The Basketball Diaries Chapter Summary & Analysis - Part 4 Summary

Part 4 Summary

These entries are made during the Fall of 1964.

Jim begins classes at the private school to which he was awarded a scholarship. While Jim already knows that he is way out of his league socially, his teachers make sure to point this out to him as well. On his first day, he is reprimanded for answering a question with "yah" rather than the required "yes, sir." At lunch he is instructed to keep the hand that is not using his fork hidden from view. Later, that day another student tries to bully him into giving up a magazine he has been reading, an act which results in Jim punching the boy in the face. Fortunately, another student comes to Jim's defense and saves him from being sent to the principal's office.

Before long, Jim is given detention as punishment for cutting classes too often. Although part of the detention...
(read more)