Response to Lev- Julia

This is interesting- I really hadn't given this subject much thought while I was reading, but now that you bring it up, I am curious as to what was going on with Lev during this portion of the book. It is interesting that he thought that he needed to have a tough image. Perhaps Roland had some effect on Lev when he was at Sonia's house with Risa and Connor. "The kid doesn't respond; he just glares at Sonia and crosses his arms, displaying a shark tatooed on his forearm." (Shusterman 98) Although Roland is nowhere near the character that we know him as later in the book, maybe he had some effect on Lev that made Lev think that appearing powerful and strong and tough was the way to go when dealing with other unwinds. I think that the whole tough image is just a mind game. Trying to take advantage of people who are scared and absolutely not tough and strong and powerful. Although we don't know what Lev was thinking when he was lying to the other kids and trying to make himself sound tough, this is a possibility for why he was doing it.