Identifying Information Lorenzo 'Shakes' Carcaterra was a boy from Hell's Kitchen, New York, in the 1960s. Shakes is of Italian origins and lives with his father and mother in a small apartment. Lorenzo's father worked long hours for low pay and quickly became angry and used violence to control the family. Shakes witnessed her mother's physical and emotional abuse. He never confronted his father, but always tried to act as a peacemaker between the two. Shake's mother was not fluent in English and had difficulty connecting with the community and her son. The trauma Shakes suffered from domestic violence shaped her psychological and social development. Respect and friendship are things Shakes doesn't take for granted and would do anything in his power to always maintain them. Shakes was a resilient boy and sought social support from three boys: Thomas "Tommy" Marcano, Michael Sullivan, John Reilly, and various other men in his community. Character Development and Functioning A great social support for Shakes was the local priest, Father Bobby. Shakes was able to connect with the priest and had a form of accountability. Shakes attended the Church and was interested in becoming a priest because of the power he saw in the role. Father Bobby kept an eye on the boys and wanted to prevent them from entering a life of crime within the community. Shakes was able to have some conservations with Father Bobby and listened to his advice. Hell's Kitchen is a community in Manhattan, aligned to the Hudson River, was a mixture of Irish, Italian, Puerto Rican and Eastern European workers. Hell's Kitchen is an immigrant community where men work long hours and women are responsible... middle of paper... people in his community have the image that he was involved in crime and therefore a bad youth . Even with Father Bobby's support the boys received a harsh sentence due to the way they were involved and the theft that occurred (Lazarus, 2007). Another connection to ecological theory is the challenge a person receives. The challenge is perceived as an opportunity rather than a threat. There weren't many challenges in Lorenzo's life. The boy lived in a neighborhood where you either worked hard as a laborer or died on the streets protecting the neighborhood. The church and his hope of one day becoming a priest presented Shakes' only source of challenge. Once this was taken away from the young man, after being sent to Wilkinson, all that remained was the threat of harm which kept Shakes on the defensive and did not allow for personal growth (Hutchison, 2013).