Journal        By: Duckboy

   Mr. Hoodhood really only cares about his company. To him, all of the decisions that Holling and Heather make have to help Mr. Hoodhood's company in some way. So, if Heather went to college, it would mean that she wouldn't work at Hoodhood and Associates, which would mean that Mr. Hoodhood wouldn't have a secretary, which would mean that he would have to spend a little money from his overflowing bank account to get one. Not only that, but Heather wanted to go to a school that protests against the war, and "doesn't have any classes" (which it probably does, but I think Mr. Hoodhood was exaggerating when he said that), which Mr. Hoodhood disagrees with.

   I understand why Heather wants to go. She probably wants to get away from working at Hoodhood and Associates, but she probably also wants to help the protest against the war, as well as racism. I agree with her. I mean, why should she have to be a secretary for the rest of her life? Shouldn't she be allowed to be whatever she wants? And if she worked as a secretary at Hoodhood and Associates, it would mean her dad would be paying her, and he'd probably ask for all of the money back, anyway, and make up some excuse, like: "Hey, Heather, I need your salary back. You live in a family, right? So then you're going to have to help out more often, by giving some money!" If I were Mr. Hoodhood, I'd say to Heather: "You go ahead and be a hippie! I mean, they have a bad sense of style, but, hey, they're stopping the war!"

   Usually, it's the other way around for people today. People don't usually encourage their kids to NOT go to college; they usually try to get them to go to college. And, usually, they let their kids decide what they want to be when they get older. But, the setting of the book was in 1967-1968, so I'm guessing that those were pretty messed up times, with lots of pandemonium, due to the war and racism.

   Either way, Mr. Hoodhood always gets what he wants, and I believe that Heather will never get to college, unless there's an incident in which she runs away from home or something.