Tre Character Analysis

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.

Jimmy knows too well the agonies of abandonment. First, when his mother, Cecilia, ran away with Richard to pursue a better lifestyle. Then, due to his father’s, Damacio Baca, alcoholisms and violent behavior; he also had to leave Jimmy behind. In spite of the drawbacks from abandonment to being a maximum security prisoner in Arizona State Prison, Jimmy preserver’s the darkness of prison by overcoming his illiteracy. However Cecilia and Damacio is not as fortunate as their child; Cecilia is shot by Richard after confronting him for a divorce and Damacio chokes to death after he is released from the detox center(Baca 263). Therefore the most significant event in this section of the memoir, A Place to Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca is the death of Jimmy’s parents.

In order to survive, the main characters must fit in with the community or risk alienation. In The Outsiders, the rivalry, between the Greasers and Socs, remains because generations of innocent boys have grown and fit into their deemed places in adolescent society and fueled the rivalry under the assumption that “nothing ever changes…Greasers will still be Greasers and Socs will still be Socs,” a self-fulfilling prophecy. The only way for boys on the east side to protect themselves from Socs is to assimilate to the Greaser community and participate in the fights against the Socs. Boyz n the Hood depicts Tre’s struggle to assimilate to hood culture where women are treated poorly and used for sex. Tre affects a “hood” vernacular and regales his father with tales of his sexual adventures, despite being a virgin, with a woman named Tisha. Despite knowing his father’s stance on the contraception, Tre claims not to have used protection inciting his father’s disappointment and anger on purpose. The film emphasizes the struggle between Tre’s background and his environment by blocking the two characters in a tight frame with Tre backed up against a refrigerator and Furious invading Tre’s intimate space, symbolic of education

In the 1991 drama “Boyz in the Hood”, Written and Directed by John Singleton. He successfully attempts to portray what life was like and in some areas in America still is for African Americans living in a rough Los Angeles neighborhood. It displays a portrait of the harsh realities that plagues the black community and by displaying uninviting living conditions that is South Central L.A, Singleton aims to share to the world the self-destructive deviant behavior that is to this day, destroying the African American community. Some of the self-destructive deviant behaviors include gang life, selling drugs, and gun violence. Various issues are displayed in this movie involving the black community including deviance, poverty, gentrification, the importance of a father in a young man’s life and black on black crime. Singleton displays a tale of three friends growing up in the “hood”, plagued by drugs and violence and layers textures over rough and compelling visuals of black culture that shows us what it means to come to maturity, or die trying, as a black male. In this essay, I will be giving a thorough analysis of the film, as well as covering certain points from the movie from a sociological perspective to explain why singleton chose to write this film.

Boyz N the Hood, directed by John Singleton is one in many films to showcase the harsh reality of African Americans living in the “hood”. Hood films, as characterized by an identifiable urban setting, such as New York or Los Angeles, and within a modern time frame, use themes of hip hop culture to highlight the issues that plague urban minority communities (Massood 145). Singleton, with Boyz N the Hood, offers a commentary on the harsh experience of young, urban black males by demonstrating the issues faced by these young men, namely lack of upward mobility and cyclical and internal violence. One of the main issues highlighted in the film that plague the communities of young, urban black men is a lack of upward mobility. Social theory has

The book “Ugly” by Robert Hoge it is a inspiring, true story about, Robert, a boy who grew up in Brisbane, Australia, with a tumor the size of a tennis ball on his face and two deformed legs. Robert had four other brothers and sisters, who were all older. The story is the journey of Robert Hoge and his life with artificial legs and deformed face, and all the challenges he faced along the way.

Some challenges between anti-social behaviors and geographic are evident in the film Boyz n the Hood. It a 90’s films created by John Singleton, about a boy Tre styles who is sent to live with his father Furious styles in South Central Los Angeles after he got into a fight at school. At his father 's house, he is taught morals and values of being a respected man. On the other hand, his friends Ricky and Doughboy who are half-brothers has a different upbringing with no real support system, resulting in forming a gang, involvement with drugs and a tragic ending. This film is based on the African American experience in terms of environmental conditions which results in a great deal of African American males being pushed into the criminal justice system.

The film, “City of God” portrays numerous of brutal acts of violence and crime. This film depicts the deviant acts of a sociopathic gang leader, Li’l Ze and his fellow members. He recruits numerous of young kids and teaches them how to become a hood. He kills those who try to stop him from getting what he wants, which is being the one and only drug dealer. He leaves the town of Rio in distraught and in fear of their own life. Even when someone tries to get out of the slum and wants to begin a brand new life, they are shot and killed. This gives the impression that there is no escaping the slums. Once you are a hood, you are always a hood. Though living in poverty, all but one of the characters, Rocket, beats the odds and decides to not be lured into the deviance. Although not all children are delinquents or have criminal tendencies, those who are learn from the intimate groups they associate with. These deviant acts are depicted in several sociological theories such as: Agnew’s General Strain Theory, Learning Theory, Merton’s Strain Theory, Reckless Containment Theory, and Labeling Theory.

Boyz in the Hood is a statement of how urban youth have been passed a legacy of tragic indifference, and the writer has shown that it is an almost inescapable fate for those born into racism and poverty to repeat the patterns they wish to escape. The movie’s characters are clear representations of how the system fails young black youth in the United States, and the difference one mentor can make for these kids. During segregation young black children became targets for white brutality. This movie reflects what the European mentality and what it has done to the African American culture.

The movie Boyz N the Hood is an illustration of how a group of early adolescents’ lives was affected negatively due to the environment they lived in. These adolescents lived in an environment where drugs, gangs, and shootings were the center of their community. Living in a predominantly African American community these adolescents were faced with many misfortunes. Ricky one of the adolescent characters I have decided to evaluate for this particular paper was faced with adversity.

In Toni Morrison's short story "Recitatif", the story revolves around two girls, one white and the other black, and how their social status affects their way of life. The narrator, Twyla, has five significant instances in her life where she is in a setting with her childhood best friend, Roberta. When they first met at the orphanage, they disliked each other, but because both of them still had a parent to their name, they were seen as social outcasts to the other children of their orphanage. Through their social disgrace they became friends and helped each other out. As they grew up, their lives were distinctly different with Twyla living the life of a lower-middle class citizen while Roberta was living a lavish lifestyle, creating conflict between the two. In the end, there is a slight sense of reconcilement in that they clear up a misunderstanding of their past, but there is an open question to what had happened to an element of their past.

The author of Recitatif, Toni Morrison, is an acclaimed writer known for her fictional stories and her explorations within the black community. Receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993 was one of her most acclaimed accomplishments. Morrison’s American Midwest family had an unfathomable appreciation and love for black culture and showed this through there many traditions and storytelling. Recitatif, a fictional short story, was written in 1983.

In John Updike’s short story “A & P”, a dynamic and round character expresses his subjective attitude towards his views, a plot twist causes him to realize his future. Sammy an opinionated cashier at A & P grocery store does not agree with his Lengel, his manager after he reprimands a particular group of customers at the store. Sammy’s further actions cause him to face the true reality of his future.

In the movie “Boyz in the Hood” director John Singleton, paints a clear image of the problems that happen very often in the African American communities. The movie deals with issues such as: the importance of a father in a young man’s life, the ongoing violence of black on black crime, and how black people are put in situations where they are put to fail and not succeed in life.

Toni Morrison’s short story, “Recitatif” is about two young girls, named Twyla and Roberta, who grow up in an Orphanage because their mothers were in no condition to properly take care of them. The main theme in the “Recitatif” is concentrating on racism. A very mind- grabbing event in the story is how the author never tells the race of the two girls. Morrison leaves class codes but not racial codes, as in the story Twyla states, “ It was one thing to be taken out of your own bed early in the mornings—it was something else to be stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole other race” (pg 201) , even the girls do not mention which race the other is. Recitatif is a great story as it plays with the reader’s emotions and effectively makes the reader aware of the stereotypes and each races characteristics.