Transcript They Cage the Animals at Night Notes

They Cage The Animals At
Night
Notes from the book
“Doggie”
Sister Frances
Jennings’s best friend
• It was at this first orphanage that
Jennings met Doggie, a stuffed
animal.
• Doggie became Jennings closest
friend.
• Doggie went through every
orphanage with him.
• Jennings quickly learned about
the harsh rules of the orphanage.
He was often hit or forced to go
without food for standing out of
line.
• Once he was sent to live with a
couple who only took him in for
money.
Life after the orphanage
• Jennings’s mother comes back for him.
• Money is still very tight and food is
sparse.
• Frequent arguments irrupted between
the brothers and their mother.
Life was hard
• George, the oldest, developed a
drinking problem early on.
• Their mother was wearing herself out
trying to put food on the table.
• Jerome was confined to a hospital
most of the time, another expense for
the family.
• Holidays were often not celebrated
because of the lack of money.
Another sickness another
orphanage
•Jennings’s mother going days
without eating.
•The boys were separated and
sent to live in different homes.
•Jennings was sent to live in
another orphanage.
Running away became
necessary to survive
• Jennings was beaten and
dragged across a splinted floor for
spilling his coco.
• He spent six days in the hospital.
• He was scared of the nun who put
him in the hospital, so he runs
away.
Mom returns once again
•Jennings was picked up by
police and sent back to the
orphanage.
•Shortly after, his mother
comes to get him.
Life’s struggles do not end
• Larry and Jennings have missed too
much school to go on to the next
grade.
• They endure harassment from other
students.
• Larry decides to start skipping school.
• In order to earn more money for the
family, George drops out of school.
“Now, boys I want you to see what a
really stupid kid looks like.”
• Jennings did not learn fractions
because of all the school he
missed.
• Jennings had to stand in front of a
black board for whole day.
• Shortly after Jennings is transferred
to another school.
• Larry gives up going to school.
Sal
• At the new school Jennings has to
stay after and work hard to catch
up.
• Taking the bus after school, he
meets a bus driver named Sal.
• He understands how hard living in
an orphanage can be, he was an
orphan himself.
The Fraziers
•Jennings’s mother became
sick with pneumonia. This
time he is sent to a private
home.
•The Fraziers were very kind
to him. Their maid Martha
was especially fond of him.
The clothing incident
• Jennings’s teacher could see that
he was in need of new clothes.
She asked some parents to
donate old clothes to him.
• The next day the boy harassed
him so badly that Jennings got
into a bad fight.
• Sal saved him and brought him to
the hospital.
Returning home for the
third time
• The family moved again, but
within the same bus route and
school district so Jennings could
still see Sal.
• Unfortunately, Sal gets transferred
to the Bronx. This is very hard on
Jennings.
Larry
• Larry runs away from home because
he is sick of all the house work. Running
away becomes a habit that follows
him throughout his life.
• Jennings is blamed for Larry running
away. This makes Jennings runaway to
find Sal. He is sure Sal will take care of
him.
The Bronx Zoo
•Jennings makes it to the Bronx
but has a few days before he
can find Sal.
•While he is waiting, him and
Doggie live in the Bronx Zoo
where he eats out of the trash
and sleeps in the bushes.
Back Home
• Sal does not let Jennings live with
him. Instead he brings him home.
• Sal helps support the family any
way he can.
• Jennings’s mother falls down the
stairs and breaks her back and
neck.
• Jennings is sent to live in another
orphanage.
Mark
• Here, he is reunited with his old
friend Mark.
• Jennings notices that Mark looks
very sick. Mark denies that
anything is wrong.
• Shortly after, Mark dies of a heart
failure.
Mom back at home
• Jennings returned home to find his
mother in “traction.”
• Weights pull her back and neck
straight.
• Jennings’s job is to look after her
and feed her.
• Larry returns home an alcoholic
like George and their father.
Mental Breakdown
• Jerome comes home for the second time.
• He gets sick again and is sent back to the
hospital.
• Larry runs away again.
• These two factors combined with an
overdose of medication makes their mother
have a mental breakdown.
• She cuts the ropes that are holding her neck
and back in place.
A state-run orphanage
• Jennings is humiliated when he accidentally wet his
bed. He is forced to stand naked with the urine
soaked sheet over his head.
• Jennings decides to run away to find the Fraziers
and Martha.
• Sal is not around because he recently took a job as
a trucker.
The Dailys
• Jennings was picked up by the police
again.
• Officer Daily took him home to stay with him
and his wife.
• The police chief wanted Jennings back at
the orphanage.
• The Dailys try to contact Sal.
• Jennings did not want Officer Daily to lose
his job so he runs away again.
Back at the Bronx Zoo
• Jennings decided to live at the Bronx Zoo again.
• It was getting too cold out to sleep outside .
• Just as Jennings has given up on Sal coming to
rescue him, Officer Daily and Sal come and find
him.
In the end…
• Sal takes care of Jennings and Gene until
they are grown up.
• Jennings’s mother eventually recovers from
her injuries.
• Jerome dies at age 21.
• Walter finishes school.
• George gets married and becomes a
member of alcoholics anonymous.
• Larry continues to run away from everything
in his life, including his wife and children.
And Jennings…
•
•
•
•
Adopts a daughter, Carolyn.
Has held a number of jobs.
Has a B.A in forensic psychology.
Still has Doggie.
And Now….
•
Jennings Michael Burch, the author of They Cage the Animals at Night
came to Farragut Middle School in April of 2000, to talk about his life
experiences growing up in foster homes. With his helpmate "Doggie" and
a strong will to endure, he managed to survive a foster care system that
overlooked inept, abusive caregivers. In and out of many homes and
institutions as he grew up, Mr. Burch discovered the true value of kindness
in a world that threatened and inflicted mental and physical harm with
awful consistency. He brought his insights to the 7th graders, and alerted
them to the types of cruel behaviors they might be practicing towards
their peers. He urged them not to think of his situation, and the foster care
system, as some nightmare environment far removed from their own
experience, but to be sensitive to being unkind within their own lives, at
school and at home.