In Victor Lavalle Slapboxing with Jesus the neglected, maimed and damned people of New York are put in the spotlight. The people described are not thrown into situations for no reason, their social condition puts them in their situation and keeps them there. The need to escape from a constantly neglected environment drives the characters in the stories “Slave” and “Ghost Story”. The character Rob in the story “Slave” has been facing the condition of abandonment since he was a pubescent boy; this environment pushed Rob to become a child prostitute and the environment changed his life mentality forever. Lavalle also writes about Sammy in “ghost story”, a man who suffers from a mental illness, a combination of schizophrenia and paranoia, so much so that his illness is regarded with contempt which prevents him from moving in society. The influence that has marked the lives of Rob and Sammy is an imprint left on them by their social condition. Wherever they go, even after the "escape", they will carry with them a residue of the stamp. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Rob was led into a life of prostitution because of the way society neglected him. Rob, a child prostitute, was abandoned by his parents in a rich city: Manhattan. How could it have been overlooked? How did this negligence change him? Lavalle describes the place where Rob was abandoned: “Rob was on a block he had come to know over the years, in Manhattan, with buildings that go higher and higher, then higher” (71). Abandoned in the shadow of tall towers. Manhattan is a place associated with wealth and prosperity. However, in Rob's case, the risk of being forgotten even in a rich mass is easy. Neglect makes you vulnerable because no one is there to protect. Even the island of Manhattan is described as vulnerable: “Manhattan often seems to cry, “Colonize me!” (67), left open so that others can “colonize” or take over. When Rob was left alone on a Manhattan block, his body also screamed "colonize me!" Rob continued to be neglected, Rob started traveling on trains for “long hours” and even “days” eventually “For a year” (66), this shows how easy it was for Rob to be overlooked by society even though he used public transport for a year, alone. Rob needed money, food and shelter after being neglected, his last resort was prostitution, he became a “freelancer” (65). The work Rob did was the complete oppression of his body, "her mouth is a wound that should be left to heal, but there's her bag by the bed" (54), due to neglect in Rob's early life, now he is forced to have sex for money. His body is used repeatedly by both men and women, he has no control over what is done to him, Rob just needs to get paid. Even after being paid for sex, he is further hurt: "All the money she paid him is lodged in his underwear as he walks, the stiff bills clipped against one leg" (59). The money Rob needed to survive is a bitter relief from hunger, the money eventually finds a way to hurt Rob further. Rob's neglected life allowed the tragedies of child prostitution to befall him. Rob's life has been severely limited due to the negligence of his parents and society. Rob's way of thinking has changed due to his social status as a prostitute, he now sees anyone with the dollar as his way of survival. This is a cycle he cannot escape. Lavalle describes thissocial status as if it influenced Rob to become a child prostitute. Having to beg for someone else to take him in is a state of oppression. Rob faces this problem when he leaves his pimp in the story. But who does he meet? Meet a savior? Rob meets someone who is like him in a way: "Those who resisted the Holocaust are known to have found a lucky survivor at the other end of a restaurant" (59), Robè described as a Holocaust survivor but not manages to escape completely. Rob meets Harrold across a restaurant, but Harrold wants Rob for sex, "Do you want to go to the bathroom or something?" Harrold asks young Rob; Rob has to settle if he wants to escape his pimp. Rob's life due to prostitution will always be confined to what he had to do in the past, even the areas where Rob has sex are described as confined, "empty", "lights out" and "glass on all sides" places ( 61 ), “Under the bridges, dark tunnels that hid men” (66). The only person who welcomed the oppressed Rob was another oppressor, someone who wants him for the services Rob can provide. Rob is happy to find Harrold, the man who took him in, does this mean Rob is free from the slavery he escaped from? No. Rob still believes the only way to be free is to do what he knows: sell his body and beg. Rob tells Harrold when explaining why he should take him in: “I can be really handsome. You could put me in a dress. Really anything. Whatever you want." (Lavalle 64), this is the mentality instilled in Rob: to always be dependent, to always be a slave to whoever has power and money. Rob can never forget "He can't." (57) who has money , the person with the money is the one in charge in Rob's mind. With that mentality, he will never be free. He will always be a slave to the person with the dollar that people like Rob are overlooked. Prostitutes are slaves to their pimps, they get paid for what they do, but they have no freedom with their money. Their bodies become the machines that create money for their pimps and the fields that others destroy. No control over their money, their bodies and even their minds. The idea that they cannot escape their small apartments that they share with five other people is the lack of hope they have for freedom abandonment. Rob is tied to his clients' money, Rob says, "Come on. Do you want it or not?" In response his client says, “Hey! Don't forget who has money” (Lavalle 57). Rob can never forget who has the money, the person with the money is the one who rules in Rob's mind. Sammy in “Ghost Story” faces a similar condition due to his low level in society like Rob. Sammy's mental illness brings him no help, and instead faces scorn. Lavalle writes: “The expression on his face had nothing to do with effort. He was everything to me” (Lavalle 37), can Sammy’s behavior, due to his illness, be used to justify the way he is treated? His low position in a society allows people to ignore him and see him as pathetic. He's confined by this, people who know him want to confine him with drugs, "How about taking the drug laced with something?" (34). Both Rob and Sammy face the influence of their social status, an influence that prevents them from escaping their position in society. Sammy's obsessiveness, of course, extends to his friendships. Sammy's confinement in society can best be seen when Lavalle describes the electrotherapy that was given to Sammy: “They placed those wires against my little, 1999