Key Passages by Mellinda Miller

 “My body entering the mouth of darkness, my breath cutting the frigid flesh of the night; it was my voice cracking open the winter sky” (Pg 6).

What an amazingly heartfelt description that creates an ire mood introducing a meaningful part of the book and a major realization of Luis’s life. Looking back into his youth remembering the moment when he started running and never stopped, Luis sees his son Ramiro running away from the comfort of his family and into the open arms of crime. When Luis chased Ramiro he envisioned himself not so long ago as that distant boy constantly running. Luis feels torn that his son is following in his footsteps that were left behind. Luis must feel so disappointed in himself though he knows that it is inevitable for some to follow the gang path of unrighteousness. In the end of the book the epilogue Luis sympathizes for his children’s unsettled future and devotes the book to them especially to Ramiro.

“This book is a gift to my son Ramiro, to all my children, who will traverse a more severe and uncertain path to maturity than I had to undertake” (Pg 247).