- As soon as I read Always Running I fell in love with it. It’s raw and powerful and real. It’s the autobiography of Luis Rodriguez. He great up as an illegal immigrant in Los Angeles and faced nothing but hardships and racism, which led him into a gang at an early age.
- Always running is an autobiographical book written in 1991 by Luis Rodrigues, a former member of a dangerous gang. He eventually managed to get out of the gang but unfortunately, Luis’s own son, Ramiro, became involved in a gang in 1991.
Genre
Find the quotes you need in Luis J. Rodriguez's Always Running, sortable by theme, character, or chapter. From the creators of SparkNotes. Luis Rodriguez is the protagonist, author, and narrator of Always Running. Beginning in the early 1990s, when he’s a husband, a father, and a successful writer and community organizer, Luis pens a book in which he reexamines his early life in Los Angeles. As a teenager, Luis becomes involves in the city’s notorious gangs.
Always Running study guide contains a biography of Luis J. Rodriguez, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. About Always Running Always Running.
Setting and Context
The story begins in the 1970 and then it continues until the present day. The action takes place in various neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
Narrator and Point of View
The story is narrated by Luis from a first person subjective point of view.
Tone and Mood
Protagonist and Antagonist
The protagonist is presented as being Luis and the antagonists are various rival gang members and the LAPD.
Major Conflict
Always Running The Book
The major conflict in the novel is between the Latino gangs and the LAPD.
Climax
The story reaches its climax when Luis is jailed for trying to help a woman attacked by the police.
Foreshadowing
In the first chapter, Luis mentions how one Christmas he destroyed all his presents on purpose because he did not feel entitled to have things that were nice and that were working. This episode foreshadows the self-destructive path Luis will later take in life and how his actions were the result of his belief that he did not deserved to feel happy in life.
Understatement
In chapter 5, Luis is told that his girlfriend Roberta cheated on him. This however proves to be an understatement as it is later revealed that Roberta was actually a prostitute.
Allusions
Luis described the type of life he had growing up and he also talked about the unspoken rules dominating his community. For example, it was known among the Latinos that there were certain beaches that were ‘’white’’, that is used only by white people. Even though there were no laws regulating which public spaces a person could or could not use, the world was divided and there were unspoken laws segregating the white population from the Latino one. The author alludes that this attitudes affected the Latinos concerning their own worth and made them feel not worthy of taking benefit of the same things as the rest of the world.
Imagery
In chapter 5, Luis mentions that rape is something considered as being normal in the community where he lives. Luis tells the readers that some gang members even tried to push Luis and his friend Chicharrón to rape a naked and unconscious woman but they refused. The image of the naked woman is however important as it transmits the idea that women were extremely vulnerable and that they were seen by many as just simple play things that could be thrown away if they lost their purpose.
Paradox
The relationship Luis has with the gangs is paradoxical because while he does not like the violence and the toxic environment, he seeks to become part of various gangs, one more dangerous than the other.
Parallelism
Luis draws a parallel between himself and his good friend, Rano. Both boys started in the same neighborhood and had a tough life. They were both surrounded by violence and drugs but the path they took in life was completely different. Luis notes that in high school, Rano chose a different path. Instead of becoming a gang member like Luis, he focused on his studies and he eventually became a functional normal being, living a normal life.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Luis Rodriguez Always Running Essay
At the end of the preface, Luis mentioned that he wrote the novel for the Ramiros of the world. When he uses the word Ramiros, he refers to the children who came from disadvantaged families and who had no other choice but to enter a life of crime and violence. Luis and his son were two such people who became involved in gang related activities as a result of the life they had in their youth.
Personification
In the fifth chapter, when Luis attacked the bus driver he tells the readers that “the sky screamed.”
Gangs, violence and drug use are realities that most people in communities where poverty proliferates. While poverty, in itself, is not the major factor, it is certainly a risk factor and leads to further complications. Those who are poor and homeless definitely have less choice in the way they live their lives. In this regard, they are forced to engage in dangerous and even criminal behavior just to win their next meal or protect themselves from other people who may be eyeing the same source of income or subsistence in the community.
When a sufficient number of people within the community experience extreme poverty and they resort to extra-legal behaviors, the community will deteriorate and its citizens will have to live with the reality of gangs, violence and drugs. The book of Luis Rodriguez, Always Running, is an attempt to present the situation in East Los Angeles. Amid the splendor and the richness of Los Angeles, the community of East LA is America’s version of the third world.
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More than just a psychological and sociological reflection on the realities of gangs and violence, his is reflection of someone who really went through the ordeals of gangs, violence and the use of drugs in the neighborhood. By writing his memoirs, Rodriguez (1994) depicted the scenes of his neighborhood with urgency and the poignancy of someone who truly experienced the events he portrays in his book. Gangs, Violence and Drugs in East LA The prevalence of gangs, violence and drug use in any given neighborhood may be easily blamed on the adventurous spirit of young men and women who seek life outside of their families.
Or to the people behind the gangs who just manipulate the lives of these young people for their own personal gain. Based on the memoir of Rodriguez (1994), however, a number of reasons may be pointed to. One is the homelessness and continuous search of protection for oneself and one’s family. The title of the book is Always Running. The status of the family and one’s relationship with the family has an impact on the kids who decide to join the gang. To protect themselves from harm and to help find food for themselves and their families, gangs are an alternative for these kids.
Another reason for this proliferation is the search for belonging and camaraderie they find in gangs. Gangs often function as a surrogate family, albeit a dysfunctional one, to those who choose to belong to them. Through the process of initiation, the togetherness and the invitation to “toughness,” the kids who decide to belong to gangs become caught up in a vicious cycle that becomes very difficult to break. Rodriguez (1994), himself, learned how to run away from the police, how to steal, rob, and even engage in rape and other criminal behavior.
Gangs also give a semblance of order and direction for the kids who belong to them. By trusting the older and more senior members of the gangs, the young people get a semblance of direction as other gang members tell them about the things they should do to remain as members of the gang. Through the difficulties that they face in their own lives, they can achieve a level of control through their membership in the gangs. It is a destructive process but since these gangs are available in the neighborhood, the temptation to be a part of these is too great to resist for most young people.
The whole community is affected by these gangs and violence. Although most of the families in the neighborhood are fragmented by poverty, divorce and other issues, they were still a force that most kids respected. As such, to a certain level, families were heeded by gang members. Yet, the community often responds by trying to ignore these events and engaging the police and other authorities to bring order. More than that, they also live in fear of the constant fighting among gangs and the violence they leave in the wake of such fighting.
Those who do not belong to the community tend to look negatively to the community and shun it. This way, the gangs may feast on strangers who happen to wander into their territories. Since gangs are territorial, they would not tolerate other gangs from wandering into their territories. Yet, as the police becomes involves, such scenario is difficult to avoid. Therefore, some gangs do get in trouble with the police and with other gangs at the same time. This scenario becomes commonplace in the community and they cease to fight it and actively go against such culture.
When this happens, they simply accept the reality of gangs, violence and drug use and do their best to minimize their impact on their lives and activities. Yet, they cannot get away from these realities. There are also members of the community who feel protective of the members of the gang, but not necessarily of the gangs. This is because of the perceived way in which they contrast their situation with the situation of more affluent people in the outskirts of their community and beyond.
As such, they reason, albeit subconsciously, that the gangs are a natural outgrowth of the desire of these people to protect themselves from other groups seeking to take advantage of them. Such stance therefore justifies in their minds the existence of such gangs and the necessity for violence. Aiming for Change There are instances, however, when the community is mustered to action and inspired to spearhead some changes in the community. When the culture of the people who belong to the community is affirmed, they are moved for action.
When a particular cultural group manages to prove itself, the community rouses from slumber and they respond in kind. They then affirm their collective power and empower the young people in the community to aim for their best so that their lives would improve. This also helped the young people affirm the culture that they have even if the school system did not have provisions for such. The achievements of such kids, therefore, became the achievement of the community and became a symbol of what they can do if they choose to rise above their economic and social standing. Another important aspect of the issue of gangs is the issue of race.
Cultural groups such as Chicanos would need to band together so that they would not fall prey to White kids who are intent on waging violence against those who do not belong to them. Conclusion The issue of gangs, violence and drug use is multi-faceted. As such, the solutions that would be proposed should also take into account the issues of culture, family, school, and poverty. Sociological, political and economic analyses have been made. Yet, the memoirs of Rodriguez are a stark reminder that more than just academic curiosities, the kids who belong to gangs are real people who need empowerment.
Rodriguez told the story of his life with gangs, violence and drugs as a means of showing his son what it was like to live a life that was always running. By documenting his experiences, he hopes to deter his son from his foray on such a risky life. Gang members can make choices to move away from their gangster lifestyles. But they will need the economic stability and the support of the community if they were to do that. The case of Rodriguez is an example of a man who thought about his life and decided to change it for the better. Reference Rodriguez, LJ (1994). Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L. A. LA: Touchstone.
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