In the book Always Running by Luis Rodriguez, he told his story of gang life until he slowly came to realization to change his life when he reached maturity which described in Chapters 9 and 10.In Chapter 9, Rodriguez begin to get involved in school clubs. He was changing his life gradually by participating in school activities. Examples of these are when he became president of ToHMAS club, he was the students council's Speaker of the House and columnist for the school newspaper. But trouble from his past keeps haunting him. Mr. Madison the principal called him in his office for disrupting the class and when he heard that one of Chicano teacher is getting fired. Through these it caused a school assembly for students' voices to be heard and understand what students want. Another example of good thing happened in this chapter is when he finally graduated in high school. Soon after, he was given an opportunity to paint murals at Loyola Marymount University with pay and was chosen as one of the honorary winners in literary then got paid $250.00, a trip to Berkely and from there, was given a college grant. Aside from these, in Chapter 9, he entered CAL State in LA. and had continue working. In this chapter is also when he met Camila whom he fell in loved with. But then again, at the stage of his transition as he reached his maturity and wants to change his life for the better, troubles keep coming. This is when he saw woman being harassed by the cops. He tried to help but he got arrested for assault then he went to jail again. Soon after, he was released.
In chapter 10, the last chapter of the book, Luis stopped attending CAL State after his release from jail. He worked full time in paper factory. This chapter contains the moment with Chente, his mentor. Luis came to realized when Chente explained to him the comparison of Las Lomas to the globe. It quotes, " You see, Lomas is so tiny, nameless, it doesn't even warrant a dot.," Chente made Luis think. Luis quoted, " I thought about the globe. Chente was right. A bigger world awaited me. But I also knew: Once you're in Las Lomas, you never get out - unless you're dead." Another qoute that made him realized to change, " I figured I could help homeboys become warriors of war worth fighting, convinced they would let go of intoxications-even heroin-if they had something more meaningful in their lives. if only..." He knew his mind is sensing that he is moving forward for good. The homeboys tried to kill him whom he once treated them as his brothers. He came back to Chente and told him that he is ready to leave. He said goodbye to his parents and gave him the blessings. He traveled with Chente then went back to Los Angeles. From there, he went back to work and helped community leaders and got married to Camila. He began a new life. Luis has turned into his manhood and started to become matured. He concludes the chapter by describing the conditions of schools, places, people and homeboys from his past. He recollected a lot of memories when he came back to Los Angeles. Examples of these are the Bienvenidos Community Center was already shut down, there was only one left in his murals that he painted and the rest was whitewashed, Food Co-op had continue its operation but there's storefront added to it, the La Casa Community Center became hide out for drug addicts, the John Fabela Youth Center is no longer operating, the Moviento Bookstore was shut down after Al Pache Alvarez was found dead in Garvey Park, his homeboy Puppet was shot and then renew life by accepting Jesus Christ, Mrs Baez who used to chaired the club, is no longer doing it, PCP Sal Basuto continue his PCP usage, Mark Keppel High School continue in its crisis and his house garage where he used to lived has been remodeled . And lastly, he encountered Chava face to face who is blaming him. Chava wants revenge. Luis held him and quoted, " ....What can you get by getting me,? I'm the least of your enemy. It's time to let go, it's time to go on with your life." Chava left him in tears, and that's when Luis felt the final time of his crazy life left his body.
The book Always Running is about struggling young life story of Luis Rodriguez. He was involved in gang, drugs, violence, survival due to poverty, racism, peer pressure, manhood and how he challenged adolescent life as a Latino in American society. It is in Chapter 9 and 10 covers mostly the turning point of his life. It's in these two chapters concludes that Luis had moved forward, became matured, learned and realized that he will never go back to his old bad life..
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