Argumentative essay. Kinda? A little?
Yeah, I was gonna write on my essay for my written proffiency class. Well, that didn't exactly happen. That was waaaaaaaaaay too boring and waaaaaaay too hard. This was much funnier:
Why Spot Conlon and the Brooklyn newsies are awesome (working title only)
Arguments that the Brooklyn newsies are used to fighting/Brooklyn is dangerous:
1. When Jack tries to get someone to go to Brooklyn no one wants and acts generally scared. Boots says that ‘[they] ain’t scared of Brooklyn. Spot Conlon makes [them] a little nervous’, but if the leader is scary then the men probably is too. And the most probable reason Spot ‘makes [them]…nervous’ must be because of his fighting skills (and sharp mind and his ability to probably freak out anyone if he wants to, but that's only me, I guess).
2. When J+D+B goes to Brooklyn everyone is acting intimidatingly towards them, holding weapons and acting threateningly in the background while they talk with Spot.
3. There is also the background music, but that mostly works through prejudice: many, probably still the majority of the immigrants, of the people living in Brooklyn at the time were born in or with either or both parents from Ireland and the music playing in the background when J+D+B comes to Brooklyn is a fast-paced, lively Irish melody with a sharp flute that can be heard mostly when any of the Brooklyn newsies-Spot or his boys-acts intimidating or threatening, or just the focus. I connect the music and the 1900’s Brooklyn to the Irish immigrates, and my prejudice has-with the help of many modern movies-the idea that Irish immigrants were especially rowdy and violent. That idea plus the music plus the way the Brooklyn newsies acts threatening during the whole scene points to them being more used to violence.
4. In the fight against the hired men the Brooklyn newsies are well trained in using their slingshots and immediately after they showed up they turned the fight to the newsies’ favor. When Spot opens the gates most, if not all, of the new Brooklyn newsies are holding weapons and looking very enthusiastic. The moments we see them before the scene changes shows the first Brooklyn newsies attacking the hired men with much vigor.
5. At the rally at the theater Spot at first refuses to listen to David’s idea to not beat up the scabs and I think it is safe to say, according to the way he acts and the boys in the public acts, that that is the mindset of those from Brooklyn and how it works there.
6. When the Brooklyn newsies come to join the last rally they are waving around their weapons and shouts ‘Brooklyn’ like a war cry.
Based on these points it seems likely that Brooklyn is dangerous and the newsies there, however young, has learnt to fight and fight well to stay alive.
And then: Arguments that Spot Conlon is one hell of a badass.
1. All of the arguments listed above.
2. As Boots says: ‘we ain’t scared of Brooklyn. Spot Conlon makes us a little nervous’. Apparently all the Manhattan boys agree with him, meaning that Spot makes all of them scared, or at least nervous.
3. Spot is a fifteen year old, skinny, not-that-tall guy who doesn’t look like he could beat most of the guys his own age in a fight. But within a minute after we first see him we see his skills at using his slingshot and we later see that he is more than capable of holding his own in a fight. The way he holds himself and the way he talks shows us that he is more than just any teenage newsie. When he challenges Jack and David-‘How do I know you won’t run the first time some goon comes at you with a club? How do I know you’ve got what it takes to win?’-he sounds like having ‘some goon’ attacking him with a club is nothing worth caring about. He also makes it sound like he is used to winning and doesn’t accept anything else.
4. Spot mentions having heard from all the other territories from his ‘birds’ and though he lets them talk he apparently already knows what J+D wants to say to him, implying that he has a very impressive network.
5. After giving Spot one of his shooters Boots wets his lips, a common sign for nervousness and when he tries to smile, later when the camera shows him, it looks very strained at best. When Spot accepts David with a simple nod, Jack is seen breathing out and visibly relaxing. I take this to mean that before then he was just as nervous as Boots of meeting with Spot but was better at hiding it.
6. Apparently none of the other newsies territories dares to do anything before they know what Spot Conlon will do and David tells him that ‘[he] is the key’ and that he is ‘the most respected and famous newsie in all of New York, and probably everywhere else’ and that if ‘[he] joins the strike, then [the other newsies]’ll join’.
7. As he says himself: ‘I got brains too, and more than just half of one’. He is smart enough to not directly venture into the strike before he has seen evidence that the guys he is joining are not going to back out when it gets tough, which he knows from the start that it will.
8. He leads his boys from the front in fights and when going to the last rally.
9. At the rally in the theater Spot vehemently refuses David’s idea to stop soaking the scabs. He claims that they’re ‘going to be playing with [his] hands’, in response to David’s fear that they-the newsies-are going to be playing into their-the grown ups’-hands. Jack manages to convince him to agree to stop beating up scabs, but Spot doesn’t look completely convinced. He agrees with the words ‘I say that what you say is what I say’, saying it in such a way that it sounds like whatever Jack says or does after that comes from Spot-like Jack follows Spot’s orders, instead of the other way around.
10. When Spot calms Race down after they see that Jack has turned into a scab he literally throws himself at the guards, waving his cane in fury, and several newsies is forced to drag him back again while he’s shouting at Jack. The only audible things are ‘I’ll murder you’ and ‘traitor’. Concerning the way the boys quickly help to pull him away and how they don’t dare to release him again points towards that he probably is dead serious with his threat.
11. In the end he gets a ride back to Brooklyn with Teddy Roosevelt.
[EDIT: Forgot this immensely important argument:]
11,5. He says the line: 'Never fear, Brooklyn is here'.
12. He has a pimp cane. ‘nuff said.
Why Spot Conlon and the Brooklyn newsies are awesome (working title only)
Arguments that the Brooklyn newsies are used to fighting/Brooklyn is dangerous:
1. When Jack tries to get someone to go to Brooklyn no one wants and acts generally scared. Boots says that ‘[they] ain’t scared of Brooklyn. Spot Conlon makes [them] a little nervous’, but if the leader is scary then the men probably is too. And the most probable reason Spot ‘makes [them]…nervous’ must be because of his fighting skills (and sharp mind and his ability to probably freak out anyone if he wants to, but that's only me, I guess).
2. When J+D+B goes to Brooklyn everyone is acting intimidatingly towards them, holding weapons and acting threateningly in the background while they talk with Spot.
3. There is also the background music, but that mostly works through prejudice: many, probably still the majority of the immigrants, of the people living in Brooklyn at the time were born in or with either or both parents from Ireland and the music playing in the background when J+D+B comes to Brooklyn is a fast-paced, lively Irish melody with a sharp flute that can be heard mostly when any of the Brooklyn newsies-Spot or his boys-acts intimidating or threatening, or just the focus. I connect the music and the 1900’s Brooklyn to the Irish immigrates, and my prejudice has-with the help of many modern movies-the idea that Irish immigrants were especially rowdy and violent. That idea plus the music plus the way the Brooklyn newsies acts threatening during the whole scene points to them being more used to violence.
4. In the fight against the hired men the Brooklyn newsies are well trained in using their slingshots and immediately after they showed up they turned the fight to the newsies’ favor. When Spot opens the gates most, if not all, of the new Brooklyn newsies are holding weapons and looking very enthusiastic. The moments we see them before the scene changes shows the first Brooklyn newsies attacking the hired men with much vigor.
5. At the rally at the theater Spot at first refuses to listen to David’s idea to not beat up the scabs and I think it is safe to say, according to the way he acts and the boys in the public acts, that that is the mindset of those from Brooklyn and how it works there.
6. When the Brooklyn newsies come to join the last rally they are waving around their weapons and shouts ‘Brooklyn’ like a war cry.
Based on these points it seems likely that Brooklyn is dangerous and the newsies there, however young, has learnt to fight and fight well to stay alive.
And then: Arguments that Spot Conlon is one hell of a badass.
1. All of the arguments listed above.
2. As Boots says: ‘we ain’t scared of Brooklyn. Spot Conlon makes us a little nervous’. Apparently all the Manhattan boys agree with him, meaning that Spot makes all of them scared, or at least nervous.
3. Spot is a fifteen year old, skinny, not-that-tall guy who doesn’t look like he could beat most of the guys his own age in a fight. But within a minute after we first see him we see his skills at using his slingshot and we later see that he is more than capable of holding his own in a fight. The way he holds himself and the way he talks shows us that he is more than just any teenage newsie. When he challenges Jack and David-‘How do I know you won’t run the first time some goon comes at you with a club? How do I know you’ve got what it takes to win?’-he sounds like having ‘some goon’ attacking him with a club is nothing worth caring about. He also makes it sound like he is used to winning and doesn’t accept anything else.
4. Spot mentions having heard from all the other territories from his ‘birds’ and though he lets them talk he apparently already knows what J+D wants to say to him, implying that he has a very impressive network.
5. After giving Spot one of his shooters Boots wets his lips, a common sign for nervousness and when he tries to smile, later when the camera shows him, it looks very strained at best. When Spot accepts David with a simple nod, Jack is seen breathing out and visibly relaxing. I take this to mean that before then he was just as nervous as Boots of meeting with Spot but was better at hiding it.
6. Apparently none of the other newsies territories dares to do anything before they know what Spot Conlon will do and David tells him that ‘[he] is the key’ and that he is ‘the most respected and famous newsie in all of New York, and probably everywhere else’ and that if ‘[he] joins the strike, then [the other newsies]’ll join’.
7. As he says himself: ‘I got brains too, and more than just half of one’. He is smart enough to not directly venture into the strike before he has seen evidence that the guys he is joining are not going to back out when it gets tough, which he knows from the start that it will.
8. He leads his boys from the front in fights and when going to the last rally.
9. At the rally in the theater Spot vehemently refuses David’s idea to stop soaking the scabs. He claims that they’re ‘going to be playing with [his] hands’, in response to David’s fear that they-the newsies-are going to be playing into their-the grown ups’-hands. Jack manages to convince him to agree to stop beating up scabs, but Spot doesn’t look completely convinced. He agrees with the words ‘I say that what you say is what I say’, saying it in such a way that it sounds like whatever Jack says or does after that comes from Spot-like Jack follows Spot’s orders, instead of the other way around.
10. When Spot calms Race down after they see that Jack has turned into a scab he literally throws himself at the guards, waving his cane in fury, and several newsies is forced to drag him back again while he’s shouting at Jack. The only audible things are ‘I’ll murder you’ and ‘traitor’. Concerning the way the boys quickly help to pull him away and how they don’t dare to release him again points towards that he probably is dead serious with his threat.
11. In the end he gets a ride back to Brooklyn with Teddy Roosevelt.
[EDIT: Forgot this immensely important argument:]
11,5. He says the line: 'Never fear, Brooklyn is here'.
12. He has a pimp cane. ‘nuff said.