Do you believe Corky bears any blame for the negative events in the story? As a thirteen-year-old, were there things she could have done differently to change the outcome?

Corky feels a lot of guilt throughout the story – for offending America, her grandfather's snake bite, and events after the ball game, among other things. Do you believe she bears any blame for the negative events in the story? As a thirteen-year-old, were there things she could have done differently to change the outcome?

A thirteen year old is a child with the innocence and ignorance that being a child brings. I do not believe she should bear any blame for the events of the story. The events may have happened without her doing anything. Her grandfather could have asked her father or brother to shoot what he heard in the grass, Corky was not his only resource. The happenings after the game may have occurred regardless of America's presence as the Boatwright boy was upset because of Mack's popularity and may have set up the attack on her brother whether America was there or not.

I agree with scgirl. While it would be easy to lay some blame on Corky it must be remembered that she was a child. Clearly she could have done things differently if she’d given them more thought, but all children do silly stupid things.

I found it hard to believe that a 13 year old who heard and saw all the things during the night from her bedroom window that Corky did would not tell her parents or at least her brother Mack about them. And why didn't anyone else in her neighborhood see and hear that noisy old truck that spent so much time there? Telling an adult would have made such a difference in this story, and I would have found it more believable if she had done so. I know she was a very naive 13 year old, but she was also concerned about her friend(s) so it seemed she should have reported all those things to someone.

I don’t feel Corky is responsible for what happened. Her actions were not malicious in intent. Her life experiences at that point hadn’t given her insight to what could happen. I grew up in the 1960’s. It was a more innocent time. I probably wouldn’t have mentioned the truck to my parents as I wouldn’t have expected its presence to bring trouble to my life. We waved and spoke to everyone. We were somewhat unaware of “stranger danger.”

I don't feel Corky is responsible. A 13-year-old struggles every day with doing what her parents expect and making decisions that could help her friends. Corky knew that discrimination was wrong, but didn't know how to bring it up.

I agree that Corky being 13 years old cannot be held responsible for the reasons stated by scgirl and also even she wanted to tell someone who would be that person because not only who they tell if anyone and would they provide comfort and understanding to Corky.

Amen to the comments from cece. While I appreciated the vivid description of life in High Cotton, Texas by author Lynda Rutledge, by the same observation, how could Corky be the only individual with awareness of the truck creeping around such a small town? Completely unrealistic to my understanding. If Corky felt awkward talking to her parents about observations past her designated bedtime, she certainly could have confided in her older brother Mack. Responsibility for the events that took place later in the story belong collectively to many of the townsfolk, but not on the shoulders of a naive 13 year old girl.

I agree with Cece.

I taught middle school students for most of my professional years and the struggles they deal with on a daily basis are real. One moment they act like little kids and the next moment they think they are so grown up. It is such a confusing time for them and the same was true for Corky. No, Corky doesn’t bear the blame. She wasn’t fully aware of all the ramifications events can have. She was young and naive!

I agree with everyone that Corky was not to blame. 13 year olds are not children, but they are not adults.

Corky certainly is not to blame for the negative incidents that occurred in the story. She did not realize that it might be important to report the suspicious cars that she saw. She wasn't even sure the car was suspicious, just unknown.

Corky probably should have told her parents or Mack about the truck she kept seeing, but I don’t think she realized until it was too late what effect that was going to have. She’s certainly not responsible for the bad behavior of others.