This boy's life is the autobiographical story of an adolescent. Toby and his mother seek financial stability and a peaceful life. As a child, Toby's family was split down the middle, leaving his father and older brother on the East Coast and, for the most part, uninvolved in Toby's life. The story begins when Toby and his mother, Rosemary, leave her abusive boyfriend in Florida to risk striking it rich in the uranium mines of Utah. They are short on money, a theme that continually emerges throughout the book, but they are full of hope and love for each other. Unfortunately, when they arrive in Utah, they find that the uranium resources have already been bled dry and must travel to Salt Lake City where Rosemary manages to find work as a secretary. Shortly thereafter, the ex-boyfriend follows the couple to Salt Lake City and joins their life. His violent behavior continues and Toby and Rosemary are forced to flee again. This time fate puts them on a bus headed to Seattle. Once in Washington, Rosemary finds a group of friends who encourage her to start dating, eventually leading to a relationship and later marriage to another abusive man, Dwight. The mother and son duo are constantly fighting for a better way to live in terms of security and stability, but their love and loyalty to each other is solid. Toby appears to show signs of emotional and behavioral disturbances in his journey through adolescence. He develops many different distinct personalities at various points to try to evade the harsh realities of his life. At the beginning of the novel, he expresses a...... middle of paper......ter fighter tormenting him. Wolff admits that “all of Dwight's complaints against me were intended to give me a definition of myself. They succeeded, but not as I would have liked. I defined myself in opposition to him. In the past I was ready, even when I was innocent, to believe anything evil about myself. Now that I had reason to feel guilty I couldn't feel it anymore." His admission of forgetfulness to his disorder becomes realistic when explained in this context. Despite seeing him repeatedly change his identity, lie, steal, take excessive risks, and act wild and out of control at times, the reader somehow continues to believe and love this lost young man. Her spirit of survival and loyalty to her mother shines through, forcing readers to recognize, but look past, the emotional and behavioral disorders that sometimes hinder her journey to freedom...