptive family. He doesn't really respect his father; he sees him as neurotic and ineffectual, and so is rather cruel about him to others, and is only to eager to humiliate him publicly behind the secrecy that posting anonymously on the online forum offers.

His adoptive mother talks to him seriously about his father and about the circumstances of his adoption. Fats' biological mother was no older than he is now. She was fourteen years old, and was pregnant because she was raped by a family member. She was unable to raise him herself, and so Cubby offered to take in her baby. It wasn't a good time for him to do so - he was in a stressful and demanding job at the time and he was not in the best of health either, but he did it, because it was the right thing to do and because he wanted to open his heart and home to the little boy. Fats is immediately remorseful, both for the way he has acted,and for the fact that he has never tried to really get to know his dad, or appreciate the selflessness with which he has been treated.

Why is Barry Fairbrother so obsessed with The Fields? What is his interest in Krystal Wheedon?

Barry is a local boy made good; he grew up in poverty on The Fields and he made a success of himself. He is convinced that given half a chance, many of the kids growing up just like him could do just the same. Although this makes him view the criminality of The Fields through rose colored spectacles, it also makes him take a particular interest in some of the teens whom he feels are going to slip through the net if he doesn't do something. He likes to involve kids from The Fields in activities alongside kids from the better areas of town. One of these kids is Krystal Wheedon, who has a younger brother she takes care of because her mother is a drug addict and cares more about getting drugs than she does about the welfare of her children.

Barry offers Krystal the chance to participate in the local rowing team alongside the Pagford girls, which proves to be very beneficial for her. His theory is that by taking out the young people of The Fields one by one, he can make a bigger difference than if he throws money at the housing project as a whole, which will not necessarily reach the ones who need it the most.