The writing is intense and insightful, and the reader comes away more aware and feeling more compassion for both teens. Dashka Slaters The 57 Bus chronicles the events leading up to this terrible crime and the healing that takes place after, but it also serves as a guidebook to understanding key LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer) issues and concerns. 57 bus Route Schedule and Stops (Updated) The 57 bus (3rd-Market) has 42 stops departing from Front St & Luzerne St and ending in 4th St & Market St. 57 bus time schedule overview for the upcoming week: It departs once a day at 2:43 PM. PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. The text shows how binaries can not only be hurtful, but damaging. Their paths crossed when both of them were riding the 57 bus in Oakland, California after school - Sasha was sleeping, and Richard was with his friends. Test. Sasha views gender not as a binary difference between male and female, but as a spectrum with varying degrees of masculinity and femininity, including even the absence of gender. Just Two. You'll be able to access your notes and highlights, make requests, and get updates on new titles. From the creators of SparkNotes, something better. Sashas close friend, Andrew, was biologically born a girl but now lives his life as a transgender man. When Samantha transitions to Andrew, for instance, he becomes the subject of gossip at his public high school: Andrews parents are not as supportive as Sashas, which hastens his crisis. Your subscription will continue automatically once the free trial period is over. Sasha solves the problem by discarding gender as a sorting category: for instance, they decide to pick whichever bathroom is less crowded. He gives Richard a lighter. This year's theme is "India - Our time has come" The theme is inspired by the movie Gully Boy's "Apna Time Aayega . Parents need to know that The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives is a compelling, sometimes emotional nonfiction story of a 2013 assault in Oakland, California, when an African American public school teen boy named Richard set fire to a sleeping, gender-nonconforming white private school teen named Sasha 8 pages at 400 words per page) View a FREE sample Sasha's Sense of Self While other people seem to inherently know their gender identity, Sasha ransacks their own brain looking for the file [marked Gender], but it doesnt seem to be there. Deep down, Sasha feels neither masculine nor feminine. Richard is arrested at school the next day and questioned by police. LitCharts Teacher Editions. Richard is sixteen, but when he sets fire to Sasha's skirt, he finds himself charged as an adult, primarily because he is considered to have committed a hate crime. Dont have an account? Want 100 or more? Instead of pronouns that disguised between male and female, Sashas language had pronouns that distinguished between animate and inanimate objects. They prefer to use they/them/their pronouns and identify as agender. You need to call an ambulance, man., A passenger on an Oakland, Calif., public bus received burns to his legs after his kilt was set on fire, UPI wrote. Continue to start your free trial. The justice system is ignorant in that it assumes the only way to punish Richard is with incarceration, where a kid from the "right" side of town might not have been punished in quite the same way. Slater observes that, in mainstream consciousness, there are two kinds of people in the world: Male and Female. Renews March 10, 2023 It was like a gigantic menu, with columns and columns of choices. The story follows the subsequent trial and punishment, and there are descriptions of Richard's past, including family and friends who were murdered. Following the incident, communities near and far affirmed Sashasand everyonesright to not be harassed or hurt or bullied for how they dress, or whether they are gay or trans or agender. In this way, Karl's forgiveness is also pragmatic. What are the key themes of Dashka Slater'sThe 57 Bus? In a small private high school, Sasha, a white teen with Aspergers, enjoyed a tight circle of friends, blazed through calculus, linguistics, physics, and computer programming, and invented languages. All rights reserved. However, paired with Nemos asexuality, Sasha and Nemo complement each other, becoming the others most important person. Sasha describes Nemo as a soul mate, maybe, but not in the romantic sense. While Sasha is also quick to point out that they are not with Nemo simply because they both identify as gender nonbinary (gender is simply another thing they have in common), Slaters close examination of LGBTQ identities highlights the diversity that exists within the gender spectrum and implicitly advocates for more thoughtful and nuanced consideration of these differences. The 57 Bus is about a transgender young adult named Sasha whose skirt is lit on fire by a young adult male. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. If you chose to provide an email address, it will only be used to contact you about your comment. The result will draw in young adult readers while retaining all of the heart of the original. Richard, a light-skinned Black teenager, is a junior at Oakland High School. The way the content is organized, LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in, Compare and contrast themes from other texts to this theme, The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Gender and Sexuality appears in each chapter of. illustrated by By the time Sashas skirt bursts into a ball of flame, Richard is staring at the back of the bus, hearing Sashas screams as the bus drives away. Teachers and parents! Did this story make you feel more empathy? A sense of community is also demonstrated in response to the attack on Sasha. on 50-99 accounts. Match. Sometimes it can end up there. He pulled pranks like putting ketchup on peoples faces while they slept or ambushing them with water balloons when theyd just woken up. Terms in this set (5) Adult vs teen charges, discrimination, racism "By the time Jasmine was allowed to see him, six days A year later, a petition with very similar wording to Sasha's requesting the same recognition was submitted on We the People's website and went viral through several online news sources. By entering your email address you agree to receive emails from SparkNotes and verify that you are over the age of 13. TEENS & YOUNG ADULT BIOGRAPHY & MEMOIR | eNotes.com, Inc. Within a tight-knit group of friends at Maybeck, Sasha feels welcome and supported. You can help us help kids by Through the story of Sasha's journey towards figuring out the terms they feel most comfortable identifying themselves with, and the story of Andrew's gender transition, Slater demonstrates how limiting socially constructed binaries can be to those who fall somewhere else on the gender spectrum. We won't share this comment without your permission. Most of us see gender and sexuality and romance as one big interconnected tangle of feelingsthis is who I am, this is who Im attracted to, this is who I love. Over a year after the incident, Du Bois gives Sasha the letters that Richard wrote. So it was a nice change to be seen as female. My students love how organized the handouts are and enjoy tracking the themes as a class., Requesting a new guide requires a free LitCharts account. Further, boys like Richard are more likely to be arrested for alleged crimes: When Richard is arrested for assaulting Sasha, his racial identity plays a part in the decision to try him as an adult. 4 Mar. Shrimp cocktail served in champain glasses. Nemo, another of Sashas close friends, identifies as gender fluid. And when people use the right pronoun, it feels validating.. Maybe sometime in the future you will be the one coming to the aid of someone being bullied., Actually, [Andrew] said, Im starting to identify a little bit asI dont even know the word I want to use yet. TEENS & YOUNG ADULT NONFICTION, by In their spare time, they drew maps of new bus, subway, and streetcar lines, or read up on historical public transit systems. Struggling with distance learning? It was in every report, as if Sasha had been on the way home from bagpipe practice. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Her body was growing curvier. Mon - Fri . Is it because of biology, or social conditioning, or both? They fall asleep, tired after a long day at school. on 2-49 accounts, Save 30% PDF downloads of all 1699 LitCharts literature guides, and of every new one we publish. Just Two. This implacable binary between us and them defines both the assault on the 57 bus and its consequences. By the second half of sophomore year, that name clearly no longer fit. Sydney Hanson, by Match. eNotes Editorial. A key theme of the novel is gender and sexuality, which play a large role in Sasha's life. We truly hope that you will gain some understanding and empathy in the years to come. Richard admits during interrogation that he does not like gay people, and he is not particularly informed about transgender identity, so he assumes that Sasha is gay, because from Richard's perspective, Sasha is a teen boy wearing a skirt. Teacher Editions with classroom activities for all 1699 titles we cover. Sasha does not feel sexual attraction but is still interested in sex, unlike Nemo, who is asexual and does not have sexual relationships with anyone, regardless of gender. -Graham S. Below you will find the important quotes in, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. Part 1: How Do You Know What Gender You Are? Richard, a black teenage boy, sits near the back of the 57 Bus in Oakland, CA, with his cousin Lloyd and a friend Jamal. Sasha chose an androgynous name and uses they/them pronouns. Sashas family is moved by Richards sentiments, and Karl reads a statement at one of Richards sentencing hearings, stating that the family has forgiven Richard and hopes that the justice system will be lenient. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. Fear of other peoples judgements, their questions, their hostility, their fascination. Had Richard not viewed Sasha as the other, he would not have assaulted them, and had the justice system not regarded Richard as the other, the sixteen-year-old boy might not have been tried as an adult and sentenced to five years in prison. At the end of every year, we build a thesis on why India is the place to be. Dashka Slater Im just done with that., Instant downloads of all 1699 LitChart PDFs The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives: 9781526361233: Amazon.com: Books Buy new: $13.24 Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns FREE delivery Thursday, February 9 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon Or fastest delivery Tuesday, February 7. Copyright 2023 Kirkus Media LLC. Heartbreaking but infused with compassion, this true story is riveting. How do you talk about race with friends and family? In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, We dont always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. I like androgynous. That boy was on fire, wasnt he? a man remarks as Sasha pushes through the back doors to the sidewalk. You'll also get updates on new titles we publish and the ability to save highlights and notes. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. Through the writing of The 57 Bus, Slater passionately advocates for LGBTQ understanding and empathy, and effectively argues that gender and sexuality are not synonymous terms. Though Debbie and Karl are wary of attending a restorative justice circle, as proposed by expert Sujatha Beliga, they are not entirely unsympathetic to Richard. A major theme in The 57 Bus is that of binaries, both in the context of identity and criminal justice. Its per capita rate of violent crime made it the second most dangerous city in America, but its citizens still paid some of the highest rents in the country" (7). Had Richard not viewed Sasha as the other, he would not have assaulted them, and had. We're sorry, SparkNotes Plus isn't available in your country. (one code per order). 57 Bus-Theme-Racism and bias in the American justice system. The book's approach is journalistic. Parents should be ready to discuss what it means to be a gender-nonconforming teen and what life is like for a teen in prison. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater 31,571 ratings, 4.15 average rating, 4,811 reviews Open Preview The 57 Bus Quotes Showing 1-22 of 22 "Never let your obstacles become more important than your goal." Powerful Stories About Martin Luther King Jr. Your group members can use the joining link below to redeem their group membership. Forgiveness is a broad term; Sasha and her parents want justice rather than vengeance for Richard's crimes, and so they question whether incarceration is the most effective punishment. Learn. Sexuality was the category for who you were physically attracted to. If it weren't for the 57 bus, Sasha and Richard never would have met. Sasha saw support from all corners of the globe, and the LGBTQ+ community demonstrated its cohesivness across national boundaries, sending Sasha letters and gifts from all corners of the world.