Ch. 10-11 Summary

In these two chapters, Baca writes more poetry and is down to his last months in prison. He is now 25 years old and writes poetry instead of resorting to violence to solve his problems. He met a prisoner named Chelo and started to hang out with him. Chelo taught him more about the Mexican culture and heritage. Baca used some of the information Chelo gave him and used it in his poems. At one point during chapter 11, there was a prison riot after a guard was killed. It only lasted a day because the National Guard got the prison back under control. While Baca and the other prisoners were lined up against a wall, his friend, Ray Ray, was shot and killed for not following the guard's orders. Baca dealt with his death by writing a poem about Ray Ray and sending it to his family. At the end of the chapter, Baca found out that his father had passed away and he wasn't allowed to attend his funeral. Baca was extremely upset and what upset him even more was that he couldn't bring himself to cry for his father. He felt numb and even stated that spending so much time in prison had killed a part of him. He later received a letter from his sister explaining why he couldn't attend the funeral.