The Somebody

Question 1

Define Chato's relationship with his parents by collecting relevant facts, and describe his neighborhood and the type of urban environment which he lives in "old LA." (l. 1).

Chato has a very tense and bad relationship with his parents. It seems to him as if his father wouldn’t take him serious ( ll. 37/38) so therefore he doesn’t show any respect towards his father. The other way round his father doesn’t pay him the attention a boy in his age should get from his parent and ignores Chato’s behaviour (ll. 35/36). His mother is also not very interested in her son’s life. She has to take care of her younger children so that she neglects the education of her eldest (ll. 53/54), who longs for her affection. His Hispanic family lives in an old area of Los Angeles where many of the old buildings were wrecked and those which remained are run down and in bad condition. (ll.57/58) Typical for such parts of a big city are the gangs who rule (“[…]without your gang you’re nobody.”, ll.70/71) in the streets and fight against each other. Every gang represents it’s own street and Chato is the last member who remained of “de Shamrocks”.

Question 2

What does Chato reveal – intentionally as well as unintentionally – about his character and his predicament? Is he as tough as he pretends to be? Substantiate your answers by referring to relevant passages?

Chato is revealing more about his character than he intends to. His family situation is quite miserable. About his father he says “he wants no part of him.” (l. 5), meaning he would like to be able to deny his relationship to this man. About his mom he says “I don’t care to look at her anymore” (l. 51) and shows that he has no respect towards her anymore. In general that means that he hates his family, the house they live in (“I’m checking out of this dump!” l. 35) and he would like to have another life. Still, Chato tries to make them notice him and would like it if they cared more about him and would like them to take him more seriously. He shouts at his dad and says he’s quiting school and will leave the family, but his father only makes fun of him and Chato thinks he “could be dead and he wouldn’t take me serious” (l. 37). So instead of going to school he walks around in the streets of his neighborhood. With no friends left, he feels alone and useless and to make others not forget about him he writes his name everywhere. That’s probably a sign of him to ask for help, to make people recognize him, to say he needs help to get a way out of his current miserable life. Also, he dreams a lot and fantasizes about his future. For example by saying “put [ting] your name on something [...] proves it belongs to you” (l. 112) and so he writes his name on every house and every store and thinks “now I can eat good and live in style and have a big time all my life” (l. 123). That might be his own way of getting away from his predicament for a little while and to live in his dreams. Chato is not as tough as he always tries others and especially tries himself to believe. When the Sierra walks down the street (l. 128), he hides, and excuses it. That shows that he’s not honest and fools himself. Furthermore Chato reveals that he’s still immature (even though his age is unknown; probably about 15-17) , but tries to convince everyone that he’s already grown-up. For example when he talks about babies and “the dirty way they were made” (l. 47) in contrast to when he compares his writing to a “blond in a bikini” (l. 84). In general, Chato is a poor Mexican boy, living in a ghetto in old L.A., struggling to get through life and has no chance to escape his current situation.

Question 3

Define Chato's relationship to his gang and the effects its breaking-up has upon him. Why is it that he cannot make it on his own? Chato’s gang “The Shamrocks” formed a very important part of his life. Since his relationship to his family is problematic, distanced and indifferent, his friends represented a compensation for the missing attention of his parents. For Chato it was of huge importance to be a member of the “Shamrocks” because the common attitude is that “without your gang, you’re nobody.” (ll.70f) Consequently, as the gang demonstrated a sort of security net for Chato, he felt safe and self-assured and thus gained a lot of self-esteem. But “The Shamrocks” broke up as most of its members moved away or ended up in jail. As a result, Chato is the only one of the former friends left in the Shamrock Street. However, the fact that he has kept the memorabilia of his gang shows evidently that he cannot leave the past behind. Now, without his gang being around him, Chato fears attacks committed by the Sierra gang and for that reason he hides when he recognizes their presence, as he is aware that the Sierra has taken over all the areas having belonged to the Shamrock’s territory earlier. (ll.99f) In addition, Chato feels insecure, lonely and bored. Nevertheless, he is not able to make new friends because he is stuck to his old companions.

Question 4

Define the narrative perspective, and discuss whether Chato's point of view can be understood as an example of the 'innocent eye.

The narrative perspective is that of a 1st person narrator with a limited point of view, because he doesn’t know what other people think, for example he doesn’t know why his mother didn’t bawl him out about school. Furthermore, Chato’s point of view can often be seen as an example of the ‘innocent eye’, which means the author emphasizes the narrator’s imperfect awareness and the audience’s superior awareness. A sample from the text is, when Chato always writes his name ‘Chato de Shamrock’ on things he sees, like houses or TVs, and thinks they belong to him and he can become famous when his name is written on everything. Getting famous is the most important thing in his life, but the reader wonders whether it’s possible to become really famous. Maybe be he can be famous in his neighbourhood or his city. To the reader, Chato’s expectations for his life and his ideas seem to be very naive and childish and it seems that Chato only writes his name on everything and wants to become famous because his life offers no other perspective. Another proof for the innocent-eye-perspective is when he meets a girl on the street, who flirts with him, but he only thinks of talking to her and writing. The only thing she wants is obviously sex with him. But he doesn’t fully recognize.

Question 5

Why does Chato write his name everywhere?

The author tells the reader that Chato writes his name everywhere, but why does he do that? The reader gets to know that Chato writes his name “ on fences or buildings or anything that comes along” (L. 4) Chato says he does this to show that he’s alive although his gang (The Shamrock) has split up. All his friends moved away and he is the last who was left behind. The writing helps him to move on and he can show a rivalling, hostile street gang, the Sierra, that he is still here and that he will stay here and won’t let them banish him. Because of the Sierra and to make them angry, he also writes his name on the tennis court and the swimming pool and the gym, their new territory! The last reason for him to leave his name everywhere is to make his name famous in the world, without being “ a movie star or boxing champion” (l. 244). He thinks that he’ll be like a ghost and “real mysterious” and “all the’ll know is just (his) name.

Question 6

What does the title of the story "The Somebody" mean?

The title of the story “The Somebody” refers to different aspects. Firstly there is the social point of view. For Chato – the main character – his reputation and what others think about him is very important. He wants to be somebody! A perfect example for this is his meeting with the “Rabbit” girl. At first sight he is interested in her. However, as he takes a closer look at her image in the neighbourhood – she is very ill-reputed by the others – he refuses and even curses her. Especially after he has lost his gang, he as a single person feels like nobody and can't become somebody if everybody thinks badly about him.

Secondly there is his pseudonym. “Chato de Shamrock” is what he writes on every wall of his block trying to get famous and to find a way out of his anonymity. With this name, he hides behind his real face, he wants to be “like a ghost” (l.248). The criminal side of his acting provokes the police to try and catch him but by reason of his pseudonym it gets hard for them to do so. Thus this is the reason why he has to hide, can never show his real identity but is at least somebody. He can at least escape from the status of being just anybody or even a “nobody” (l.71) in the aftermath of his gang life – as he describes it himself. Hr can now be somebody whose beautiful writing the people know and like.

Question 8

Does Chato develop in the course of the story?

At the beginning of the story, Chato tries to cut himself off from his parents by using another name, quitting school and going out. He feels lonely, because his gang left him. His gang members moved to another town or are in jail. With his friends he felt safe, because they were the ones to tell other people what to do. They were famous and they had power. Now Chato is alone, unknown and weak. The only person, who understood Chato and helped him, was his teacher Mrs. Cully. Moreover he doesn’t accept the help offered by a social worker from the Boys’ Club, to join and get in contact with other boys. He writes his name everywhere to feel good, and that everyone will wonder about the person behind this writing. He meets a girl who wants to go writing with him. Chato fears about his reputation and sends her off. By recognizing a man in a Cadillac and a beautiful girl gazing at his writing, he develops. He discovers that there is no need for him to have a gang around him to become famous, but to write his name everywhere to give the people something to think about. For example, who is CHATO DE SHAMROCK. He wants to be like a myth - know by everyone, yet difficult to get to and partly a mystery.