American Me Jenna Character Analysis

Chalino Sanchez was born and raised in la Chilla known as “el rancho” the ranch. Chalino had six brothers, and a sister, named Juana. Chalino lost his father at age six, and lived in poverty at a young age with his mother Sannorina Felix. and siblings. It was always a struggle they either had to pick tomatoes or become a drug trafficker in Sinaloa. Chalino would tell his mother “don’t worry, with my body and voice in California you will not be without” page 23 in the book “A Chronicle Play of Fulgor and Death”. In a world so cold that “blood burns like fire” and the only way to get someone back is to revenge. Chalino never thought his arrival to California was going to be in a blink of an eye. Chalino persuaded the American dream he promised his mother that when he moved to California he would make it to the spot light, using his voice and body. Keeping in mind his sister’s rape. He wanted a better life, for his family than living the life in Mexico. Julian Camacho Segura is the author of “A Chronicle Play of Fulgor and death.” Julian Camacho Segura journey began from Mexico, back to the United States. Julian was born in El Centro California in 1969, raised in Inglewood, California in the rancho Del Cantinela. “Julian says” Most of the book is fiction but a lot is not because Chalino did, for example, buy cassettes in Lennox where his grandfather saw him because the ladies would sell in front of the laundrymats where he worked,” recalled Segura. Julian

Situated oftentimes between violence and death, being recruited in this criminal lifestyle is a risk that these young adults take everyday. However, for these members, gangs offer a second family, a reliable family, many of them come from broken homes or are seeking the stability found in a family unit.. This is one of the main reasons why the youth are drawn to gangs. Take it from Juan Carlos Lopez known as “Spanky” from “G-Dog and the Homeboys” by, Celeste Fremon. His life is no different from the people who decide to join a gang. He was a runaway teen at the age of

Prior to being assigned the reading of the memoir “Always Running”, by Luis Rodriguez, I had never given much thought on juveniles involved in gang life. Rodriguez achieved success as an award-winning poet; sure the streets would no longer haunt him - until his own son joined a gang. Rodriguez fought for his child by telling his own story in the vivid memoir, “Always Running.” “Always Running” is the compilation of events Luis experienced during his youth in San Gabriel. The theme of the book is to always strive for the best things in life and to always take a stand for what you believe. Lured by the seemingly invincible gang culture of East L.A., he witnessed countless shootings and beatings, as well as senseless acts of street crime against his friends and family members. As a Latino in a poor neighborhood, Luis struggled through criticism, stereotypes, and mistreatment. With the help of his mentor, Chente, Luis saw a way out through education and the power of word to successfully break free from years of violence and desperation.

For as long as humanity has existed, men have committed violence against one another. Assuredly, Nancy G. Guerra’s and Lyndee Knox’s entry on violence in the Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice affirms that, “As historical and cross-cultural records demonstrate, our evolutionary history is laced with examples of violence. Indeed, paleontological data reveal a rather continuous stream of human violence dating back thousands of years.” It is clear that violence is a part of human nature that has always existed and will likely never be eradicated. One of the aspects that all forms of violence seem to share is that, societally (in terms, at the very least, of Western societies), they are looked down upon. Consequentially, those who commit violent

The film brings the viewer forward in time to 1959 with Santana as a young man of 16 growing up in the barrios with his friends and fellow gang members Mundo and JD. After being arrested and sent to juvenile hall, Santana has his “manhood” taken from him on the first night and murders the man who sodomized him. The power and respect that killing this man brought from his peers was intoxicating; his act also brought him a long prison sentence.

In Always Running, Luis J. Rodriguez recalls his time growing up in Los Angeles during the 60s and 70s. Rodriguez writes of the hardships that his family had first encountered while trying to assimilate into American society and how he would often, while growing up, be criminalized by his teachers, law enforcement, other people, his peers, his community, and eventually people who cared most for him. Rodriguez recalls the times where he and some friends came together and created a family, a brotherhood of sort, in order to fulfill his need of belonging, but as other people in the community had also formed groups to consolidate power, thus marked the beginning of rivalry and the introduction of gangs. Rodriguez’s gang life had been filled with tragedies and filled with great times, but ultimately he tried to leave the life of crime and commit to an education. Rodriguez tried stepping away from the gang lifestyle by going to school and writing poetry, but ended up back in the life of crime after a serious altercation with the police. When Rodriguez went back to his gang lifestyle, he found the same gang that treated him as a brother, had shunned him away after Rodriguez had offered a solution to wither away the gang violence.

Gregory Nava’s 1983 film, El Norte, is by far one of the most honest and eye opening depictions of the experience many undocumented immigrants and refugees have when trying to come to the United States. By challenging the ethnocentric tendencies of the North American film industry and the general negative stereotypes of Latinos in film, Nava is one of the first writers/directors to break away from the typical representations of Latinos and give such true representation and discussion of many issues surrounding Latinos, immigration, and American society and values. The film focuses on two young Mayan brother and sister, Enrique and Rosa, from their flight from their village in rural Guatemala to their life of hardship and isolation in Los Angeles,

Philippe Bourgois conducts his research study in a book called “In Search of Respect” and witnesses the many obstacles the people faced when growing up in East Harlem. He focuses on two Puerto Ricans of a drug selling gang who was lead by their boss Ray. They are Primo who manages the Game Room, which is a crackhouse den and Caesar who is one of his lookouts. There was a lot of poverty and East Harlem and Bourgois decided to move their for his research. Throughout the book, he discusses the obstacles that Primo and Caesar had to face of getting a legit job and how the obstacles lead to them becoming drug dealers.

The documentary Crips and the Bloods: Made in America tells the dramatic story of the perpetual gang violence that runs the streets of Los Angeles, California. Gaining an inside look at how and why this violence is continued, the video focuses on the individuals that are affected by the gangs. Families are torn apart due to endless murders, children are taught to hate and act violently towards their neighbors, and people lose their soul to the gangs that they call their families. Of course every person must make a choice to engage in this sort of life, but sometimes these people are put into situations where there are no other options. In order to further think about what has caused and maintained the violence in the LA area, we can look towards Agnew’s General Strain Theory and the Labeling Theory.

“American Me” is a fictional film having a factual basis, starring and directed by Edward James Olmos. Released to the national theater circuit in 1992, “American Me” depicts the life of Rodolfo Cadena, a ranking Carnal (gang member) in the prison gang La Eme, also known as the Mexican Mafia. To therapeutically approach the salience and pervasiveness of gang membership, including its allure and reinforcers, would be a challenging task for any human service practitioner involving accuracy of assessment and effectiveness of treatment. However, endeavoring to find and implement such therapeutic

There are two types of Americans that are portrayed in The Ugly American. The two types of Americans portrayed in The Ugly American are the ethnocentric Americans, who believe that their ways are superior to all others, and don’t really care about stopping the spread of communism; and then there are the kind hearted Americans, who truly care about defeating communism. Through multiple characters we learn how these two types of Americans think and how they represent not only themselves, but their country.

Over the course of the study, Rios witnessed firsthand how all the adolescent boys were brutalized by rival gangs, peers, officers, and social institutions such as schools whether the boys were labeled delinquent or not. A large majority of the boys were arrested at some time during the study and all the boys were regularly searched by police on random occasions for no other reason than that the officers believed they appeared suspicious. The boys faced a vicious cycle of social controls that demanded unrealistic expectations. When the boys were unable to accomplish the goals society demanded of them, they were labeled deviants and criminals with no support of the community or state in overcoming the

Violence and war is notable throughout history. However, it is lazy to say that this proves humans are naturally violent. Rather than using nature as an excuse for those who chose to act violently it’s important we recognize that we have a choice to decide how we act. In Howard Zinn’s, “Violence and Human Nature” He shows that violence is not an instinct but that the environment in which they live in provokes them to act violently or peacefully depending on their choice (43). In City of God, a film concentrating on the gangs of Rio de Janeiro during the 1960’s to the 1980’s, specifically the township of Cidade de Deus, we are introduced to various characters who all make different choices under different motivations. Rocket, the little brother to a member of the Tender Trio, who are essentially the Robin Hood’s of the City of God, to act non-violently despite his environment and the influences around him.

We see this theory in the younger kids that soon start to take after the actions of Li’l Ze and his gang. Elijah Anderson explains the subculture of violence that is further developed in the cities slumps as the “code of the street”. Anderson argues that the code pressures young males (majority of the time) in the inner city to respond to any display of disrespect with violence (Anderson, 1994, p. 143). The core of Anderson’s code focuses on the issue of respect- it is viewed as hard-won but easily lost (Anderson, 1994, p. 145). In the City of God we know that respect is greatly admired.

Jennalee is a very mature child for her age; she asks questions that make others think deeper. It is also apparent that she cares deeply about her family because she made several references to her four siblings and her parents. She loves to learn new information and ideas, whether it is new information about a new friend or information from school, prompting her to ask questions to gain that new knowledge.