Lullabies For Little Criminals Analysis

English ISU: Lullabies for Little Criminals

The juxtaposition of childhood and the loss of innocence is an important aspect of the that offers a new perspective on drug addiction that captivates the readers. Most coming of age stories or novels focus on the loss of innocence and its aftermath: now that these events have happened and the characters have grown up, how do they lead their lives? However, Lullabies for Little Criminals tells the story of Baby, who is still thirteen by the end of the novel. Despite moving homes over a dozen times and enduring several mature, traumatizing experiences, she is still a child. Baby explains that “becoming a child again is what is impossible. That’s what you have a legitimate reason to be upset over. …show more content…
Two examples are depicted on the skipping rope, where I hoped to illustrate how the two motifs are intertwined. O’Neil writes, “I couldn’t help but hop along the patterns in the tiles in the way to the room” (293). This quotation shows how even when Baby is walking towards a hotel room with a man to prostitute herself, she still wants to play games and dance like any little kid. However, O’Neil also writes, “Jules … brought out a piñata that he’d made by gluing layer upon layer of newspaper and painting it white with Liquid Paper. It looked like something … you’d transport drugs across the border in,” (8). This quotation shows how her exposure to her father and his friends have also shaped her childhood. For the ISU, I chose to create a collage on Bristol board because I believed it also symbolized the juxtaposition. One could argue there is nothing more juvenile than a cut and paste collage on Bristol board, but there is nothing remotely childish about the photos in the collage. I recreated the book’s cover of a little girl on the swing, and covered it with images referencing some of the many harsh circumstances Baby endures throughout the novel. The images range from a movie poster of a film Baby saw with her pimp, Alphonse, to heroin, and an image of lungs infected with tuberculosis. Together, they display the several problems Baby has faced, and

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Lullabies For Little Criminals Analysis