Title: On The Side Walk Bleeding

Author: Even Hunter

Text Type: Short Story

Date: 11 June 2021 (start date).

(1) - On the sidewalk bleeding is a short story by Evan Hunter. A sixteen-year-old boy named Andy was on the sidewalk bleeding in an alleyway, after he was in a fight and stabbed. Everyone that passed didn’t help. He is a gang member of "The Royals'' (written on this t-shirt.) He often thinks about this beloved girlfriend Laura.

(2) - When I read this text, I felt sad. I felt this because many people that passed in the alley had an opportunity to save him, but all ignored him, just because he was a "Royal". I strongly feel that people wanted to help him. But people were VERY hesitant to deal with him at all; due to the fact he was associated with a gang, people felt they might aggregate gang members. He started questing/regretting joining "The Royals" at the end of his life. An example of his thoughts, "If I had not been wearing the jacket [The Royal Gang Patch], I wouldn't have been stabbed". This shows us how people in society regret actions they have done in the past, some actions can be life-threatening like this one.

(3) - An interesting idea that this text made me think about was the police officer, especially when he said, "A Royal, huh?" and "He's dead". The police officer seemed very professional when he dealt with Laura. The author seemed to be suggesting the Police Officer has dealt with many gangs and was not surprised and not majorly concerned by Andy's deaf. We see this in the text when the Police officer looks at Andy's clothing for identification and says "A Royal, huh?". This shows us how gangs can impact someone's life negatively. I think this is very true. I think this because it happens around us, whether the impacts are deaf, mental or physical; the impacts can be seen and affect everyone as everyone feels for each other in a community.

(4) - Another interesting idea that this text made me think about was how Andy couldn't stop thinking about his girlfriend Laura. Andy often had thoughts about him and Laura when he was dying. The author seemed to be suggesting that Andy's girlfriend meant the world to him and was the pride and joy of his life. We see this in the text when the author wrote Andy's thoughts, "Someday he would marry her [Laura]" and "Andy lay and thought, Laura, Laura, Are you dancing?". This shows us that Andy had a strong relationship with Laura before he died. Laura meant the world to Andy. I think this is quite sweet. I think this because their relationship is positive, strong and successful.

(5) - Overall, this text is sad... At the end of this text, Andy died. Laura and Andy dearly loved each other; they both missed each other through the text. People could have saved him from dying but didn't because he was part of the gang "The Royals" and assumed they might cause trouble with a gang/s.