The Last Chance Kid is written in the second person with a mum making references to her son and his experiences in life. The tale is a confession of mum to her exasperation with an impulsive tween, her anger at his astounding self-righteousness and actions he will take to act on this, and her wonder at discovering her own James Bond style of thinking and behaving. The guilt that must be felt by so many parents with regards to their children’s actions, and also their own responses, is pleasantly and humorously felt in this brief but emotionally rich narrative.
Superpowers remain a classic icon in Western society. Most recently, dressing as a child’s superhero has been a dress-up theme. Reflects the escapism of a society undergoing rapid change, where childhood is over very fast for some. His sense of impulsiveness tends to be his largest hurdle, as he acts without judgment or reflection of potential consequences. And it appears those periods of grounding are of no use, he is easily impressionable and of a curious nature; his experiment with the beach ball perhaps indicating a scientific mind of discovery and innovation.
Fourth grade, around 9-10 years old boy, a period of development from pre-operational to concrete operational thought. As a tween, her son would be engaging in activities that saw him trying to forge peer relationships from the safe foundation of his family and working toward establishing his own identity. Regret has long been used in social codes to guide conduct within particular contexts. Though it appears that the Last Chance Kid used these hours of isolation to explore the Yu-Gi-Oh! Universe through gaming cards, maintaining a link with other children his age. And unlike his unlucky classmates, Jesse has access to the cards.
Unfortunately for Jessie, his cards were confiscated at school, which is perhaps appropriate as it would help him to develop boundaries and to create his own personal space. As he had developed an attachment to the cards, he now felt that his talisman, his external locus of control was no longer his, the mythical powers bestowed on him by virtue of the cards, gone. It appears that his sense of righteousness was enough to override the judgment of the consequences of taking back his deck of cards from the personal property of his teacher. When he does confide his actions to his mum, he is delightfully surprised, somewhat as she is herself, that mum would encourage him to sneak back with the cards, and to replace what he took. How enthralling to be in “cahoots” with mum, to run alongside one’s parent in a minor conspiracy to set wrongs right, just like in the movies.
Mum is modeling for her son that there are times when a lie or misdirection is acceptable if they enable a person to learn a lesson about how to live their lives more in harmony with socio-cultural expectations. This tale reinforces the importance of trust and the flexibility of moral lines within one’s social group. Bonding between parent and child is critical for the healthy functioning of the adult in any given social group. Relationships are built on boundaries and idiosyncrasies, so mum’s very real-world example, that honestly, most parents would not do even though most would likely want to, shows a spirit for adventure and discovery, Is this not what is wanted in the leaders of tomorrow?
Greene vividly illuminates issues and conflicts, her literary non–fiction. Tells a story of an important moment in the life of a parent and child; “I have tried to combine serious and honorable journalistic research with the love of language; to create works of literary richness, pleasing to the senses, gripping to the intellect, yet reliable and true. I believe in the power of words to penetrate deeply and subtly into real past worlds and events”. What Greene does not mention here is that Jesse is her adopted son from Bulgaria and so there is the added responsibility of setting an example of how to live in a society that is likely very different from the one he has originated from in Bulgaria. Greene has six adopted children and it appears that writing about parenting, child-parent bonds, and childhood disorders such as autism are a crucial part of her passion for journalism. It is clear that she knows kids, and her passion for writing about kids shines through. The place of storytelling in communicating values and principles to children is greatly exampled here in Greene’s writing. Instead, her emphasis is on the interactions between the parent and the child, how specifically she has chosen to deal with a real-world event. At least the reader has the impression that Greene is retelling a story as it has happened.
Melissa Fay Greens’ passion for writing from a sociological perspective, the title of the article reflects the ambiguous nature of the phrase “last chance”. In the West, it has come to denote something that is limited in time that is scarce. For Jesse also, the phrase refers to his behavior and that he always seems to be on his last chance about something. To the point where mum is at a loss as to how to punish him. Perhaps this is what led to her decision to take him back to school and to instead seat him the challenge to return the item so that no one would be the wiser about the anti-social behavior he had enacted. Thus, the story in itself serves as a lesson to parents about breaking points, the last chance, and that is a time not of ending but rather a doorway toward alternative and novel forms of problem-solving. The child Jesse is made responsible for his actions and for enacting a proactive and agentic solution. As a whole, the narrative is very human and talks about a topic that is rarely given voice to, that of parents cultivating a sense of adventure and rule-bending in their child to tackle the hurdles of responsibilities imposed by society. I found the topic and writing style engaging and it had me reflecting on my personal experiences of rule-bending and how I resolved last chance scenarios.
References
Nye, N. C. (2005). The last chance kid.