Winning and maintaining this image is so important to him that he will throw away his chance at an education, push away Lucy Scanlan, and destroy his health.
Studs genuinely loves Lucy Scanlan, but after spending a memorable, romantic afternoon in the park with her, he begins to shun her and avoid her.
Studs and his new gang spend their time smoking, seeking sexual conquests, and tormenting black or Jewish kids who stray into their turf.
The book contains numerous racial slurs that would have been typical of the working-class Irish Catholics living on Chicago's South Side during the period Farrell is depicting, 1915–1931, including offensive terms for Jews, African-Americans, Italians, and Eastern Europeans.
Some 21st century readers have assumed these words reflect the author's own sentiments, even though Studs is an anti-hero, and one of the only sympathetic characters in the trilogy, Davey Cohen, is Jewish.
The police chief in Youngstown, Ohio, Edward J. Allen Jr., tried to ban the book in 1953 as "indecent" and "immoral," citing the cover of the paperback version which showed a group of boys looking at two attractive girls.