“A Boy, a Man, an Impulsive Citizen” In the short story “Samuel” by Grace Paley “a man walked in a citizenly way to the end of the car, where he pulled the emergency brake” (Barnet, 2014), but why would he do such an impulsive thing? There are several speculative reasons that I perceive an adult would act in such an impulsive reckless manner. The story unfolds with four youths on a train acting as youths do, in a reckless and carefree manner, “jumping and jiggling on the platform” (Barnet, 2009), in admiration of the other boys, that had grown to men on train. There however were the women folk who knew of this childish bravery of boys and one thought to warn them of the danger of their youthful playfulness, “jumping and jiggling on the
