Summary Of Always Running By Luis Rodriguez

Another way Rodriguez explores and conveys his conflicted feelings is with use of tropes. He uses rhetorical question, which is asking a question, not for the purpose of eliciting an answer but for the purpose of asserting or denying something obliquely. The most effective rhetorical questions in conveying his feelings is in the second to last paragraph. He questions things such as “How shall I present the argument between comedy and tragedy, this tension that describes my life? Shall I start with the boy’s chapter, then move toward more

The gang members are like a family because” We’re almost as close as brothers; when you grow up in a tight-knit neighborhood like ours you get to know each other real well”

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.

This had a deeper meaning to it. This means that even though his brother was a tough kid, the beatings had traumatized him. The other thing I circled was, “He was nine then, I was six” (Rodriguez 2). This is very deep because as a six year old, you aren’t fully aware of what’s happening with segregation. You only know what you have heard from your parents.

Rodriguez begins to become more involved in his classroom by his new grip on the English language. He shares fewer and fewer words with his mother and father. His tone now transforms into guilt. As Rodriguez's public language becomes more fluent, he forgets how to speak Spanish. "I would have been happier about my public success had I not recalled, sometimes, what it had been like earlier, when my family conveyed its intimacy through a set of conveniently private sound.? He begins to break out of the cocoon as a slow or disadvantaged child and blooms into a regular kid in his white society that only uses English. He feels a great sense of betrayal of his Mexican past. His connection that held him so close to his family is destabilized.

Perhaps justice is a bit of a stretch describing Javier Garcia’s future involvement. Looking to make the man pay, it appears that the plan hatched by Agent Pride will make him choose a side. He either needs to be part of the cartel or turn on them to save his own backside. Agent Pride recognizes that Garcia will do anything to save himself and what he currently needs is money.

The school board is not quite certain that schools should continue to include fiction in the curriculum. However, if fiction is taught to students it may actually teach life lessons. Fictional literature can change someone's perspective on, what problems we may come across. For instance, a fictional book can help us relate to all the controversial problems that do occur in today's society. I disagree with the school board's thoughts about completely banning it. This type of literature can deepen our knowledge and teach us about things that we don’t experience on a day to day basis.

Riff and Bernardo - thinking (in terms of their own gangs) of the fight arranged for

Early in the story, we learn that he wasn’t a good person, a good father, and a good son. He also explained one time in his life, he was admired what a group of people did in his school that would lead to his doings. Luis Rodriguez wrote “A crew of mean people got out, armed with chains, bats, metal pipes and zip guns… I froze as the head stopping came dangerously my way. But I was also intrigued. I wanted this power. I wanted to be able to bring the whole school down to its knees and teachers squirm” Pg 42. This quote shows off how much anger he have when he was little and the path he chose to be in gangs. He could have chosen the path of his brother Rafa to be good in school and play sports. Early in the story, people were mean to Luis at school, at the park and the streets. One specific part that made Luis who he is when his mother, his brother and himself went to the park. Luis Rodriguez wrote,“ The American women yelled “you don’t belong here! Understand? This is not your country!” Pg19. This quote shows off how much Luis was influenced that the Latino community didn’t have the same rights, free to do something and being heated from their race. The anger he had from the woman got stuck in his mind, but when he saw the crew that terrorized the school, his anger manipulated him so he could do the same as the crew did. He was just a kind boy that had a bad influence of his

He can either go to trial or receive the verdict or he can accept the predetermined plea. Rodriguez does not want to accept the plea because he is innocent but he is also aware of how the jury will judge him based on his outer appearance. It is the officer’s words against a delinquent Chicano so he ideally has no choice. Rodrigues accepts the plea- bargain because he knows that his skin color makes him guilty of all charges. In this situation Rodrigues represent not only himself but also other Chicano youth tin East L.A. they are automatically depicted as criminals and gangsters who destroy the community. The youth have directed anger towards on another instead of at the elite who control the society they live in.

They foreshadow that the organizations recruit young kids to do the dirty work. In What It’s Like To Be A Gang Member, the author Bill Lee, a previous member, portrays what then life is like. According to the quote “I was just 8 when I got into the gang life,” boys are recruited when they are very young which becomes scary and violent. Bill Lee also quotes “I started with stealing, picking fights, and peddling goods.”

Luis’s brother Jose would fight with everyone “My brother can beat anyone”, Luis knew that his brother would fight to get respect of other people (Rodriguez 51). Respect is a very important thing in the street life, it is like the fuel for survival. The more respect you had the less people will want to mess with you, Luis learns this and applies it when he joins a gang. “Do it were the last words I recalled before I plunged the screwdriver into flesh and bone, and the sky screamed.” (Rodriguez 111).

“Kill the punks,” A bystander yells as the crowd begins to cheer. The boys scamper in all directions fleeing the scene, running down the boulevard jumping fences and darting into doorways in an attempt to outrun the law. As the police officers give chase, one officer recognizes one of the boys [Lopez] as the leader of a local gang. Bearing in mind the cop is on his tail the boy darts into an alley [karmas a bitch] for just like Freddie’s blunder, he too finds himself in a dead end, with no way out, and the law closing in, he climbs the nearest fire escape. Nevertheless, the officer has already entered the alley and spots him, shouting for him to stop. Except for Lopez, he does not intend to stop and ignores the officers warning while searching for an open window to escape. However, there is no open window and the officer demands the boy stop or he will have no choice but to shoot. For a split second, Lopez hesitates, but not with the intention to surrender, he knows there is no way out, so to stay true to his colors, he reaches into his belt pulling out a Glock 19.

Also, Manny will do almost anything to become better than the society that he lives in, even if it means getting a girl. When he tells his friend Frankie about this, Frankie says he knows how to get both. That night, Frankie introduces Manny to a gang, made up of four guys and two girls. The leader, Mondo, says that if Manny can endure a challenge, then he will be inducted into the gang and be able to make out with a girl. With that as the only warning, one by one, all the members of the gang, except Frankie, started beating Manny up, even the two girls. Later, bruised and hurting from head to toe, the gang inducts Manny and lets him make out with one of the gang’s girls. All in all, Manny truly believes that the only way to become respected in his society was to get involved in a gang , since gangs and bullies rule their society, threatening and resulting to crime every chance they get. Girls, to Manny, also signaled a man of respect because only the strong men have a lady, and most of them belonged in a gang. Therefore, Manny thinks this is the ticket to becoming a respected

Initially he seems to cherish his role, punishing those who do not treat the rest of the gang members with respect, occasionally using a baseball bat to do so. However, after a while he gets bored, a tendency that expands in everything he does.