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Scorpions
Author	Walter Dean Myers
Cover artist	Andy Bacha
Language	English
Subject	Harlem life, gangs
Genre	Realistic Fiction
Publisher	Amistad
Publication date	1988
Publication place	United States
Pages	216 pages
ISBN	978-0-06-447066-7
Preceded by	Fallen Angels

Sorpions is a young adult novel written by Walter Dean Myers that deals with friendship, loyalty, and crack epidemic all during a tumultuous time. It is the story of an inner-city youth who is trying to handle his family's broken problems, gangs, violence and drugs that are injuring him internally mentally.

Plot Summary

The main conflict in the story is trying to get Randy out of jail who is also the leader of a Harlem gang named Scorpions. The gang intends to earn money and make a profit for themselves by selling cocaine or "crack" but not get caught by the police or cause any trouble to raise tensions in the community.

It tells the story of a twelve year old adolescent boy named,Jamal who is trying to cope with school, and the bad influences surrounded by him. He is striving his best to stay in school while at home it’s not much better, with his mother working so hard to earn $500 for Randy’s appeal, his brother, who was put in jail for killing the delicatessen owner and also, happens to be the leader of a gang called Scorpions. Then the next morning, Jamal's Mama tells Jamal that Randy says to go see Mack. Mama does not like the boy because he is on crack and thinks he caused Randy to kill the delicatessen owner. She keeps warning Jamal about Mack. His mother then, finds out that Randy has been stabbed and attacked while in jail and is in medical care. This then, leads to the members in the gang to decide whether or not to allow Jamal into the Scorpions because to some point,when doing so they show that they are defending themselves by offering Jamal to join in the gang. But, on the other hand, some members feel though they should vote on a new leader for the reason that, they feel Jamal is dead to them rather than, letting a 12-year-old boy take control of the gang which wouldn’t be beneficial to them. Then, when Jamal meets Mack, Mack tells Jamal to be the leader of the Scorpions and finds out the appeal is really $2,000. The second time Jamal meets Mack at a park. Mack gives him a gun to get his way into his brother's former position as the leader of the Scorpions but, it only caused several atrocious incidents, ultimately resulting in Jamel’s best friend, Tito, to be sent to Puerto Rico.

Characters

Randy - A 17 year old teen who is a leader of a gang named Scorpions. Is also, Jamal's brother.
Sassy - Young sister of Jamal who is 8 years old. She loves to annoy Jamal a lot by telling her mother about his dilemmas at school or around their neighborhood.
Tito - A best friend or more like a bother to Jamal who is 12 years old. He is from Puerto Rico and lives with only his grandmother. He is considered to be the attractive boy in his neighborhood because of his facial appearance but mostly his long eyelashes.
Jamal - Main character in the book. A 12 year old boy who goes through tough circumstances with his best friend aside of him,Tito.
Mack - Is mentally deficient at the age of fifteen who, has a strange way of talking in other words, he runs his words together that it makes it hard for others to understand him. He is viewed in the book as an unconditional friend to Jamal who will always be there for him regarding the disapproval of Jamal's mother.
Abuela - A Puerto Rican grandmother to Tito who only speaks spanish with him.
Mama - Is the mother of Jamal, Randy and Sassy. She works for Mr.Stanton who always comes home late making her children feel worried about her because of the society they live in.
Indian - Is a drug dealer and a very dangerous guy in the gang. He supposedly claims that he is the leader of the gang because no 12 year old can be able to run the gang.
Angel - Is a drug dealer who is always behind Indian in every decision he decides to take in other words, having his back for anything.
Dwayne- He likes to bully Jamal at school making him feel small and powerless inside. For the reason that, everybody in the class views Jamal as a small boy who can't stand up for himself resulting in him being weak.
Jevon Hicks - The father of Jamal, Randy, and Sassy. He comes into his families
Mr. Davidson - The principle of the school that Jamal attends. He likes to nag Jamal for his lack of arriving late to class while also, making Jamal feel vulnerable because of his rude comments or even dis-encouragement which concludes that he doesn't understand what he is going through or at even shows that he cares about his situations at home. Instead he makes Jamal's life more miserable by always finding something wrong he does so he can go to his office.

Setting

The story is set in Harlem but mostly in the families apartments. Where Jamal lives his family struggles to get the necessities they need in their everyday life for example, food, and clothing. While in Tito's apartment is like a safe haven for the reason that, its a place of compassion where there is a lot of love from his grandmother, and pleasant food to eat.
At times the story takes place in the school Jamal attends, it is there he is bullied, and where the teachers are arrogant to him.
Also, sometimes the conflict takes place in the crack house where the gang meets to discuss on any issue for instance, deciding if Jamal should run the Scorpions. In addition, there is a park called Marcus Garvey where drug addicts hang out, and it was at that place that Indian and Angel tried to kill Jamal with a switchblade.
Lastly, the story occasionally takes place on the boat deck which is an important location for both best friends because it is there that they dream of the future and its a place where they can escape from their problems. The always say to each other that one day they will buy a yacht and race or sail to Puerto Rico. Its a place where they can imagine stuff or dream while not having to be judged.

Theme

Friendship and loyalty:

Throughout the book you notice that Tito and Jamal are inseparable. Their relationship is viewed as a brotherhood and constantly one another standing by each other for any problem that they come across together or individually. They go everywhere together making their relationship even more strong and viewing one another as a brother because of the amount of time they spend with each other. There were times when Tito would ask Jamal if he can wear his sweater or it would be the other way. As for Tito he enjoyed wearing Jamal's clothes for the reason that, it made him feel closer to Jamal. Tito is the type of friend and brother that will tell you always to do the right thing. For example, Tito would tell Jamal not to fight the bully, Dwayne, not to be part of the Scorpions, and not to keep the gun that Mack gave Jamal. The only time Tito makes an exception of choosing the wrong decision is when he really sees Jamal struggling to confront his problem an example, would be that he would join Jamal in fighting Dwayne if he has to in order for him to stop bothering Jamal. They can always talk together about anything, and Tito would do anything for Jamal. On the other hand, Jamal is more in to getting in to trouble while Tito tries to convince him to not choose the wrong choice in life that can affect him. Eventually Tito ruins his own life in order to save his best friend, Jamal but no matter what happens between them they still manage to stay together as brothers despite the arguments they have or the decisions one takes in order to save the other.

Literary Elements

Symbolism : While Mack makes Jamal confront the other gang members who should be the leader he sees from the courthouse that there is a sparrow trying to get some of the muffin from the pigeons but the pigeons peck him out and run him out. The pigeons running the sparrow out and not letting him eat a little shows how Jamal is going through the same issue but in his point of view the muffin would be the joining the Scorpions but the gang members are not sure that is a good idea which can be seen as the pigeons who didn't let the sparrow eat some of the muffin.
conflict (man vs man) : In class Dwayne would bother Jamal by saying some bad comments to him so one day they fought outside of the school. Then Dwayne kept on bullying him so then, another fight started but this time it was inside a storeroom so nobody could see what was happening. This lead to Jamal pulling out his gun so he can scare Dwayne and it eventually ended the conflict between them.

Critical Reception

Many critics claim Scorpions to be a thriving and prudent depiction of the upturned values of poverty-stricken teenagers in their society. Susie Wilde, writing for Children's Literature assert that "His tenuous home and hood life brings into play choices about joining a gang and using a gun, while struggling to fight the tensions of inner city life and to be seen for who he really is".Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page). On the other hand, the School Library Journal views the book as "A realistic look at a boy who wants to do the right thing but gets caught up in the culture of violence".Cite error: The opening <ref> tag is malformed or has a bad name (see the help page). Some critics, however perceived the book very knowledgeable because of its description and experience of living in a poor center city. As SLJ of the Newbery Award Committee writes,"once more, readers have Myers to thank for giving them a greater understanding of the difficulty of life in today's inner city".

Awards

1989 Newbery Honor Book
Notable Children's Books of 1988 (ALA)

References

"Scorpions Themes." BookRags. BookRags, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2015.
"Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers | Scholastic.com." Scholastic Teachers. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2015.
"Scorpions - Walter Dean Myers." Prezi.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2015.
"Online Book Summary | Study Guides, Lesson Plans, Book Summaries and More." Scorpions. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2015.
Myers, Walter Dean. "Scorpions." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2015.
Myers, Walter Dean. "Scorpions." New York: Harper & Row, 1988. Print.
"Scorpions." Barnes & Noble. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2015.