Santana, played by Edward James Olmos is in prison and looking back at his life, his parent's life, and discovering what his life has become. In the first scene of act one, the viewer is taken back in time to the 1940's to a scene where Santana's parents were beaten and raped by sailors in the streets of Los Angeles, simply because they were "zoot suiters." In the mid-to-late 1950's, where the young Santana and his buddies J.D. and Mundo are introduced. The three young boys make a pact to stay together and be a part of the long tradition gang of their barrio called "La Prim

Santana is released from prison after eighteen years. After such a long period of not having been in society he must once again learn how to live. Santana returns to his barrio to discover that some things never change; the gang continues to grow and exercise "power" outside of prison. In dealing with the crisis of being in a somewhat unfamiliar world, Santana's personality begins to change. Seeing the repetitive cycle of the tattoo between the thumb and index finger that was imprinted on each new generation, seeing the drugs that the children were doing, seeing that their barrio would always continue with a power struggle began to wear on Santana.

The police found Santana with Julie, standing by Little Puppet's wedding jacket (containing drugs). Santana was immediately taken back to prison without a chance to even prove that he was innocent, without a chance to ever change his life outside of prison. He wrote to Julie from prison. He read her letters and saw that she was trying to improve her life with an education. Julie wasn't going to let the barrio hold her back and Santana felt the same about his own life. He knew that he had to get out of the barrio. The final scene of the movie was the obligatory act. La Primera had noticed his weakening desire for power. When they came by his cell one day and asked if he was coming out, he answered "yes," knowing his fate. They stabbed him to death immediately. No one could be in La Primera if they showed signs of weakening. Santana knew that there was more to life that the one he had led. To show his real power meant standing up for what h

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1074
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)