Literary Bullies- He Was Weird: Gene Lancaster

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Asperger's Syndrome, books, bullying, D.A.M.P., friendship, guns, He Was Weird, school shootings, schools, Self Esteem, social settings, South Park, teasing, television

Once again, I know I am more than likely preaching to the choir but it is a known fact that often bullies can be those who are supposed to friends. I shared my own experiences from this in my post from a few months ago titled: “With Friends Like These.” In that post, I compared myself to the Butters character from the TV show “South Park.” I had a desire to be liked by people but because of my Asperger’s Syndrome and DAMP, I didn’t properly pick up on social cues and as a result, it got me into trouble. The main culprit in this was a boy named Gene Lamarque, who influenced my creation of the character, Gene Lancaster, in “He Was Weird.”

Butters

In the story, Gene makes friends with Mark, who after a month since moving to Ramsgate, has no friends and is quick to accept any offer of friendship. At first, things seem good in the friendship but it’s not long before Gene begins to show his true colours. The first major instance is on the school trip where Gene incites others in the class to tease Mark because his mother packed his lunch in a shoe box. Mark gets very upset and retaliates by throwing food at everyone, which he ends up getting in trouble for.

Not long after, during an event forever known as ‘The Episode,’ Mark is beaten up and has his bike wrecked by two boys. Not only does Gene desert him in his time of need, he rubs it in further by telling Mark that he’s going to be a witness for the bullies. It should have occurred to Mark by then that Gene is not a credible friend but Gene manipulates him by the fact that he didn’t bear witness against Mark during the episode.

Things continue in this vein throughout the story. Gene takes every opportunity to humiliate Mark in front of others or get him in trouble, like the incident with Curt Cadell in the last post. He was present there but did nothing to aid Mark. Then in seventh grade, Gene develops a new trick. Having always been the mouthy sort, Gene winds people up to the point where they get annoyed but then runs away leaving Mark there to take the brunt of their wrath. He takes quite a few beatings on account of Gene. This progresses to where in the case of a boy named Terry Cratt, Gene isn’t even there but Terry takes all of the things Gene had said to him out on Mark. His logic was that because Mark had laughed at some of the things Gene said, he is guilty too.

On the few occasions where Mark finally stands up to Gene, he is quick to play the hurt victim leaving public opinion against Mark. One case is when he really gets on Mark’s case because of a mistake he made during a football game. Mark snaps on Gene but everyone seems to be taking Gene’s side. One of the girls present really has a go at Mark and after calls him “Joe Maniac.” It seems that no one seems to see how Gene has treated him.

A couple of days before Mark’s big day of revenge, Gene does something that actually saves his life. When he is mistaken for Mark during an awards assembly at school, he owns up to the mistake. That is why on the day Mark shoots up the school, when he sees Gene coming towards him, he only shoots him in the legs. However, the reason for that was because Mark remembers the many times Gene pretended friendship only to betray him to the bullies.

After the shooting, there is some sort of justice on Gene. When Andrew Blumenthaw comes out of hospital, he gets his friends to press gang Gene into pushing his wheelchair. Andrew points out the fact that Mark isn’t there to be his stooge any more.

Someone who has read “He Was Weird,” ask me if I really had a friend like Gene. Her response to when I answered in the affirmative was “Oh my God!” I have long since realised that Gene wasn’t a good friend and actually, he was a bully. He might have thought he was and would even point out supposed wrongs done to him by me. I would hope by now, that he would have learned his lesson about mouthing off to the wrong person, because I wouldn’t be there to take the beating for him. If he acknowledges that and apologizes, then I will fully forgive.

Next post: Tommy Allen

To buy He Was Weird, go to: http://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445881831&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

 

 

 

Literary Bullies- He Was Weird: Minor Bullies

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anxiety, Asperger's Syndrome, books, bullying, communication, D.A.M.P., fights, guns, He Was Weird, school shootings, Self Esteem, teasing

 

From the time Mark first moves to Ramsgate til the day he finally exacts his revenge, he can’t escape the bullying. When it’s not any of the major bullies I have named thus far, there has been somebody there to make his life hell. The bullying by these persons may not have been as frequent as those carried out by the others, its effects were felt just as hard by Mark nevertheless.

The first of these was influenced by my last post. See, the actual person whom the Steve McGuire character is influenced by, Steve Dwyer, actually got beaten up by a sixth grader while we were in seventh grade. While I don’t mention this fight in “He Was Weird,” what has always intrigued me was even though Steve lost a fight to someone in a lower grade, it didn’t seem to dent his popularity. I don’t think it would have been the same for me, it would have been an excuse for more grief directed my way.

In the story, Steve McGuire bullies Mark through constant teasing starting with the very first lunchtime when he questions Mark, in a patronizing manner, about some things he did during the morning kickball game. This teasing goes on throughout fifth grade and sixth. One of Steve’s tactics is to get Mark to say silly stuff but because Mark, on account of his Asperger’s Syndrome and DAMP, doesn’t know went to stop, he gets the ump and threatens him. He also asks a teacher not to be allowed to sit near him because he can’t stand Mark’s antics, forgetting the fact that it was he who encouraged him in the first place. Furthermore, when Mark tries to tease back, Steve gets “insulted” and threatens he’s going to beat Mark up, which he never does. Still it’s enough to humiliate him and damage self esteem.

With the case of Curt Cadell, the bullying incident was a one off. Before that, Curt did like to tell Mark that he sucked at basketball but that was it. The incident was a case of Curt becoming “offended” at something Mark had said. Thinking he was sticking up for his friend Gene when it appears Gene is having words with Curt, Mark tells Gene to tell Curt to “blow off.” Later on that lunchtime, Curt enlists the help of two friends, one of them Joe Kellerman, who hold Mark so he can slap him in the face and threaten to kill him if he does it again. The above incident did actually happen to me and the one who inspired the Curt Cadell character, Kurt Koegle, was the perpetrator.

There was another case involving a girl named Linda Boston who was friends with some of Mark’s other bullies. In this case, Mark is the innocent victim. He and a younger friend are playing hockey near the hangout of Linda and her gang. Unknown to Mark, it turns out that the boy with Mark owes the gang a dollar. They use this as an excuse to confiscate Mark’s hockey sticks and tell the boy they’re going to beat Mark up if he doesn’t pay up. The situation is defused when the boy goes back home and tells both his and Mark’s mothers who swing into action. Fortunately, there is no confrontation.

Two months or so later, Linda and some of her gang see Mark in the street and confront him. She accuses him of bringing his mother back, which is not completely true. She then tries to force Mark to hand over money and only lets him off after he empties all of his pockets showing he has none. Again, this actually happened to me but I can’t remember if the actual surname of the person who influenced the creation of the Linda Boston character is either Foston or Botson.

A number of other minor or one off bullying events happen to Mark in “He Was Weird” and likewise happened to me. In “He Was Weird,” a girl named Carol Kray encourages her brother and his friends to throw rocks at Mark. As a sixth grader, he is confronted by a gang of eighth graders for no other reason than to bully him. Just as much as the major bullies, these instances of minor bullying contribute greatly to Mark’s state of mind when he finally gets his revenge.

Many of those named above, escape harm on Mark’s big day. It takes an official police report to know that Steve McGuire becomes a fatality of the shooting. When Mark spots Linda Boston that day, he is more interested in the bully next to her, Liz Clover. He fills Liz full of lead but only sends Linda sprawling face first into the street. She survives.

The above bullies may not have bullied me all of the time but when they did, it had its negative effects on me. In my mind, they are just as guilty as the others. They might not have as much to apologize for but they should do so nonetheless. Then I can forgive.

Next post: Gene Lancaster

To buy He Was Weird: http://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445280953&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

 

 

 

Literary Bullies- He Was Weird: Nick Higbee

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anxiety, books, bullying, friendship, He Was Weird, Michael D LeFevre, school shootings, Self Esteem

What seems now like a half a lifetime ago, I wrote a post called “A Different Type of Bullying.” If you haven’t read it, the post was about the bullying of people who may seem younger or weaker on those who are older or more stronger. I explained that the reason this type of bullying occurs is because the bully knows that if the victim were to retaliate, it would be the victim who gets into trouble. The popular comment of “You’re older,” is used to quash any explanation of retaliation by the victim. However, if the victim tries to address the bullying through more appropriate means, they are often rebuffed with the same comment or “He’s just a little kid” or similar comment. This results in the victim feeling powerless because whatever they do, it is wrong on account of the sizes and ages of bully and victim. The knock on effect is devastating to the victims’ self esteem.

As Mark finds out in “He Was Weird,” the gap between bully and victim doesn’t have to be great. While Mark is a seventh grader, he gets bullied by a sixth grader named Nick Higbee. It starts when Nick makes threats on Mark when he perceives Mark to be in his way. Egged on by friends, Nick grabs his shirt in a threatening manner. However, Mark defends himself by using a self defense move that involves grabbing the hair. Unfortunately, any advantage is taken away as one of the friends use the hair pull as an excuse to intervene. Even though Mark knows he acted in the correct manner and that anyone else would have done the same, he is the one who comes out looking the worse.

Taking strength from the incident, Nick uses it to bully Mark. While the bullying is relatively, low level, mainly shoving and tripping as he goes past, the fact that he is being picked on by a sixth grader makes him the target of more teasing and ridicule. It makes him feel completely powerless and any self esteem he does have is shattered.

When Mark’s big day comes, it’s a no-brainer that Nick is one of his intended targets. While he is blasting away in the playground, he sees Nick through the crowd fleeing with his friends and sends some bullets in that direction. However, he is never sure whether or not he hits him.

Later in the book, we learn Nick does survive because he makes a big act of bravado about it when questioned about the shooting by the FBI. The two agents, both unimpressed by this display, are quick to inform Nick that the bullets that killed his friend would have definitely found their mark with him had not his friend been in the way. That’s enough to shut him up, at least for the moment.

Creative license once again ensues with the real life bully whom Nick Higbee is based on, Mark Hicks. While the first confrontation did happen, it didn’t get physical. He never grabbed my shirt and I never executed any self defense moves. Saying that, he did take pleasure from the incident to push me and even spit at me when the opportunity arose. Plus, he was egged on by his friends. The fact I seemingly allowed myself to be bullied by someone a grade below me was devastating to my self esteem. But by that time, with all of the bullying that I was suffering, I felt powerless to do anything and if I did, I would be the one in the wrong. As for Mark Hicks, should he remember his transgressions against me, the offer of forgiveness will always be there.

Next post: One Off Bullies

http://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444761637&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird

 

 

 

Literary Bullies- He Was Weird: Damon Bates

Tags

Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, books, bullying, D.A.M.P., friendship, guns, He Was Weird, school shootings, Self Esteem, social settings

One type of bully which I will go into more detail about in a later post is the one who feeds off the bullying by others. When not with friends or doesn’t have an audience to encourage, this bully will leave the victim alone. However, when either of both of those elements are present, this bully will go all out on that victim. (S)he may even take the lead in the bullying, especially if they are spurred on by the crowd. One such person who appears on “He Was Weird” is Damon Bates.

The first account of any bullying of Mark by Damon happens when Mark is besieged by a large group. Damon decides to be at the forefront of it all. All of the comments directed at him cause overload in his brain and therefore, Mark sees his only feasible response to it is to flip his middle finger at them. Most of the crowd just laugh it off but Damon suddenly decides to take offense at the gesture and goaded by some of the other kids, most importantly, the main instigator, he moves in to attack Mark. His fists are only stayed at the last minute when the captain of the safety patrol steps in and that is only because he fears losing his position.

Later on in the story, Damon once again is there to jump into the limelight of group bullying on Mark. When Mark is indecently assaulted by the substitute teacher, it is Damon who tells everyone that “the homo is probably wearing pink underwear.” Another instance comes one day during a shop lesson, where Damon steals Mark’s compass because he can. Even when not at the forefront of the crowd, other bullies feed off of him as well. Mike Sigfried took great inspiration from him when bullying Mark as did Joe Kellerman. Plus he was there to support his buddy Jim Friend when Jim began making Mark’s life hell. That is why when Mark finally gets his revenge, we see that Damon winds up as one of the casualties.

For me, Damon Bates shows what can happen inside a pack mentality. Some of the most passive people can be a great bully when there is a crowd behind them. This is true with David Boakes, the person who inspired the Damon Bates character. I remember a couple of times when seeing me in public, he was actually friendly towards me but in a group of hostiles, it was a different story. The problem with forgiving him comes as result of this type of bullying. The problem with pack mentality is that individuals in the pack feel they are not the most guilty ones. I can see that David would believe that of himself. However, if he was to see the truth of how he effected me and repented, I would forgive.

Next post: Nick Higbee

To buy He Was Weird, go to: http://www.amazon.co.uk/He-Was-Weird-Michael-Lefevre/dp/1909740942/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444128214&sr=1-1&keywords=he+was+weird