33 pages • 1 hour read
Luis RodriguezAlways Running
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1993A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 5-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary
The Animal Tribe dissolves entirely after the death of John Fabela, a core member who is murdered. Luis and the rest of the AT are absorbed into the Lomas gang, which is beginning to organize its large membership into “various sets based on age groupings” (107). Luis and his friends attend a Lomas party knowing they will be initiated that night, and the air is “rife with anticipation” (108). A few older, infamously dangerous members arrive and one declares that Luis will be the first to get “jumped in”—that is, beaten in order to gain gang affiliation. Luis endures the initiation with bravery. He and his friends drive around with the older gang members until they all happen upon a group of unarmed, “hard-working recreational lowriders out for a spin” (110). The gang members attack the group of men without cause, and Luis himself stabs one with a rusty screwdriver.
By now, it is 1970, and Luis is already jaded and damaged, tired of gang life. At the Bienvinidos Community Center, Luis meets Chente Ramirez, a former resident of the East L.A. barrio who had gone on to college and then returned to support and empower young Latinos. One night, Luis is roused from sleep by senior gang members, who have decided Luis will take part in the firebombing of a house belonging to Chava, “Sangra’s main warrior” (117), in retaliation for the killing of a Lomas member. They set the house on fire, and Luis feels “excitement…and an ache of grief” (118). Everyone in the house survives, and Chava targets Luis’ younger sister. She narrowly misses being shot.
Luis witnesses atrocities daily—murder, rapes, and assaults. He progresses from huffing paint to taking heroin and PCP. He begins a relationship with a girl named Roberta, who is fifteen, like him, and lives with her older sister and a pack of nephews and nieces. He is devastated to find out Roberta is a prostitute and spirals further down into drug use.
Chapter 6 Summary
Luis’ mother, concerned by his drug use, depression, and isolation, invites his former elementary school principal Mr. Rothro to visit. He encourages Luis to return to school. Luis explains to the reader that this was not the first time someone had tried to set him on the right educational path. Previously, his father had enrolled him at Taft High School, a high-performing school. He was unprepared for the high level of academics, got into fights, and eventually dropped out during the 1970 teachers’ strike.
Luis and two of his friends go to a nice restaurant and decide to pull a dine-and-dash. They are caught and detained by the restaurant staff, who call the police. But the owner, after hearing Luis apologize for stealing and complain about the police brutality in jail, lets him go. Some time later, Luis is approach by Chente, the head of the youth center, who invites him to join the Neighborhood Youth Corps, a charity organization that improves the neighborhood. Luis agrees, but Chente says he must attend school, as well. Luis agrees to that, too.
A man named Daniel Fuentes arrives at the youth center looking for boys who want to participate in amateur boxing. Luis signs up and is surprised by how hard it is, how he knows “nothing about balance, footwork, or even where to place our eyes when we fought” (148). Luis improves, winning some amateur fights as a middleweight competitor. He invites his whole family to an important fight, which he loses, but Fuentes reassures Luis that he’ll win next time. Chente encourages Luis to join “the collective,” a group of students that meet to discuss social justice issues, and Luis marvels at the new ideas he is presented with. Chente also demands that Luis stop taking drugs, saying, “you have to make a choice now” (158).
Chapter 5-6 Analysis
In this section, Luis descends into the underworld of gang violence, drug use, and sexual exploitation of women. It is clear that the drug use and Luis’ treatment of women both stem from his increased involvement in the Lomas. Though he mentions taking drugs previous to his Lomas initiation, he begins taking drugs now not simply for recreational, but in order to numb himself and forget the things he has done and witnessed, such as the firebombing of Chava’s house and his attack with a screwdriver on an unknown man. Unlike some of the more bloodthirsty members of the Lomas, Luis finds himself conflicted and hesitant with the acts of violence he is asked to participate in. Though Luis portrays himself as a commander at his school, someone who takes charge, the chapters that focus on his gang activity show a very different person. Though the gang gives him power and status, Luis is a consummate follower in these situations, reacting with quiet horror to the atrocities he sees. Luis is, essentially, a peacetime leader. He can organize walkouts and rally classmates, but he can’t cross the bridge into leading violent attacks on rivals.
In Chapter 6, Luis is shown a way in which he can channel rage without participating in warfare: boxing. Though his loss during a crucial match is devastating, it is notably the only activity of his that his family attends. Where his brother has music and sports, legitimate ventures the family can attend without fear, Luis teenage years have been marked by crime. The fact that his entire family does attend, supporting him even as he loses the match, is important in showing Luis that he has not lost the support of his family, if only he would focus his attention on school and legal hobbies. The concept of choice is particularly stressed in this section. Though Luis has taken up a defeatist attitude, letting society’s perception of him determine his future, Chente challenges this, inviting Luis to discussion groups and public works projects. The choice to leave the gang, Chente says, is ultimately solely in Luis’ hands. Luis will grapple with this choice for the rest of the memoir.
