Chapter 10

In the story Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez the theme is always changing. Luis’s life is ways changing from paragraph to paragraph. It hard to keep up with all the ways he changes the theme. But if I had to choose one it would be one of perseverance. Through Luis mentally is just to get through the day alive. Even though some of the days where normal people would have a mental breakdown. But not Luis, Luis deals with his problems head-on just going on with his day. For example, one day Luis is playing with his friend Tino. Until the Police chase them and his friend Tino dies in front of Luis. Luis gets to deal with the death and moves on with his life. Luis is sad about the death but understands that not thing he does will bring back his friend. In order of Luis to survive in this community he can’t stop to dwell in the past. This theme is later stated in the story when he is facing tension with other kids in his class. He needs to persevere in order to become a leader. The overall theme in the story is about Perseverance.

Chapter 9

In chapter 9, Luis gets involved with voicing his opinion through poems and art. Which lead him to get recognition and scholarship from schools. During this time Luis starts to identify himself as Chicano. A Chicano is a person of Mexican origin or descent. See the discrimination he faced as a kid made him want to stand up against this injustices. During this time different races were allowed to mix in public spaces and in school but there was still a tension in the air between White and Chicano. He starts taking a Chicano study in college to better understand his roots. In one of the scene, a professor calls a student a “Chola Whore” this makes Luis take action a stand-up for those who can’t. Going full circle when he was in high school looking up to Malcolm x, Victor Hermandez and Richardo Sanchez. Now he was going to stand up for the right of Chicanos. In the chapter Luis later encouraging this fellow student to fight about against between the white students and Mexican students. Luis is still trying to find his way through life but as long he doesn't forget what important to him, he will make an impact.

Chapter 8

Juxtaposition and irony are used throughout the story. In chapter 8, Luis is in jail he is in his lows point of life, but he has the creativity to still write poems. I think Luis is using juxtaposition to get his point across. He is comparing the creativity of a poem to the soul-draining surround of a jail. Luis is embracing it like of one of the activists he would not let his voice get forgotten. Luis later in school begin to write more poetry and found his own voice. Which is a big change from when he was a kid. When he was a kid he was shy and afraid of the world, but now he not afraid of saying what is on his mind. Another example is Luis saying Words glory and pain to describe a drunk a man. This showing the man is drunk to hide this pain. Which allows him to speak with glory because he doesn't realize what he is saying. Which allows him to express his thought about something that causes him pain. The whole book there are detail just goes to show what Luis is trying to express and how he is dealing with it.

chapter 7

The point of view of Always running would have to be first person. In way Luis speaks to the reader is just the same as a friend would do and allows him to connect to the reader better. The way Luis describes his life allows the audience to see his world through his eyes from when he was a kid to a teenager. It also makes the book more interesting because it makes it seem like he is directly talking to you. Which is the point of writing the book to let teens see the mistake he took and what he learns from them and how he overcomes his challenges. He descriptive scene also allows the reader to get a sense for what Luis really faced on a daily bases. In the story, his first person has some stream of consciousness. Which means it lets the audience that a peek into Luis’s mind and see what he is thinking about. This also let Luis be able to get the point across them he was feeling overwhelmed. If you like reading and it seems like you have a convention with the author and it seem to be laid back, I highly recommend Always Running.

Chapter 6

So far though in the book the same cholo theme keeps being repeat chapter after chapter. Until the beginning of chapter 6 when it takes a different turn and breaks for the same cholo theme. The chapter starts off with Luis have a dream of his dead sister which gets interrupted by his sister Lisa’s screams in the night. They later find out that the Lisa had appendicitis and was rushed to the hospital “minutes later, she’d be dead”. Which his away the author is hinting at Luis that he was dangerously close to dying himself. Which later in the book with the help of his old teacher Luis is starting to move away from this cholo gang banger life. Seeing a turning point in his life. It also helps that he his going to a new high school and that he discovered the joy of reading. His changing his life from “Vida Loca” to something more normal. His book choice was books about activist like Claude Brown and Malcolm X. This resulting in him taking an interest in Mexican activists like Victor Hermandez and Richardo Sanchez. This shows a clear change in Luis life putting his gang life to a side and focusing on what his loves now.

Chapter 5 use of tone

At the beginning of chapter 5, Luis is faced with a hard choice. whether he should join the Lomas or stay with his old gang. The author uses tone to express of his feeling and thinking. It also let’s the reader be able to understand the stress the author was facing when making his difficult decides. His tone throughout the story is one of a friend. If that makes sense. I mean by this is that, it the way you would talk to a friend or someone you know. This makes the book more relatable to readers because when you read it, it like if your friend is giving you advice. The use of his tone also allows him to be able to talk about tragic events in his life. In the way he talk to the reader relays on his view point and tone.

Chapter 4

In the book Always Running by Luis Rodriguez, Luis always uses Figurative language to be able to describe his memories. Luis uses metaphors and personification. To make his words come to life and to make you feel like your experience the same thing as Luis. For example, he said, “Against dark side, poised for destruction, with death about to tap my shoulder”(Luis 81). This shows how creative Luis is with his word choice and with his sentence structure. It as shows the reader the way Luis is dealing with his mental issues that were affecting his life at the time. So it makes you connect to the book and his character. In another example, “I was a jacket I could try to take off, but they kept putting it back on”( Luis 84). The figurative language also allows him to be able to explain what he was truly thinking. The jacket Luis is talking about could be the stereotypes the school and government his putting on the minority. Even if there are people in the minority community that do amazing things. People tend to look at some outliers and just label a whole group not know it only a small percentage of that group.