“The first rules I learned on Union Avenue Stayed with me for all of my youth. They were simple and straightforward. Don’t cry. Don’t act afraid. Don’t tell your mother. Take it like a man. Don’t let no one take your manhood” (p. 37). At just four years old, Geoffrey encountered his first crime. At eight years old, he committed his first crime. Fist Stick Knife Gun reflects the life of Geoffrey Canada at a time of high crime and violence. He would later learn the only way to be heard was by the use of your firsts. Geoffrey hardly stood a chance. Along with his four brothers, his alcoholic father abandoned them leaving his mother to raise them by herself. Geoffrey wasn’t your typical boy from the Bronx. He was one of the smart kids and even was placed in “the…show more content… Though Geoffrey was often lured into the push and pull factors of violence, there were moments when he knew enough was enough. For instance, Geoffrey had long owned a gun/knife he had found. However one day, he tossed it in the trash because he knew if he continued to hold onto it he would one day kill someone with it. Although Geoffrey was frequently involved in violence, he knew what he was doing was wrong. Geoffrey wasn’t the violent type. He had to ask one of the neighborhood kids to teach him how to fight. It was his community and his living situations that forced him to conform into a violent lifestyle. He often was forced to fight with the boys in his own group of friends to “remain in good standing with his peers and the older boys” (p. 46). He wished he could tell the older boys to stop fighting, but he knew better than to tell someone older and with higher rank what to do. He cringed when he saw someone next to him getting up. He had hoped the older boy on top would stop kicking him, but he knew all he could do was walk away for his own