Always Running

Luis, known in his adulthood as Luis J. Rodriguez, is the subject of this memoir. Over the course of the book, the reader watches Luis grow from a shy, scared child to a hardened gang member and finally, to an adult still healing from the scars of his adolescence. In his early childhood, Luis describes himself as “a broken boy, shy and fearful” (42). He is subjected to violence from his mother, older brother, and neighborhood boys. He is ignored by his elementary school teachers and finds his self-worth in his friendships with boys like him, boys who “wanted the power to hurt someone” (42). He joins various gangs and embraces a hard-living lifestyle, getting tattoos, doing drugs, and sleeping indiscriminately with women. And yet, despite these public displays of toughness, Luis self-identifies as having an artist’s soul. He describes himself as an “enigma” just as liable to recite poetry as to kill a man (134). Both in the gang and at school, Luis is “quiet and introspective,” speaking up only as necessary, with a desire to be “untouchable” (83). But despite his introspection and creativity, Luis can also be exceedingly arrogant and self-involved. He speaks with unbridled self-love about his art and positions himself as the sole arbiter of justice for his high school.