THE SIX BAD(?) BOYS - BOB KENT

[jstevens1]

Hi everyone!

Although I do agree with the findings of the Juvenile Court at the end of the novel, I do not think that Bob really helped himself.

SPOILERS BELOW!!

I will start with Bob acting on a death-bed promise to his father that he would be the man of the family. Unfortunately, his mother deeply resented this, particularly as he was only 10 years old, and made every effort to control him. I feel that Bob's first mistake was that he never mentioned to his mother or the kindly Mackenzies (neighbours) the fact that he was trying to take the place of his dad because he thought that was what his dad wanted. Maybe Mrs Kent would have been a bit more understanding and less judgmental.

Things started to escalate when Bob decided he would get his mother a small bunch of violets. Unfortunately his detour to the shop made him rush to get home to meet his 1700 hour curfew. He made the curfew but unfortunately she had a friend called Mrs Adams round who disliked Bob intensely. Because Bob came in looking dishevelled and ignored Mrs Adams, both Mrs Kent and Mrs Adams proceeded to run him down with a long laundry list of his "bad behaviour" and ended with labelling him up as an entirely difficult and disagreeable boy. This made Bob resentful.

Sadly, Bob lives up to his label by going to the cinema one night with his friend Tom without paying (all because Tom did not want to go back to retrieve his pocket money and get involved in a family row - more on Tom later). This resulted in his mum packing up sandwiches and getting a job and she made it very clear to Bob that the job was a means of escape from him due to his recent bad behaviour. Bob was then expected to wash up breakfast things/light fire/lay the table and make sure that the house was spotless. Bob did this task the first night (with the companionship of Frisky, the Mackenzie's dog). Bob was prepared to give his mother a friendly greeting, only for her to berate him soundly for having the dog around. From that point on, Bob refused to do any tasks for his mother and a few nights later he actually smashed up the house. This made his mother lock him out of the house and she actually told him she disliked him.

I understand Bob's frustration, but I think that trashing the house was one of the biggest mistakes he made in his young life - as hard as it was he really needed to get a grip on himself and get those chores done with a much better grace and be prepared to listen to his mother's day at work. Bob should have also made sure that his mum received better reports of his work and behaviour from his teachers at school. It would have stopped things escalating any further that's for sure!

Eventually Bob became a member of the 5 Terrors Gang (to swell to 6 once Tom joined it). Although it was a haven to him (the boys made him feel welcome and appreciated) and Bob took things out of his mother's loft to make it so, unfortunately Bob became an Oliver Twist character and ended up receiving stolen money. He spent this money on his eight year old girlfriend Patricia Mackenzie when she was ill. He was eventually put on probation and taken into care by the Mackenzies. He has not so far re-offended (the story ends a year after Bob's conviction for receiving stolen goods) but his future after leaving school will be very bleak as he now has a criminal record. His mother has also disowned him.

Poor Bob - full of good intentions but made so many bad choices. Not a bad boy but a misguided one!

How far do you agree with this assessment of Bob's character?

I would be interested to hear your views.

With kind regards,

Joanne

[MARKTAYLORUK]

Lot to be said for it - was probably better off away from his mother!

[MARKTAYLORUK]

Only thing Bob did wrong was trashing the house.