Blog 3: Nortie

Nortie is one of the main characters in the novel Stotan. He goes through many tough things and is a more serious type of character. Nortie lives with his mother and father. His father is very abusive to their entire family. He's beaten Nortie since he was a little boy, made him throw things at his own mom, and forced Nortie to watch him beat up his mom. His dad also drank a lot and would loose control of his body that way. It is very sad that Nortie has to go through this so often. Nortie also told Lion, Jeff, and Walker about something he kept in for his entire life. He once had a brother who commited suicide because he was tired of his dad abusing him. It happened on Nortie's own birthday when he was turning just seven years old. He saw him dead in the garage from hanging himself. Underneath him was a note that had Nortie's name on it. He took the note and read it three years later. It just said sorry and good luck. Another way Nortie has led a hard life is that he is going out with an African American girl named Mililika. He is thought of being weird because back in those days, many people were racist. Also, in the school there were these newspapers that were being passed around that made fun of black people and contained very dirty terms.

What surprised me about Nortie was how well he handled all of these experiences. Most kids that age wouldn't be able to cope with all that he goes through in an average day. Nortie controls himself well and is able to take care of himself. He doesn't do drugs or anything like that. He is a very mature and a nice kid. Also, the one time that Nortie lost control and hit somebody, he realized he had done something wrong, unlike his dad, and was able to stop it before anything escaladed. The way I would have thought Nortie would have handled himself was to be depressed and try to take it out on others. Many fathers who are abusive were also abused as a child. I also would have thought he would be to embarrassed and not feel worthy enough to have friends and be so involved in an activity such as swimming.

Nortie is also a very good swimmer. He is probably the best one out of the four boys. He is physically fit and not only does he keep himself pushing forward as hard as he can, but he helps the other boys to go their hardest. Nortie is really an amazing character because of all that he goes through and the way he handles his situation.