chapter 14 last rites

Chapter 14 project
· What evidence in this chapter suggests that Socrates has changed as a person throughout the book? Explain.

“I need a hundred tablets of morphine. …three hundred dollars for a hundred ill give ya four.”
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Throughout chapter 14 it becomes apparent that Socrates has become a completely different person from who he was at the beginning of the book. Socrates has gone from being a reclusive hermit to being a person with a life that he is proud of. At the beginning of the book Socrates had a few friends of whom he mostly just discussed various issues with whenever it was necessary. After meeting Darryl Socrates life completely changed for the better. Socrates went from being a person with less than a dollar to his name to a person with over 14 thousand dollars that he had obtained honestly. Socrates is not one to cheat people out of money or anything of value. In chapter 14 Socrates buys one hundred morphine tablets for Right who is in severe pain and is near death. Socrates is willing to pay for whatever Right needs to ensure that his final days are spent doing what he wants. After receiving the tablets Socrates pays Blackbird the money and includes a one hundred dollar tip as stated in the following quote“ I need a hundred tablets of morphine. …three hundred dollars for a hundred ill give ya four.” Socrates has gone from being a person that can barely get by with an income of whatever he makes from the cans he finds to being a person with an okay income, who can afford to be give a tip of that amount to Blackbird, just because he did something that no doctor would do.
“Scared’a pain. I am scared’a pain alright but not no death, not no more.”



In this chapter Socrates proves that he has the ability to not only help himself but also to help other people. Prior to getting a job at the. Right is near death and all Socrates wants is to make his friend as happy and comfortable as possible during his final days. Throughout the book Socrates is described as a person with few friends. Because Socrates has no family he tends to treat his friends as though they were his family. Socrates was trying doing everything possible to make sure that Right had no regrets when he died. Socrates has had to deal with far too many deaths throughout his life. Far too many people Socrates knew have died. Rights ability to deal with the knowledge of his inevitable death the way he did probably helped to strengthen Socrates will to live. Socrates was prepared to deliver a loaded gun to Right so he wouldn’t have to suffer any more. Even if Socrates had given Right the gun Right probably wouldn’t have been willing to use it for the reason that he was happy. Even though Right knew he would die soon he was prepared for it. Right was prepared to deal with death, which was something that prior to talking to Right, Socrates probably would never have believed. The quote “Scared’a pain. I am scared’a pain alright but not no death, not no more.” Is proof the proof that Right was content with death and by being so he in a way helped Socrates to be happy. Knowing that his good friend Right was happy probably helped Socrates to deal with death and to deal with the notion that people can be happy even under the worst of circumstances.


Question 2: Why do you think Socrates was willing to do so much to ensure that Right’s final days were spent without pain and without any regrets?

“ But he don’t wanna go down there. Vii. You wanna die in some strange place far away from where you live”