"Everyone Pays the Price" by Hadley McGraw: A Summary and a Reaction

"Everyone Pays the Price" by Hadley McGraw:  

A Summary and a Reaction

Jamison Chung

Part 1: Summary

    The author Hadley's boyfriend, Martin, a gang member, has been in jail and is about to see the sunlight. He has spent nearly half of the time on correctional institutions in their relationship. Gang membership of a loved one affects everyone around that person. Martin's bad-boy image and carefree way of life make Hadley have a crush on him. However, they are from vastly different family: Hadley was born in a perfect family; on the contrary, Martin was from a broken home composed of gang members. In order to join Martin, Hadley left home and devastated all she had. Little did she know that Jail sentence made him closer to his gang but farther from her. It was not until Martin's cousin died before Hadley's very eyes one year ago that she had breaking point. Therefore, this last year she has been moving back to the right track, gotten sober, started college and then returned home. Nevertheless, she still lives each day in fear and grief, and prays Martin will go back to correct path.

Part 2: Reaction

    The leading role of this story, Hadley, is a girl who loves his boyfriend without any payment and regret at first. However, "Love is blind.", after countless wrongdoings and the occurrence of the death of Martin's cousin, she had a sharp warning and learned a painful lesson. Although she has went back to the right track, she still has nightmare about the horrible things she has seen and evil things she has done. Since she is in extreme distress and pain, why not leave her boyfriend unhesitatingly? Being willing to abandon everything she had and depart from everyone she loved for the sake of a man is exactly ridiculous and absurd. Though it seems beautiful and dramatic that a woman loves a man with selfless contribution and firm company, in this case this romantic epic is almost blind and insane. In addition, Hadley may not regret being together with Martin but muss absolutely regret breaking her parents' hearts and forsaking her friends, needless to say those wicked things such as dealing drugs and joining the battle between gangs.

    Besides, as a proverb goes, "A fox may grow gray, but never good." Martin was born in a broken home. His parents hated each other. His father was a heartless man, and his mother was a "flaky" drug addict. His parents did not give him a warm and well-education family. In such circumstance it was hard for him to grew up as happy as a normal children. Apart from his parents, most of his families were gang members. The instinct of violence and destruction is naturally in his blood from his birth. The unstable nature makes him difficult live in a peaceful and safe life. There is no doubt that the miracle that Martin trades his gun for Hadley, even gets an education is totally impossible to happen. Hadley is too innocent too see through the cruel fact that she can never change Martin. The stubbornness of staying with her boyfriend will definitely let her meet her doom in the near future.