The Hole In My Life“Hole in My Life”It is evident that Jack Gantos have a life lesson in all his books. His fiction series were mainly based on his own adventures as a young boy. One of his books, “The Hole in My Life” is a book for teens, which tells a true story of the time when Gantos spent about 18 months in prison. In his quote “Someone once said anyone can be great under rosy circumstances, but the true test of character is measured by how well a person makes decisions during difficult times” (Gantos, 2002). This quote is interesting because it reveals how people make their decision during the difficult times; as a result, it may not be easy for one to judge the other on how they make the decision. I strongly agree with this quote because I believe for a fact that everyone including myself has been through some scenario at a certain point in their lives which resonate with the quote. And for sure if everyone could have been living in a high and rich social status, then people would have less trouble making small especially when making their decision, however, not all the people may live that life, so they got to worry about the decisions made (Gantos, 2002). In summary, the paper will summarize on how the quote; “Someone once said anyone can be great under rosy circumstances, but the true test of character is measured by how well a person makes decisions during difficult times” by Jack Gantos apply to the novel; “The Hole in My Life.”In the book, The Hole in My Life, Jack Gantos gives readers a detailed understanding of one young man travel through life. The novel was narrated and told from Gantos view point, where it started out with a flashback on his prison life as well as, his daily routine in prison. There are various themes shown in the novel, however, one of the primary themes majorly identified is the ability for a person to recover from his/her mistakes. In the novel, Gantos is seen to make the series of mistakes throughout his life, but instead of being beaten by them, he goes ahead and uses them to his advantage. For instance, in the beginning of the story, we are told that Gantos finds himself unable to proceed attending high school in San Juan since he was not able to speak Spanish. Furthermore, he finds it difficult to hire a private tutor. Instead of Gantos simply giving up, he otherwise takes the opportunity to go to work as well as, learning a trade, even though these did not pan out to be successful as he wished, however, he still managed to use his time so as to earn money, showing that he was not the type to flounder in self pity (Gantos, 2002).I therefore, feel that using Gantos quote; one can always pick up the piece as well as, bounce whenever they fall back in life, despite how bad the mistake one has made. This was shown on how Gantos managed to make good decisions even after he was faced with various issues in his life. For instance, Jack was originally a drug as well as, alcohol over consumer, and he also had a carefree attitude towards everything. Gantos did not actually know what to do in the future, but instead, he admitted not to go in-depth with his writing ideas. However, his time in prison was able to change almost everything, this made him learnt that it was not appropriate for him to take part in activities such as selling of drugs as it only benefited him, and mental cost someone else especially the buyers and their families. Conversely, Gantos as well managed to get a prospect to see how writing stimulation is all around him even in monotonous places like jail, as long as one is devoted, focused as well as, willing to spend time doing something which is productive (Gantos, 2002). In the long run, Gantos is seen to have succeeded more than ever, where he even managed to do good writing work in college as well as obtaining a steady way of life. I believe Gantos had achieved a lot along with living happily despite his setbacks. I strongly feel that Gantos novel The Hole in My Life is a great motivator since it gives a good example of how one is able to make a change and at the end can survive as well as, rise up theoretical rank, no matter what the odds.Being desperate to reinvent himself as an adult and a writer, Gantos believed wholeheartedly in authors he admired, he argued that, like Kerouac, he needed to cut loose. While at first reluctant to experiments using drugs, Gantos could not help wondering if this could help him to become whom he wanted to be he says, “I got that impression from reading William Burroughs” (Gantos, 2002). As a result, Gantos opted out of the University and thereafter moved to his parents’ home where he quickly became part of the drug culture in the island. In spite of all these, Gantos became stressful and regretted why he had to drop out of the school, after which he started to become determined of earning enough to help him get back to a good school that taught creative writing. Conversely, in the beginning, Gantos felt that the only mistake he had made in his life was to get caught by the FBI. And therefore, in the lottery of violence, which is the prison had helped him in re-evaluating other beliefs. This also allowed Gantos to be what he had always wanted to become, this is because he found the dedication as well as focus needed to write seriously. However, he was not allowed of keeping a journal, hence making his lifeline a battered copy in which he scratched his fears and thoughts (Gantos, 2002).My reaction to Jack Gantos quote; “Someone once said anyone can be great under rosy circumstances, but the true test of character is measured by how well a person makes decisions during difficult times (Gantos, 2002). ” I think that this quote is meant to show the theme in the book. It is evident that overcoming adversity is a big part of the Hole in My Life. For instance, in the novel Gantos described often changing schools as an inconsequential problem and how he could leave as well as, make friends. Actually this showed that Gantos had gone through struggles with a “happy-go-lucky” attitude in his entire early life, and was even willing to continue drinking alcohol, smoking as well as, taking drugs without having second thought. Gantos on the other hand, mentioned how he did not even consider the possibility of him being jailed while smuggling the hash; instead he cared on the money. However, it is evident that the little that he did had some good qualities or outlooks, for example, his value of family along with writing. This made Gantos to formulate change as well as, to turn his life around for better. However, the hole in my life seems to be exceptional, I believe the novel is an ideal memoir given that it provides brutal honesty, descriptiveness as well as, some mature content, though at some point, the novel is seen to have a lot of humor as well as, funny scenes. In short, story is seen to have given a taste of reality without exceptionally boring.Reference

Gantos, J. (2002). Hole in my life. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.