That Was Then, This Is Now :: essays research papers

That Was Then, This Is Now 1.The perceive that were having a rough time financially because of their constant obsession with hustling, petty and sometimes not so petty crimes. The first clue was how the pair couldn ¡Ã‚ ¯t They were also very serious about their hustling and stealing. Judging by the way they scope out the vulnerable people and the amount of time they spend doing it, it seems they ¡Ã‚ ¯re not doing this for the fun fooling and scamming people. ( ¡Ã‚ °Mark, who was scouting out the two guys playing pool, came up and sat down to say there ain ¡Ã‚ ¯t nobody here to hustle. Pg.10). Since they spend a lot of time stealing and hustling it sends the message that they need a lot of money as soon as possible and that the little that they have is quickly running out. In fact, the very first and last paragraph in the first chapter was all about how Bryon and Mark are planning to go to the pool hall and hustle ( ¡Ã‚ °Mark and me went down to the bar/pool hall about two or three blocks away from wh ere we lived with the sole intention of making money. ¡Ã‚ ± Pg.9). When Bryon was unable to pay for a coke and the fact that he only had a dime on him suggested that he didn ¡Ã‚ ¯t have much money (page 10). Also, when Mark told bartender Charlie to charge it to his bill, it demonstrated that the boys didn ¡Ã‚ ¯t have a steady flow of money and that they were going from steal to steal just like how some people live from paycheck to paycheck. Bryon mentioned that his mother was in the hospital and had to have a very expensive operation. It was so expensive that they had to sell most of the little that they had. Including their transportation, a probably cheap and old Chevy; their television; and practically anything they can live without. Yet they are still short of money and the boys are forced to find jobs. Especially Bryon because what he made from hustling wasn ¡Ã‚ ¯t enough and he didn ¡Ã‚ ¯t like to still anything other than a pack of cigarettes. Bryon ended being unable to contribute as much as he wished when he said he had an extremely difficult time finding a job. 2. Bryon has trouble with authority because of a bad personal experience with them. Bryon was beaten by two cops who found him drunk and took him to a remote area and left him there afterwards.