1) Plot Summary

The chapter is written in Manny Mendoza Jrs perspective. He starts off explaining how the group Echo
Park Locos that he was in used to own the whole part of Rampart. Hes been a Loco since he was fourteen
years old with his father. Manny Mendoza Sr. was the most respected Locos in the gang. He died from
permanent pneumonia. It turns out that they didnt own the streets at all.
Manny was eating at Membos Coffee Shop on Sunset Boulevard with his son Juan. They were talking
about Juans deployment, I believe. Then they started reminiscing to the time where Juans mother was
still in the family, and how she would have been happy for Juan for marrying a Mexican girl instead of an
Oriental girl.
Manny starts talking about his first time seeing Ofelia outside of Chiefs Auto Repair. Ofelia went to
school to major in Chicano studies and still continued dating Manny. However, her feelings for Manny
started getting cold, while Mannys feeling remained the same. Soon, she broke up with him because
being in a gang was detriental to our people she said. Six weeks later, she called Manny with the news
of her pregnancy, and had a wedding. She was a better mother than a wife and took great care of Juan.
Later as Juan grew older, Ofelia introduced Duchess, a girl who worked at a bank, to Juan to start dating.
But Juan was into a Vietnamese girl at the time named Tran. Juan and his mother bickered so much about
how she wanted him to marry a girl of his own race and not an Oriental girl. Ofelia tried so hard to
change Juans taste in women, but it didnt work. Juan and Manny went to visit Trans family restaurant
and Phoc, Trans father, starts making conversation with Manny about what home is about. Tran and Juan
was in the kitchen making hand made dumplings and was having a great time making them. Manny
thought he would see himself as a grandfather by now, seeing Juan and Tran married with children, but
apparently it was just a dream.
The neighborhood started to change, and Phocs restaurant was sold to a gay guy named Brad, and he
turned it into Membos Coffee Shop. When Manny was at Membos asking Brad if he knew any way to
reach Tran, Ofelia had a stroke and collapsed in a flower store picking up a bouquet of yellow roses for a
baby shower. She died before Manny reached the hospital. Membo became a routine in Mannys life, and
when he sees an Oriental couple, he imagines himself that he could have had mixed grandchildren right
now.
Juan gave his father a thick, folded white sheet of butcher paper of a caricature of a beautiful woman who
seems to be a drawing of Angie, current woman Juans with, drawn by Duchess to give to Angie. Manny
said that the best hes done up to this point of his life was keeping his son from leaving him. Hes afraid
he might not have a moment again with his son at this point, and he flashbacked to him and his father
telling him a ton of stories. His father was the man who killed Baby Madonna. Manny was scarred
because of that. Then he just starts thinking to himself that he feels really bad for his son for being a
worthless father and not loving his mother like he could have and more. Then the chapter ends with Juan
standing up to leave tip for the meal.

2) Reading Response:
This chapter was actually kind of relieving to read besides the explicit language. I didnt expect Manny
Mendoza Jr. to be different of what I had in mind of him. From the last chapter, where his brother Efren
was explaining how both his father and his brother Manny was like, I thought Manny Jr. would be as bad
as his father, but I was wrong. I was kind of glad he has a heart for Ofelia and his son. Even though Ofelia
lost feelings and everything, Manny still felt no different than love for his wife. Reading the part where
Ofelia was totally against Juan being in a relationship with his Oriental girl, Tran, got me a little angry
because in my perspective, theres absolutely nothing wrong with being with someone of a different
ethnicity. I thought Ofelia was a little too traditional or something. Even Manny didnt have a problem
with Juan and Trans relationship! I also thought Tran and Juans relationship was really cute because of
the part where Tran taught Juan how to make dumplings by hand. The part where Manny heard Juan
laughing from the kitchen made me picture what was happening and that made me happy because I think
thats love. I think Manny is a good father, even though he hasnt done anything to show love for his son,
but what he is thinking makes me believe that he really does care and love his son very much. The part
where I found out that Mannys father killed Baby Madonna shocked me because I was definitely not
expecting that! The ending of the chapter where Juan had to leave kind of made me tear a little cause hes
being deployed and all Manny wants is for his son to stay with him.
3) 2 Discussion Questions:
Why isnt Manny Mendoza Jr. the kind of person to show love for his wife Ofelia and his son
Juan?
What is so bad being in an interracial relationship?
4) Reading Process:
While I was reading, I was really confused of how the whole chapter was written. I didnt like the way
how it was written at all because it was so confusing. At one point, I was so confused between who
Ofelia, Duchess, and Angie was but I eventually figured it out, I think. The time went quickly because
this chapter was an easy read. I enjoyed reading it. I got stuck when Juan gave his father the caricature
drawing. I couldnt figure out why Juan gave it to Manny, and Im still confused about it. What I think is
that Juan gave it to his father so he can give it to Angie without her knowing that Duchess gave it to Juan.
During the scene with Tran teaching Juan to make dumplings, I thought it was so sweet and I started to
think that in the future, I want that to happen to me, because I think cooking with your significant other
and enjoying the moment is really sweet. When Manny explained how his father was the person to kill
Baby Madonna, I was completely in shock because I remember reading that happening earlier in the
book.
5) (3-5 good words)
Gangs: an organized group of criminals.
Theres still many gangs that exist nowadays and are very dangerous. However, I dont think
being in a gang means youre a bad person because when Manny was in the gang with his father,
he didnt turn out to be a bad person like his father was.
Inflection: a change in the form of a word (typically the ending) to express a grammatical
function or attribute such as tense, mood, person, number, case, and gender.

Its sad when one of the person in a relationship starts losing feelings for the other person and
starts to change their tone in voice.
Oriental: of, from, or characteristic of East Asia.
In this chapter, Ofelia is really against her son to be in a relationship with an oriental and I think
this is an important word to know because Im basically an oriental girl.