The transformation that took place in the book Always Running By Luis J. Rodriguez - Essay Example

‘Always Running’ presents a powerful narrative account of Luis life. This story begins with Luis remembering his childhood. It relays conflicts his mother and father had regarding whether to stay in the United States or return to Mexico. The narrative then goes on to explore Luis’ childhood and education. It indicates that because of his language barrier he had difficulty in school. These challenges led him to eventually join a gang to achieve a sense of belonging and protection. Luis progressed along this negative path for a period of his life, before becoming involved in a community center.

Through the community center he was given a chance to renew his life. He soon becomes involved with painting murals and getting away from his gang life. This account of Luis life is moving for its demonstration of his transformation. This essay considers the nature of this transformation in more depth. The novel begins by demonstrating the factors that led to Luis becoming involved in a gang. The reasons behind Luis’ development are highly complex, so the novel approaches them from a number of perspectives.

One of the most recurring reasons is the troubled nature of Luis’ home-life. Luis mother and father experienced a number of arguments regarding whether to say in the country. . The text states, “But on those days the perils came out too - you could see it in the faces of the street warriors, in the play of children, too innocent to know what lurked about, but often the first to fall during a gang war or family scuffle” (Rodriguez, pg. 29). This indicates that Luis daily existence growing up held many of the components that would later become indicative of his later life in a gang.

After Luis joins the gang the text spends a considerable amount of time considering his actions and daily life therein. Luis’ life in the gang is relayed in the novel through stories about his criminal activities. While Luis involvement with the gang started out small, it eventually became more intense. Similarly, the types of activities the gang participates in become progressively more intense as the novel progresses. At one point, Luis states, “Shit, I thought, they want to firebomb a house.

This mean somebody's mother, little sister or brother could be hurt or killed. But this is how things had gotten by then. Everyone was fair game in barrio wars; people's families were being hit all the time” (Rodriguez, pg. 118). This quote is speaking about the barrio wars that had overtaken Luis’ neighborhood. The quote also demonstrates Luis’ partial alienation from the activities the gang is participating in. While it’s difficult to precisely pinpoint the instant Luis made the change from a negative to positive existence, it’s clear that the seeds of his change were rooted in the alienation he began to develop at these gang activities.

As the text progresses, Luis eventually becomes alienated from his gang life. The pivotal element in Luis transformation occurs when he becomes involved in the local community center. Here he comes into contact