Dexter T. Gnome

Thursday, February 26,1981 page 6

By Cathy Waite , U.P.E.I. was privileged to have Roger Caron, author of Go Boy and winner of the Governor General's Award for

best non-fiction Canadian literature of 1978, as quest lecturer Monday evening. The s’-'~mding—roan-only audience in Duffy Amphitheatre was awe-stricken at Caron's ac-

count of his life behind bars.

Caron has spent 24 of his 41 years in and out of Canadian Penitentaries "as a result of perverseness in making unlawful withdrawals Eran local banks and taking unauthorized walks from local jails". He first entered prison walls at the age of 16, leaving his 15 brothers and sisters behind forever. Caron believes that he *turned out to be the "bad seed" of his family because of his never-ending bursts of energy that always seemed to get him into trouble. He grew up in the era knam as "hard

times" and with such a large family, no one had the time to listen or talk to a boy with problems. at an early age,Caron had been branded

a criminal for life.

During Caron's lecture he spoke of the many gastly events he endured in prison. One that cares tomind is a gas invented by the Arteri- cans which was to be tested on "guinea pig" Canadian convicts. Caron was forced to undergo these gas treat— ments, which would leave him in a state of frenzy,

shaking violently frcm head to toe. The final treatment left him unconcious for 48 hours, long enough to con- vince the prison doctor to discontinue the gasings after realizing its harmful effects. Another incident which

Caron recalls as being one

of his turning points in his life, was receiving a handful

Caron TeHs AH-\

of jelly beans. He would

use these beans to spell words which he knew would anger the guards in his block. Caron would continually spe spell these unmentionable words to annoy the guards until they "triumphantly seized" his jelly beans.

Frcm this, Caron learned the "power of words over physical strength", which gave him initiative to write. So ' began his self-therapy of writing his emotions down on paper. Twoyears later his "Cinderella" story, Go Boy, was born.

. Go Boy is Caron's memoir of his life behind bars. For

,the reader, the novel is a

dramatic,

gripping story of what a life- time spent behind bars is really like. It took Caren

16 years to couplets the novel, which is a remarkable feat when one considers he read his first book at the

age of 17.

Carm presently does int-er views on radio and television shows, lectures throughout Canada, and is a member of the Inmate Advisory Board in one of Canada's forenost pen— itenturies. Caron feels good ' about his lecturing because it allows the outsicb world to catch a glinpse of what "a person on the other side of the fence is like".

The novel has since sold 400,000 copies and is about to be made “into a motion picture starring Martin Sheen ~ as Roger Caron. But for those who can't wait to see the ‘ movie,‘ Go is now available in paperback at local book stores. Caron also plans to write a second novel.

The final note of Caron's lecture is one that we are all guilty of and can learn fran:"Never take the things you have for nothing for g granted". Food for thought!

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