Friendswood Questions Part 1

Friendswood Log Questions

1. Willa Lambert is a writer of the Lit Mag at Friendswood High.  Her parents are very religious and get upset when she jokes about the Devil.  Willa's little sister, Jana was wearing a red headband with horns on it.  Willa laughed out loud, "Finally dressed the part" (pg. 23)  Willa's father immediately shouted'"I don't like that fooling around with Satan, myself" (pg. 23).  She doesn't realize what she can and can't joke about. One of the interesting things about Willa is her visions.  However, she may not always be keeping track of her visions.  During class, she saw an elderly woman outside the classroom by a tree and wanted Willa's attention.  She couldn't pay attention to the woman, because she was in the middle of a lesson.. Steinke mentions how "If she didn't focus on the visions, it was almost like they weren't there" (pg. 57).  Based on this event, it's like Willa is the only one that can control seeing her visions.

3. Hal is the father of star football player Cully.  Hal is a real estate agent who takes his career seriously. from reading these past 60 pages, Hal has a passion for the real estate agency.  However, he seems to go under a lot of stress.  There are sometimes when he can be a little short with Darlene. Darlene is sometimes afraid to talk to Hal, because he can be aggressive, especially when he drinks.  The person that Hal really cares about is his son Cully.  They share a special bond and part of it could be from Cully's stardom in football.  Hal wasn't as amazing as his son, but going to his games is probably the best part of his day.  As a father, "Hal felt closest to his son when he sat in the stands, watching a game" (pg. 15).  Hal tries to be on his best behavior when he is around Cully and doesn't want his son to see his bad side.

4. Lee is the main character in Friendswood.  The significant tragedy that occurred in her life is the death of her daughter, Jess.  She died of a blood disease back 1993.  In the novel, Lee is looking back at memories of Jess in the year of 2007.  She became devastated after Jess passed away.  Lee misses her everyday and wasn't sure what she wanted to do.  Lee went to high school with Willa's mother years ago, and they used to be very close.  After Jess' death, it's almost like she decided to disconnect from her.  Lee is Hal's neighbor, and she is looked as a depressed woman to him.  He noticed how she rarely left her house.  Many people looked at Lee as a depressed woman and broke away from Friendswood.

5. Chemical dumping in Friendswood is a major part of this novel.  A lot of the chemical dumping happens over in Banes Field.  It's an area that's almost isolated from Friendswood.  Many people in Friendswood are eliminating chemicals by throwing them away in Banes Field.   On top of that, there is an oil refinery in Friendswood and releases a lot of dangerous toxins.  However, they don't understand the negatives of wasting chemicals.  It's causing a lot of damage to the soil and starts to spreading into the rivers/lakes.  Many people rely on EPA to clean up the chemicals and think the problems will be solved.  It's like EPA is more laid back on Friendswood's situation and doesn't make an effort to fix what's been broken.

6. Today in the US, there are some places that are struggling with environmental calamities.  For example, in Flint, Michigan, the water is being contaminated with lead.  The lead causes water to be extremely unsafe for people to drink from and other uses.  This started to happen after the town was attempting to save money.   EPA has delayed an emergency order for the past seven months.  The purpose of emergency orders is to protect the residents.  In Flint, they didn't create any type of sense of urgency and people were getting more upset.  residents are stating how EPA should be held accountable for failing to maintain their duties.

7.  EPA is characterized as Friendswood's cleaners.  People just throw away chemicals casually into the soil and water over in Banes Field.  EPA's job is to protect the environment and human health as well as enforce regulations.  However, they aren't great with cleaning the area.  Hal brought up a point to Avery by asking, "Didn't I hear something about the EPA clearing it again - for what, five years? Ten?" (pg. 47)  Rosemont, the old neighborhood next to Friendswood, went into the ground due to toxins from oil refinery spreading everywhere.  Hal brought up to Avery, "I don't think there was a single good reason for all those people to lose their houses.  Was there cancer? Yes.  But you know something?  Did you notice how people used to just die of it?  They didn't count it up the way they do now" (pg. 49)  From Hal's defense, it's almost as if EPA doesn't care so much about the town's environment.

Works Cited

Steinke, Rene. Friendswood. Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press, 2015. Print.

"Watchdog: EPA delayed emergency order for 7 months in Flint water crisis." (2016): n. pag. Web. 30 Jan. 2017.