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Billy Bathgate, is a book of a young boys transition into manhood. It is an amazingly well-written book that intrigued me the entire way through. It starts out in Billy's hometown, the Bronx of New York in the twenties; a time of social unrest and prohibition. The apartment building Billy lives in is not the epitome of cleanliness.
The streets are littered with papers and loud noises of the trains that go by every hour. Rundown little bungalows and an occasional three-story fake brick building separate the boatyards and factories in Billy's neighborhood. Across the street from Billy's apartment building is an orphanage which he visits often because of a girl, Rebecca who he screws two times for a dollar. His mother works at a laundromat, washing clothes for a company and has been driven insane by the poverty she lives in. She doesnt really take care of Billy and in essence he learns how to survive in the Bronx with the street smarts he has taught himself.
He knows that he has something special; a desire to work and be prosperous that many of the other younger boys do not. He acts older than his age and maybe that is why he catches the eye of Dutch who also lived in the neighborhood and is now rich. Dutch is the leader of a mob that has one of their main warehouses located in the Bronx. All the boys here wish they could become like Dutch; as someone that rose from this dirty place and made a place in the world for themselves. One day, Billy was juggling on the train tracks when he hears someone yell, Hey, boy! He is motioned to come over to Dutch who hands him ten dollars and compliments him on his juggling.
This is where the fire in Billy is sparked and he becomes determined to join Dutch's gang. After following and watching around the neighborhood, Billy finds out about another warehouse on Park Avenue and brings a brown paper bag, so he will be allowed to get in. Instead of money in his bag, like all the other callboy's, Billy has cupcakes. He is discovered when instead of money, cupcakes come pouring out.
Then Dutch suddenly comes in picks up a cupcake and comments on how these are his favorite. Billy, now off the hook for the moment, looks around and recognizes, Mr. Berman; the mastermind behind all of Dutch's money making schemes. Mr. Berman also is intrigued with the courage that Billy has and addresses him. He sends Billy off on his first errand to get coffee.
As time goes on, Billy becomes more involved with the gang. Bo Weinberg, a member of the gang has been found out to be selling information to others outside the gang. Dutch was furious and they picked Bo and his girlfriend up on the street. They drove to the docks and get on a boat, Dutch planning out his evil deed, which Billy has no idea of. He watches them tie up Bo and cast his legs in a bucket full of concrete. Then they push him off into the ocean.
On the way back in the car, Dutch asks Billy to watch Bos girlfriend, Miss Drew pack her things in her hotel room. Billy is excited with the prospect, yet is afraid that if anything goes wrong, that he too will be meeting Bo again. Dutch, is in a lot of trouble with the law for tax evasion and so he decides that he wants to go to the country and be seen by the court up there. The whole gang travels up there, Billy with the excitement of adventure and responsibility in his head for he is assigned to watch over Miss Drew. Billy is in awe of the flourishing of the hotel, a room to himself and a sink and basin in the room as well. Miss Drew and Billy passed the days getting to know each other and Billy found out how to treat a lady like how she should be treated.
Weeks passed by and finally Dutch's trial comes up and he is found not guilty. The boys and Dutch drive out to a place twelve miles out of the way of Ontagada. This will be their new hideout while the Feds try and set Dutch up for another trial by gaining more evidence that he is guilty. In the end, Dutch figures to get rid of Miss Drew that he will have to have her assassinated.
Billy, though with a kind heart, sends her husband to come and get her making it impossible to kill her without a big ordeal. The boys meet up at a restaurant, that is a normal hangout for them. They are celebrating Dutch's trial, except Mr. Berman who thinks that there is something up the D. A. s sleeve.
Suddenly they hear a noise and the rival gang comes and kills everyone, except for Billy who escapes through a bathroom window. A couple of weeks later, a baby is delivered to Billy and he knows that it is his and Miss Drews. He wants to be a good father and get a job so he can support his mother and son. He goes on to say that Dutch changed his life and that he would probably be sitting on a street corner going nowhere if it wasnt for Dutch. He has great dreams for the future and has learned numerous life lessons that have made him a different person, than the little boy who juggled on the train tracks. Mr.
Berman, is a genius who has a talent with numbers. He teaches Billy how to manage money and not to always be so sure of himself. In a way, Mr. Berman was a mentor to Billy, teaching him the important basics in life. He made sure that Billy needed to unde...
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Research essay sample on Miss Drew Train Tracks Billy
