FREE ESSAY ON LOVE AND HATE

LOVE AND HATE

Sarah Leslie 
11-2-99
English
I. Bibliographical information
Hinton, S.E. That was Then, This is Now. New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, 1971
II. Setting 
This story was about 2 boys (Bryon and Mark). Bryon was the oldest. He was sixteen and
Mark was 15. They both got into alot of trouble. They enjoyed fighting, and they were
pool hustlers. Mark had moved in with Bryon and his mother when he was little. His
parents had gotten into a fight and shot each other.
III. Plot Structure
I believe this story was a man versus himself, because all through the book Bryon was
constantly changing. He and Mark started to grow apart. He started to fall in love with a
girl. He also had to deal with turning his best friend/brother into the police. He had to
learn to forgive himself.
Towards the end Bryon turned Mark into the police. He had found drugs under Mark's
mattress. Mark had been bringing home money and Bryon finally found out where it was
coming from. Mark had been selling drugs. Bryon did not know what to do thus, he called
the police. When Mark came home and Bryon told him, Mark was shocked. In court Mark would
not even look at Bryon and when Bryon went to see him Mark said that he hated him. 
IV. Plot Summary
Bryon and Mark were friends/brothers. Mark moved in with them when he was 9. His parents
had gotten into a fight and ended up shooting each other. Mark and Bryon did everything
together. They were big pool hustlers. They would go into Charlie's bar and find someone
to play pool with. Then they would end up with all his money. Bryon was friends with
Charlie. That's how they were able to go into the bar. Bryon was 16 and Mark was 15. They
both loved getting into fights. 
One day they were walking with M&M,a thirteen year old who loved M&M's. When three guys
tried to jump M&M. M&M did not like to fight thus, Mark and Bryon stopped it. 
Bryon and Mark went to visit Bryon's mother in the hospital. She told them about a boy,
Mike, across the hall who never had any visitors. Thus she asked them to go see him.
bryon did not want to thus, he went to the snack bar and he saw a girl he knew. Her name
was Cathy and he had not seen her for a few years. He ended up asking her to go to a
dance and she said yes.
Bryon went back upstairs to where Mark was and he met the boy who his mother told them
about. He looked pretty bad. He had been beaten up by a colored man. Mike had brought a
colored girl home because she had missed her bus and because his friends had been
harassing her. When they got to her house she told one of the guys to beat him up. Mike
told Bryon that he did not hate them for doing that and Bryon thought about it.
At the dance that Saturday Mark ended up getting into a fight. Some guy tried to pick a
fight with one of his friends and he tried to stop it. The guy smashed a bottle over
Mark's head. Mark became unconscience and the police arrested the guy. Bryon rode with
him to the hospital. He was fine and only had to get stiches. 
One day Mark and Bryon went into Charlies bar to play some pool. They ended up hustling
some guys. When they left the guys pulled them into an alley and held a gun to their
head. Bryon was scared. Charlie came out with a gun and told them to drop it. Then Bryon
and Mark walked over to Charlie. As they did that the guys fired and Charlie pushed Bryon
out of the way. Mark picked up Charlies gun and started shooting back. When they had
finally left Bryon tried to get up but Charlie was on top of him. Then they noticed that
Charlie was dead.
Bryon had a hard time dealing with Charlie's death and he started to see more and more of
Cathy. While he and Mark started to drift apart. Bryon wished that Mark and Cathy would
get along better but he had to deal with it anyway.
One night Bryon was lying in bed when he got a craving for a cigaret. Thus he decided to
look in Mark and his secret hiding place. When he looked he found some pills. He then
realized that Mark had been selling drugs. He calmly called the police and sat down. When
Mark got home Bryon asked him what he was doing with drugs. When Mark told him, Bryon
told him it was wrong. Mark told him that if it bothered him that much then he would
stop. Bryon then told him that he had called the police. Mark was shocked. Bryon did not
know why he had called them. He knew that if he had just asked Mark to stop then he would
have. The police came and took Mark away. 
In court Mark would not even look at Bryon. When Bryon went to see Mark, Mark told him
that he hated him. Bryon never went to see him again. His relationship with Cathy ended
and he started going into a daze. He did not care about anyone including himself.
V. Description of a favorite episode
My favorite part occured when Mark and Bryon visited a boy in the hospital. Their mother,
who was in the hospital, had told them that the boy across the hall never had any
visitors, thus they went over. The boy never told the nurses anything but he opened right
up to Bryon and Mark. He told them what had happened to him and how none of his family
would come by to see him. Bryon felt sorry for him and Mark bought him a magazine.
VI. Characterization
Bryon was sixteen years old. He looked like a baby-faced kid. He had dark hair and eyes.
He was a big guy. Bryon was very good at pool. He and Mark were pool hustlers. Bryon went
out with alot of girls. He told them he loved them when he really did not and they
believed him. Then he would dump them and move on to the next. Bryon did finally fall in
love with a girl named Cathy.
VII. Theme
I believe that the author was trying to show how life changes and we have to learn how to
deal with it. As much as you want them to, things will not stay the same. That is the way
God made it. We have to grow up and change. We may even grow apart from our good friends.
The person who is someone's best friend this year may not be that persons best friend
next year. That is just a part of life thus we should put God first. He should be our
best friend because He will never change. That was then, and this is now but with God it
stays the same.
VIII. Critical commenatry
I enjoyed this book. It kept me in suspense and I could not put it down. I enjoyed trying
to figure it out and then finding out that I was wrong or that I was right. I also
enjoyed the changing moods. I would definately recommend this book to anyone.