Blog #2 - Always Running - Break Time, Several Times

     
        How words are used make up the fundamentals of literature, and is actually what we're studying about the most right now. However, when it comes down to interpreting it (when we look at words word for word), there's always more to a story than the words itself. After reading chapter one and two, breaks become more apparent. Rodriguez uses them to give the story his own sort of stylistic flair; it's a device to support literary devices. Sectioning off these memories, telling them in a non-sequential order, as stated in my previous entry, lets me, the reader, connect a bit more to the tragedy of Rodriguez. It also suggests something about the author, and how he was like. From these breaks, we can tell that Grillo was a very mentally-active, cognitive person who doesn't forget, or rather can't forget, his trauma easily.

      These breaks could also represent how Grillo feels broken off from his family, or rather lack there of. His father and mother nearly separated, he's not that close with his sisters, and his brother beats him. The schism between his family members is best seen at the beginning during the drive to the Union Train Station. Another thing these breaks could represent is the divide between social and/or racial statuses. Not only is Grillo Mexican, he's also low-class, living in Watts as proof of that. In comparison to the bike-riding white kids, he's on a whole different level; he's on a different level in mindset and values.

         In conclusion, on top of giving the text style, the breaks add a sort of a depth to Grillo's overall character. They possibly represent either his personal ideas on family, or his harsh criticism against racism and discrimination. It really adds on to the reading experience, and actually makes me want to read more. By reading his childhood first, I'll get to see his innocent-child-self turn into something else. What Grillo turned into was already established before I began the reading (he becomes gang-affiliated), but even so, Rodriguez tells his story in a way where I want to know how it happens when it first began, and how far he actually went while apart of it all.