Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood (Pgs 289-360)

Summary:
The book is coming to an end, but things are not getting good at all. That night Sammy had a dream that he was seating in front of his porch and he saw everyone passing by even his mother and Juliana waving him. He wanted to go hug Juliana but she was gone. Then the next day Sammy felt that something was bothering him the whole day. After School he was in Mrs. Apodaca's garden when he sees Rene's car pull up in front of his house and Gigi came out crying. It was Pifas, he was dead. Somehow Sammy knew this from the beginning, when he saw Pifas going away. Now Pifas was coming back in a coffin. The day after his funeral, Sammy had another dream where he saw Juliana again but this time she had someone with her, it was Pifas. He could see that he did not have any hands and that he was sad. Even though Pifas was short, he had big hands which he lost in the war. His body was buried in Hollywood while his hands were in Vietnam. Graduation was here and it was not the big deal. They have planned to spend the whole night partying but it did not happened that way. Rene took them to an abandoned farm at the back of the school where he had prepared a table where he had some bottles of wine, and plastic glasses. There was even chips. This was Rene's gift to his friend and even though they did not spend it partying they had a good time. One day Sammy was at work when they called him telling him that his father had an accident. His father was unconscious and they had to take his leg off. Sammy said he did not care about the leg, and that he just wanted his father to be alive. Things started to change even with Sammy's friends, Rene left because he was drafted, Gigi and Charlie formed a band and they moved to California and Sammy did not see them again. The night Gigi left Sammy went to the river and started to think about what his life has come to, he was a lost boy now, he did not have any friends, he had lost them. Pifas, Jaime, Angel, Rene, Juliana and Gigi, all of them they were gone. Now they were on their own and Sammy had to find a way to do the same no matter how much he missed them. Mrs. Apodaca was sick, she was not the same, her strength has gone away. Before she died she had a talk with Sammy and gave him a letter to give to her daughter Gabriela, who was now living with them, when she was older so she could know how she came from Mexico. Also she told Sammy to go to her house and look for a picture that she had with his mother. That night Sammy could not sleep so he went to her house and hold on to the picture until he fell asleep. Sammy still hears from Jaime. Eric finally responded to his letters and they got back together but then Eric was killed in a car , . Sammy's father also died one night when he got up at the middle of the night to get a drink of water and he had a stroke. The book ends with Sammy thinking back when he was a boy and he fell in love with Juliana. He also starts to remember how hos sister Elena, used to always ask him if he could be anybody , who he would be? He never had an answer back then but now he does. He would Jesus Christ and will go to all the graves of the people he loved and raised all of them back to life and hug then and kiss them and never let them go. By doing this he will be the happiest man in the world.

Quote:
"Things never end the way you expect them to. We start off down one road—toward a place we've picked out on a map. A place we've spent years imagining. Then something happens. And everything changes. (Sáenz 307)

Reaction:
This book was a coming of age book, and at the end we can see how Sammy, the narrator, grew up and learned a lot of stuff along the way from all the experiences he had and what happened to his friends. Death is basically the main idea of this book because most of the people Sammy loved the most died but most importantly he always learn something at the end. When I read this quote, it makes me think that no matter how perfect people want their life to be, or just they imagined it when they stated to develop common sense it does not end up the way you expected it to be. There are certain things that are going to come in the way that are going to force you to change the way you have planned it to be. But at the end, that's life and the things that happens just make you stronger and you always learn something from that certain experience.