second blog

In my first blog I talked about how Boomer, a player from Louie’s former football team, calls him a wussy and at some points Louie even calls himself a wussy actually he believes he’s a wussy most of the time. He may have started out as a wussy in the beginning of the book, though I don’t believe for one second he ever was a wussy he just had more commonsense then the average person needs, he turned out to be a gide, that’s my word for a person with guts and pride. Louie’s main discovery in Running Loose is himself. Through his experiences Louie discovers a lot more about himself then he knew before. In my opinion Louie is a very laid back guy and I don’t think he ever took the time to find his voice. He just would blend in the background and just wanted to get through life. Louie never thought there was anything special about himself he never really had any ambition. An example of this I’m not special attitude is clearly shown when he starts to date Becky. He doesn’t understand why a girl like Becky who could have any guy in the whole school would pick a guy like him. So he asks her why him, Becky’s response “Because if I were an animal in these woods and I saw you here, I’d come up to you”(Crutcher 43). Earlier that night well they were on their date they started talking about the woods and animals and Becky believed that animals can tell what type of person you are just by looking at you. So all though Louie was confused by Becky’s answer I think she was saying he was a nice guy and she could tell he was a person worth getting to know. Another way you can tell that he’s not truly sure of himself is the way he talks. For example “When I told Becky later about the conversation in Jasper’s office, she said she was proud of me. And to tell you the truth, I was feeling pretty proud of myself” (Crutcher 93). Even though he was feeling proud he still sounds unsure. The statement sounds that way, to me at least, because of the line “and to tell you the truth” it just makes him sound like he doesn’t trust his emotions all the time like he’s not sure how to feel. In the end Louie becomes more in touch with his emotions. He can better express them; though he might not always express them the right way at least he knows how he’s feeling. One of the more surprising things he admitted in the book was that he was not ready to have intercourse. He was scared and wasn’t ready and he openly admitted this to Becky and Becky was fine with it. She said she didn’t want to pressure him and reasurred him that the best thing about it anyway was the before and after were they lie together, taking care of each other and getting as close as they can (Crutcher 123). I think her acceptance of him not being ready boosted Louie’s confidence and showed him that it’s okay to say what you feel. Ever since the beginning of the book Louie did always talk his problems out whether it was with, Carter, his best friend, Dakota, the guy he worked for, or his dad. He talked his problems out with them and he concluded the same thing every time. Louie always stated, their a lot smarter than me. This statement always bugged me, because Louie never once realized that just because someone thought about a situation at a different angle then you doesn’t make them smarter than you. These are the ways that Louie would put himself down and all you wanted him to realize was that he was strong and smart and not a wussy. That’s why the day of the track meet was I was trilled that Louie got a little recognition for being the amazing person he is. Their meet was against Salmon River and Louie was running the two mile which he has gotten first place in every time he has ran it. Washington came waltzing over to him and said “I’m coming after you today man”(Crutcher 207). Which means Washington is running the two mile and all I was thinking was no he can’t, Washington can’t take away the one thing in Louie’s life that makes it have meaning. Washington keeps talking and he calls Louie his hero, because he can run the two mile and he needs to take Louie on. The one thing Washington wants to make clear is Louie shouldn’t get psyche out by him. He wants to run a good race and have Louie challenge him. In the end Louie beats Washington and he ends up getting fourth in regionals. Pretty good for a wussy