RULES
...xperiences that Manuel lives through were also experienced by Victor Martinez growing up. In a sense, Victor Martinez is using this group of stories to tell the reader the lessons he has learned growing up from such a poverty stricken childhood. The major lesson in this story is when Manuel is being initiated into a gang and is forced to partake in a robbery of an old woman. While Manuel does not actually have anything to do with taking the woman's purse he is witness to the robbery and is run down by the cops. When the cops question Manuel and man selling papers in the street defends him in saying that Manuel had nothing to do with the robbery of the old woman. Manuel had not experienced many acts of this sort of kindness ever before and was surprised to see this man help him. The reader can come to the conclusion that the old man had much of the same background as Manuel and under...