Reading Log: Disscusion Quetion 7 Response

Throughout Rene Steinke's book Friendswood, there have only been the four narrators: Lee, Hal, Willa and Dex. Then page 350 comes, and the author gives everyone a little surprise. Each chapter is named for the character narrating. On page 350, the chapter title is Cully.

Cully is Hal's son, a football player and one of the boys that raped Willa. The chapter he narrates explores his relationship with the man he works with as security, Jose, and the impact Jose's influence has on him.

Cully and Jose's relationship is one of the better and more constructive relationships Cully has. Jose is the only positive male role model in Cully's life.

Hal is a failure as a father and a role model.
He teaches Cully all the wrong things. He never lets Cully be responsible for his actions and is quick to blame everyone and anyone for his and Cully's mistakes. He gives horrible advice that lacks any substance. He can't help Cully with his guilt over what he did to Willa because he can't accept that Cully is anything but perfect.


Jose gives Cully tangible advice, things that he can do to actively change his life for the better. One such piece of advice has to do with Cully's friends. "Jose had warned him off guys like Brad, who tried to use meanness as a masquerade for manliness." (Steinke 350). Unlike with Hal's advice, Cully actually listens to Jose. The is shown by the fact that he is "trying to escape" his friends and doesn't "want to hang out with Brad and Bishop anymore." (Steinke 350). Cully knows that if he continues to hang out with them, "there would be more accidental fuckups like the one with Willa Lambert, which still clawed at him" (Steinke 351). He sincerely feels an immense amount of guilt because of what he did to Willa and doesn't want anyone else to get hurt because of him. He doesn't want to ruin anyone else's life or his own life any further. If he stays with his friends, it will happen again.

Cully obviously holds Jose in high esteem. He calls Jose "more honorable than Avery ever would be." (Steinke 353). Jose, simply put, is a good man. It is because of his influence that Cully begins taking responsibility for what he did to Willa. Cully's steps towards positive accountability may seem small to us, but to Cully they are huge. Prior to this, Cully has not been allowed to take responsibility for his actions. Now, he is starting to take responsibility and tries to repair the emotional damage he has caused to Willa by apologizing to her, albeit through an anonymous letter. This is something he never would have done had it not been for Jose's influence on him.