Forged By Fire: Social Issues Reading Response

      I am currently reading the book Forged By Fire by Sharon M. Draper and throughout the book it presents injustness between the main character Gerald. Gerald is born into physical and mental abuse, and that all changes when he is sent to live with his loving Aunt Queen instead of his abusive mother. However, when Aunt Queen dies Gerald has a new life to protect his step sister Angel who suffers sexual abuse from her father, Jordan. The life that Gerald lives is not just however, its the reality of his life.
      
      This text makes me think about justice in the world. I say this because you can choose to make the unjust right in the world or you can be a bystander. When you choose to do something  that is setting things right and standing up for what is right this what justice means. In the text, Gerald made a big decision was when he decided to tell Rob’s dad about Angel being sexually abused by Jordan. This was the right thing to do because what Jordan did to Angel was truly disgusting and wrong. 
     
      I think Gerald’s personal belief is in protecting family from the unjust. Before Gerald's Aunt Queen passed away she sacrificed her last breath for the sake of Gerald meeting his mother again after almost six years. She always made sure that there was heat on cold days and air conditioning on those hot days. Gerald was influenced by Aunt Queen because she was his role model to look up to while his mother was a drug addict who burned his hand when he played with fire. Unknowingly, when his mother burned his hand she also burned his heart and loyalty along with it. I think that because Gerald had no one to protect him he doesn’t want the same fate for Angel.
     
      I think that justice is a matter of who stands up  and who doesn't. You can sit back and watch the wrong and injust happen but then you can' expect the wrong and injsut happen. Justice is about standing up for what's right and pointing out the wrong and in the book Forged By Fire Gerald chooses to be an upstander instead of sub-consiecesly knowing that something wrong is happening.