Buried Onions

I am currently reading the book "Buried Onions" by Gary Soto. Eddie, the main character, is living in a run down part of Fresno, where it is infested with Mexicans. He has to watch his back at all times to keep living. While growing up, he has had to be careful of lots of harmful things or people and has to still do that now. Some of those things make bigger plots or problems as the story unravels.

One example of something he has to worry about is who killed his cousin, Jesus. Eddie's aunt always calls him to tell him to kill whoever killed her son. Eddie is a nice guy, even though everyone around him seems devilish. He wouldn't kill anyone, but his aunt keeps reminding him about it. Jesus is mentioned lots of times in the book, and he seemed to be a big part of Eddie's life and they were probably really tight. One day he goes back to his old college and follows a person around. In the parking lot, Eddie starts to scare the guy he was following around, and starts asking him questions. He asks stuff like, "Why did you kill Jesus?" Even though he had never met the person before. I don't really know why he decided to do that, but it shows that he actually wants to do something to the person that killed Jesus.

Another thing he has to worry about are the gangs in his neighborhood. He said, "I never ran with gangs, never kicked it with weasel-necked vatos locos..." He said that after someone called him to meet Angel, a gangster-type person. Eddie has a better conscience than most of his friends, and it showed there. There are multiple gangs and cliques in Eddie's neighborhood, all of them being dangerous. There is one major gang, the Hmongs, and Eddie doesn't want to go anywhere near them. Angel and his crew are also other people he has to worry about. Angel is one of Eddie's oldest friends, but Eddie has tried to get away from him since Angel is a big time thief. Another thing he says is, "I glanced over my shoulder, slowing but not stopping, because if you stopped and it was your enemy, your life could spill before you could touch your wound." He means that anyone could kill you in the street, and you have to be alert about it. It also shows that he doesn't want to be with gangs because he doesn't want any enemies, the ones that could kill him like he had said. To live in Fresno, you have to have a lot of street smarts, and Eddie shows it by not interfering with any gangs.

One other thing that bothers him is how much money he has. Eddie dropped out of college, but he hasn't really been doing much with life. He makes money by stenciling in people's house numbers on their curbs, but it doesn't pay much and he has to go doorstep to doorstep asking if people want their numbers. His poorness is really affecting him, and sometimes he doesn't have anything to eat. When his mom went to visit him, it says, "I didn't have much to offer, just ice water. I was even out of Kool-Aid." It shows that Eddie has really been suffering and he doesn't have much money. He won't have money to provide for a girlfriend, much less a family, and he can't even live well on his own. I think Eddie is a very focused and hard working man, but luck hasn't found it's way to him. He can't seem to ever succeed in anything, and his amount of money that he has can show that.

In conclusion, Eddie has to get through a lot of tough things in Fresno, the Mexican slum. Those things that he has to worry about make for big problems or plots, and Eddie has to do whatever it takes to get past them. As I keep reading, I will be looking out for more things that Eddie has to worry about.