A hole in my Life

Essay by jcr2992High School, 11th gradeA+, January 2009

download word file, 3 pages 4.0

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The Gateway Drug to a six YearSentence in PrisonHave you ever wondered what would happen if you got caught transporting 2,000 pounds of hashish by sailboat? Well, Jack Gantos, author of his autobiography Hole in my life, is able to find out firsthand. Although Jack has made multiple tremendous errors in his life, they have shaped him into what he is today. Although the bad decisions that Jack Gantos has made in life ended him up in jail, his experiences have allowed him to be the accomplished writer that he is today.

Jack grew up in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. He was never at one school for more than a year or two because his father was always changing jobs and job locations. In High School, his Dad decided to move to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he had been given a construction job for the building of a new hotel.

Jack had trouble living on his own and paying for college, so he moved to San Juan with his family where he worked, drank, and gambled. After the job, they moved to St. Croix where another job had opened up. During this time, St. Croix began to go through a rough time and the job was cancelled. Because of all the people leaving the island for good, Jack and his father made a business selling crates in order to get by. One day, a man named Rik had Jack create a secret compartment for him to hide hash inside. A few days later, he came back with a proposal for Jack to sail a boat filled with 2,000 pounds of hash from St. Croix to New York City. Jack needed money so he could go to college, and was willing to do almost anything to get off the...