Isabelle+R

= That Was Then, This Is Now = = By: S.E. Hinton = = = = 1) Who are Bryon and Mark? = = ~ Bryon and Mark are two sixteen year old boys that have been great friends for as long as they can remember. They consider themselves to be like brothers not only because of their close bond but also because Mark actually lives with Bryon and his mother. Bryon is a smart boy with dark brown hair and eyes, while Mark is a smaller boy with golden hair and golden eyes. Bryon likes to think things through, and is not able to get away with things, but Mark, on the other hand, just likes to live in the moment. =

= 2) Who are the two young people Bryon meets at the hospital? = = ~ At the hospital, Bryon meets two people. One of these people is Cathy, M&M's older sister. When Bryon meets Cathy, she is working at the hospital snackbar. She recognizes him immediately, but Bryon cannot remember who she is at first. Bryon is trying to recall who she is, and he finally figures it out because she looks exactly like M&M. At the end of their conversation, Bryon asks Cathy to talk with him sometime, and she agrees. The other person Bryon meets at the hospital is a boy named Mike. Mike is in the hospital because he was hurt very badly in a fight. He was beaten up by some people he didn't even know, all because he drove a girl home. Mike never has any visitors in the hospital, including his family. At the end of Mike's story, he tells Bryon that he doesn't hate the people who hurt him, and he does not want to get even with them. =

= 3) What kind of relationship does Bryon have with Charlie? = = ~ Bryon and Charlie have a very close relationship. Charlie owns a bar that Bryon is at often. He thinks of Bryon as a smart and honest kid, and as one of his good friends. Bryon thinks highly of Charlie as well and looks up to him as a role model. In the past, Bryon used to date Charlie's sister, and even though they broke up, Bryon and Chalrie remained good friends. =

= 4) What happens at the dance? = = ~At the dance, Bryon is dancing around and having fun with Cathy when Mark comes up to Bryon with Ponyboy Curtis and tells him that there is a bunch of alcohol in Terry Jones's car. After Mark and Curtis leave to go out to the car, Angela Shepard approaches Bryon. They have a short conversation, and Bryon realizes he doesn't care about Angela anymore, and that he likes Cathy better. While Cathy and Bryon are dancing together, a scream is heard from the back parking lot. Curtis runs in and tells Bryon that Mark was hurt. He tells Bryon that they were minding their own business when this guy came up to them and started to attack him. Mark tried to stop Curtis and the attacker from fighting, but the stranger took an empty beer bottle and cracked Mark's head with it. Mark was hurt very badly, and needed a couple of days to recover. =

= 5) What does Bryon begin to discover in his private conversations with Mark? = = ~Through his private conversations with Mark, Bryon begins to discover that they are growing apart. He also finds out Mark's true feelings about Bryon and his mother. Mark treats Bryon as if he were his brother, but he does not think of Bryon's mom as his own mother. Lastly, Bryon finds out what Mark thought about the dance. Mark told Bryon that he was scared that he was going to die after being hit with the bottle, and that the event really traumatized him. =

= 6) What happened to Charlie? How do Bryon and Mark feel about it? = = ~ After successfully hustling some money from a game of pool with two Texans, Bryon and Mark were walking home from Charlie's bar. All of a sudden, the two Texans show up behind them and tell them to step into the alley. Bryon and Mark agree because they didn't want to provoke the men. As soon as they are all on opposite sides of the alley, Bryon and Mark notice that one of the men has a gun. The Texans start walking toward the two boys when a voice tells them to put the gun down. It was Charlie. The boys ran out of the alley to thank Charlie, when one of the men dove for the gun and fired at them. Charlie immediately slammed Bryon and Mark to the ground while the Texans climbed over the alley wall and ran away. After the men were gone, Charlie was still on top of Bryon. Bryon told Charlie to get off, but then he noticed a bullet hole right above Charlie's left eye. He was dead. Bryon and Mark were both scared at the time of this tragedy. However, the event had more of a lasting effect on Bryon than it did on Mark. Mark was very sad and afraid at the moment, but he soon got over it. Bryon, on the other hand, was greatly traumatized by this. The event of Charlie's death really scarred Bryon and had a lasting result on his personality. This made Bryon realize even more that he and Mark were growing apart. =

= 7) What do Mark and Cathy think of each other? = = ~ Mark and Cathy do not think very highly of each other at all. Their feelings towards each other are caused by jealousy of the time the other person spends with Bryon. The more time that each of them spends with Bryon, the more they dislike each other. =

= 8) What does Mark do to Angela? Why? = = ~ Mark and Bryon were driving around the Ribbon together when they ran into Angela Shepard and a bunch of her friends. Mark asked Angela to go for a ride with them around town. While they were driving, Mark asked to Bryon to stop at a liquor store across the street so he could by some rum for them. After that, they all drove down to the lake together, where Angela fell asleep on Bryon's shoulder. After Mark was sure Angela was asleep, he took out a pair of scissors and began to cut all of her hair off. He did this because he was furious at Angela for setting up the fight at the dance that almost got him killed. =

= 9) In chapter seven, what does Bryon begin to discover about his good friend Mark? = = ~ In chapter seven, Bryon begins to discover that he is drifting even further away from Mark. Also, he observes that Mark is bringing in a lot of excess money for the family. Bryon could not imagine that Mark would steal all of the money, so he figures that he was playing serious poker or doing other gambling. Neither Bryon nor his mother ever questioned Mark about where he is getting the money from because they needed the money, and assumed he was being honest. =

= 10) What happens to Bryon at Terry Jones' house? How does his attitude change? = = ~ Bryon drove over to Terry Jones' house to pick up Mark one night. When he arrived, nobody was home, so he sat on the steps and relaxed for a bit. Then, a car pulled up, and Tim and Curly Shepard came out with two of their friends. Tim asked Byon if he had cut Angela's hair off, and Bryon decided to be honest for once, so he told them the truth. After that, two other guys that Bryon did not know rushed towards him and Tim sarting beating Bryon up. Soon, Bryon passed out and woke up somewhere in Terry Jones' house with Mark by his side. Bryon was happy to see Mark and was very grateful to have him at that moment. Bryon was very hurt and went to the hospital the next day to get fifteen stitches in his face and have his ribs taped. His attitude was changed by this because he remembered the boy he had met earlier in the hopsital, Mike Chambers. Bryon reminisced on how Mike had said that he did not hate the people that beat him up. Bryon realized that he did not hate the Shepards either, and his attitude towards others was greatly affected by this realization. He decided not to get involved in situations that did not include him. =

= 11) In chapter nine, what happens to M&M? Why does this move Bryon? = = ~ In chapter nine, Cathy and Bryon went out to find M&M after he ran away from them earlier on the Ribbon. Mark had told Bryon that M&M was staying at a hippie house nearby. When they arrived at the hippie house, Bryon and Cathy were told that M&M could be found upstairs, but that they should talk to his "Travel Agent" first. When Bryon and Cathy found the "Travel Agent", they asked him where M&M was. He told them that M&M had tried a drug that some of the other people that were staying at there were taking. The drug had a bad effect on M&M, which caused him to hallucinate and see "spiders". M&M said that the "spiders" were holding him down and that he kept screaming for help, but nobody came. Bryon and Cathy noticed right away that M&M needed to go to the hospital, so they drove him there to be cared for. This moves Bryon because he had begun to think of M&M as a part of his family. It also moved him because he could see how much it hurt Cathy, whom he cared for deeply. =

= 12) What shocking discovery does Bryon make in Mark's bedroom (chapter 10)? What does he do? = = ~ In chapter 10, Bryon is just coming home from the hospital very late at night. When he gets home, his mom is asleep and Mark is still out with friends. Bryon kept trying to fall asleep, but he couldn't. He thought that having a cigarette would help him to relax, so he reached under Mark's mattress to grab one of his spare cigarettes. While searching for them, Bryon felt something strange under the mattress. He pulled it out, and realized that it was a large container of pills. At first, Bryon wondered what Mark would be doing with all these pills, but then he understood that Mark was selling the drugs. Bryon was horrified and called the police right away so that they would come and arrest Mark. =

= 13) How does Bryon's relationship with his friends and his attitude toward life completely change? = = ~ Bryon's attitude and relationships completely change because of the incident with Mark. Bryon was now only going through the motions of life without caring about his relationships with any of his friends anymore. He didn't have any fun, he didn't date any girls, and he didn't hang out with his friends either. Bryon's attitude had changed because he tried to block out the past, and only focus on the present. =

= 14) How does Bryon feel at the end of the book? = = ~ At the end of the book, Bryon feels mixed up and empty. He isn't sure about anything he does anymore, and he has no feelings for anybody. He is just passing through life, not stopping to care about anyone or anything. He asks himself "what if?" alot, and thinks about everything that he would change in his life if he could. =

= 15) What do you think about this book and what life message does it teach? = = ~ I think that this book was great and that it taught me some very important life lessons. Another reason that I enjoyed this book was that many people are or have been in situations where they are forced to make the right choice, and this book can show them the benefits and consequences of making good choices. The message that this book teaches is that people change for the better and worse. Also, it taught me that people aren't always who you think they are. =