The current book I'm reading is "Rules of Attraction" by Simone Elkeles. This book is the sequel to another popular teen romance book "Perfect Chemistry", featuring the two main characters Alex Fuentes and his girlfriend Brittany, but this sequel follows Alex's younger brother, Carlos, and his relationship with a girl Kiara. The interesting thing about the Fuentes brothers, is both have been involved with gangs. Alex with the Latin Blood when they lived in Chicago. But when Carlos was in Mexico before he moved to Colorado, he was involved with Guerreros del Barrio. What I began to find interesting was the amount of gang influence that exists within the United States. Obviously that's a very broad topic, because there are gangs and drugs everywhere. But Carlos' gang involvement involved more the presence of drugs. In his second week of school, he was framed by a gang member that had connections to Guerreros del Barrio that ended up having him going to court and an after school program for at risk teens. One gang ritual is staying silent especially when faced with authorities, and not to snitch on anyone, and Carlos acted on that rule when he got busted. The gang culture that exists is very complex. But from this point in the book, some of these gangs are working internationally.
When I read the prequel to "Rules of Attraction" Carlos' brother was involved in drugs, but when he was dealing, him and his other gang members were working more inside the boundaries of Chicago. But in Carlos' case, his gang issues followed him as he moved from Mexico back to the United States. Now there could be two alternatives to that, he wasn't formally jumped out of the gang so that could be part of his punishment or maybe a symbol that he's still apart of the gang. But that's pretty impressive that street gangs in Mexico can still have power even when the gang member isn't in the same country. Or it could be that each gang has international connections especially when drugs are involved. Either way the influence and power that the gang life has over Carlos affects his every move and behavior. Along the way he shuts out different people he loves in order to try and protect them from what may happen if the gang finds out where the people he loves are.
The legacy of gang activity in the Fuentes family isn't something to mess around with. In this book, Carlos became extremely scared when he found the drugs in his locker, not because he could get in trouble but because he knew he was framed by someone within the gang. Which leads me to question how much international drug trafficking exists currently in the United States, how much of a threat these gangs are, and has the drug trafficking been around for a long time.
So, is that what you will be researching?
ReplyDeleteI think this is a really interesting topic to write about. I think maybe researching into the power that the gangs have over their members, particularly like you said with the guy who moved to another country but he was still under control of his gang. I think the "binding" so to say between the gangs and the gang members is interesting.
ReplyDeleteSo what in particular were you thinking about researching regarding gangs and drug cartels? I think that's a pretty broad subject and you could narrow in on one part of it. Or maybe you could research the gang culture as well especially because the book seems to deal with multiple different gang cultures. Have you finished reading or are you still in process, because maybe as you continue you could find more guidance regarding what to focus on for your project.
I'm really excited to see your presentation I'm sure it will be great!