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Isaac Torres
Linguistics/CDS/Spanish

Cai Emmons, Mentor

Escapism as a Manifestation of Poverty and Racial Discrimination

Two memoirs, Down These Mean Streets by Piri Thomas, and Always Running La Vida Loca: Gang Days in East L.A. by Luis J. Rodriguez, form the core of an analysis of escapism through recreational drug use (mainly heroin) and recreational violence (mainly homicide). Each author's subconscious drive to escape reality is motivated by experiences of racial discrimination and the poverty enveloping his respective region. These two texts, augmented by others, explore and substantiate the roles of escapism and the prevalence of heroin use in Harlem and East Los Angeles. The texts also highlight the psychological qualities that may lead one to commit murder. This analysis serves two main purposes: to understand the possible motivations behind recreational drug use and violence, and how to articulate that understanding creatively within my own work of fiction.