Dead End in Norvelt Memory and the Past Quotes

Jack is describing his father as a pretty unhappy person, someone whose life is a sad history. We want to be sympathetic, but it sure seems like Mr. Gantos hasn't bothered to learn any lessons from his history.

Not to knock the U.S., but there's always bad along with the good—and we have to learn from the bad just as much as from the good. That's why Dead End in Norvelt mentions several of the more problematic aspects of American history (such as Hiroshima, slavery, and Japanese internment camps). These are all examples of how we might be judged by our history—and how we have plenty of lessons we could learn.

Okay, Shmoopsters, Miss Volker has a real point here: if we forget our history, it's a lot easier for leaders or would-be-leaders to convince us to do really stupid things. That should up the stakes in history class.