In the memoir, Luis Rodriguez as a former gang member candidly addresses the Chicano gang culture in the 1960s and 1970s East Los Angeles. It offers a unique perspective into the lifestyle through the eyes of an individual who understands the inner workings of the gang culture. The memoir is subjective rather than objective in its portrayal of the gang lifestyle thus gives insight away from the mainstream deductions. Rodriguez delves into the motives that drove the Chicano youth such as him to seek gang affiliation at a young age. He subverts the notion that gang affiliation is just proclivity for violence by addressing his progression into the lifestyle. This includes the socio-economic factors that face minorities that contribute to the vicious cycle of gang culture. Furthermore showcases the need for affiliation as a way of survival, seeking protection, and finding identity.
Rodriguez charts his life from a young age into his years as an active member of the Chicano gang culture. He describes the initial draw to the gang lifestyle was to find protection and have a sense of community. The candid depiction of gang life is aimed to show the nature of survival of the fittest on the impoverished streets of Los Angeles. Rodriguez mentions the lack of opportunities for the Chicano community as a major factor towards gang affiliation. The cycle of poverty from generation to generation fosters a lack of options in surviving the harsh streets of East Los Angeles. He addresses that the headway towards gang-related activities is far less about power but circumstance and means of survival. The memoir focuses on systemic racism and the Chicano movement that was seeking to create their own identity. Therefore the rise of gang culture as a response to cultural assimilation led to the criminalization of the Chicano/a youth.
The emphasis of the memoir is to deter the youth from affiliating with violent gangs and more on community building. As a former gang member who turned his life around his past comes back to him when his son desires to join a gang. Thus, his vocation towards positive change is a personal one. He avoids idealizing the gang lifestyle in order to deliver the message against gang-related activities such as violence, drugs, and crime. He conveys a positive mindset towards empowering minority communities and seeking constructive ways to change. He probes into the initial reasons the gangs in Los Angeles rose which were a need for identity and opportunities. Therefore Rodriguez as a figure in the community addresses the alternative approaches to achieving the opportunities and finding identity.
