Everithing Must Come To An End

Despite agreeing to give up his search for Bobby until after D.Q. has finished his treatment, Pancho takes the rickshaw into to town and starts calling the five construction companies that have "and Sons" in their name. At each company, he asks to speak to Bobby, pretending to have a package to deliver. When he calls Jensen and Sons, he's connected to a Robert Lewis. Immediately, Pancho knows that he's speaking with the man who killed Rosa, and he's barely able to control his emotions. He tells Robert Lewis that he needs his home address to deliver the package, and Robert easily complies. Pancho hangs up the phone, shaking. He now knows where to find Rosa's killer. It was much easier than he had anticipated and the weight of this new knowledge, of Robert Lewis' address, weighs heavily on him. The morning arrives for D.Q. to transfer from Casa Esperanza to Helen's house. He's not looking forward to the transition, but he puts on a brave face for the other patients. Josie takes the move particularly hard, weeping and wailing when Pancho tries to say goodbye. She's just received amazing news, that her cancer is in remission, but she doesn't think she can celebrate without Pancho. Seeing Josie cry floods with Pancho with emotion. Suddenly, beautiful scenes from his last few weeks’ flash in his mind and he feels tears welling in his eyes. He gruffly hugs Josie and walks away. When he's out of her eyeshot, he leans against the building and weeps for the first time in his life. He weeps for the death of his father, losing Rosa, and all his other goodbyes. Johnny Corazon has moved into D.Q.'s house and gives him treatments every day in the cabana. Johnny has decided that D.Q. should take part in a healing ritual, spending the night outdoors to communicate with the gods. He says it is a ritual to show his desire to heal, both physically and spiritually. Even though the ritual is usually undertaken by one person alone, Johnny Corazon suggests that Pancho make the same commitment to healing. When Pancho sees the sparkle in D.Q.'s eye, he knows he cannot say no. Ever since contributing to D.Q.'s heartbreak, he's felt guilty, and he hopes a night out together might mend some of those wounds. That night, as they trek out into the piñon grove, D.Q. whispers that his health is slipping. D.Q. had asked Pancho to stay when Marisol came the next day but Pancho told him that he had to leave with Juan to see his friend Rafael, when he truly intends to kill Robert Lewis.  Despite his lovely afternoon with Marisol in the mountains, Pancho joins Juan for his ride into town, and borrows his truck from there. Pancho drives to Robert Lewis' address and spends some time scoping out the property before he makes his move. He's surprised when a young girl, about twelve-years-old, leaves the house with her mother, Robert Lewis' wife, for a soccer game. Looking through the windows into the house, Pancho sees the girl's bedroom, filled with the same dolls Rosa used to collect. In the living room, he sees Robert Lewis asleep in an armchair, a bowl of chips and a bottle of beer nearby. Pancho manages to slide open the backdoor and enter the house without waking Robert Lewis. Crouched in the porch, Pancho opens Rosa's diary and writes three pages of handwritten thoughts on its pages. He walks in and has a very rough conversation but doesn’t kill him. He and D.Q. head back to St. Tony’s and they enter their room, D.Q. looks out the window to contemplate a game of one on one.

“A Death Warrior who does not kill, who loves life” (Stork, 324). I believe that this quote means that a death warrior doesn’t have to kill if he loves life because it he will be taking what he loves from someone else. This quote was used at the ending parts of the book so I think that means that Pancho change somehow in the last month and his need to kill Rosa’s killer was relevant now more, the only thing relevant to him now is his friend D.Q.

I liked this book it was very emotion filled and made me think a lot about life and how we live it. I would recommend  this book to anyone who thinks that they don’t have a purpose in life, I would encourage them to read it so that they can change their perspective and view life from a new point of view. There was one thing in this book that I could relate to, the close friend with cancer, in my case it was my grandfather who died three years ago. In his weeks before the treatments I was always giving him hope as Pancho did with D.Q., that’s the only thing I could relate to. In conclusion I liked this book.  

I Think I'm In Love With Marisol

              Pancho meets Marisol (old friend of D.Q. and also D.Q.’s crush), she joins Pancho and Josie at the swing set, and invites Pancho and D.Q. to the zoo later that week. Pancho isn't really interested, but figures that D.Q. would enjoy spending the afternoon with Marisol. He agrees, as long as D.Q. is feeling up to the outing. Pancho has supported D.Q. through each of his chemotherapy treatments thus far, and they're far more gruesome than he ever could have imagined. D.Q. is weaker than ever and constantly vomiting. She and Pancho talk about how interesting D.Q. is. Marisol thinks he has an extraordinary amount of faith (something Pancho had never considered before) and that he seems to be in touch with another dimension. Pancho, D.Q., Marisol, and Josie all prepare to visit the zoo. Even though D.Q. is feeling particularly weak from his chemotherapy treatment, D.Q. refuses to miss an opportunity to spend the afternoon with Marisol. Pancho feels himself strangely drawn to Marisol and makes a point of avoiding being alone with her; he doesn't want to hurt D.Q.'s feelings. The four ride the public bus to the zoo and for the first half of the journey are the only passengers. Josie chatters about the animals she wants to see, while Pancho distractedly listens. The next time the bus driver stops, she picks up three boys about Pancho's age. They're dressed in baggy jeans and loose fitting shirts that give the immediate impression that they're gangsters. One of the boys speaks loudly into his cell phone, cursing every word, so D.Q. stood up to tell them to keep their language clean but they only mocked him, so Pancho got up walked up to the boy from behind, grabbed the phone and threw it to the ground. The next thing he knew was that he was on the floor with a very big pain coming from the part the punk had hit him, he hit Pancho in his groin.

“What if everyone is given a task we’re to work on and if possible complete while we’re living on this earth?” (Stork, 131). I’ve chosen to analyze this quote because I think that everyone indeed has been given a task to work on from the moment we are born to the moment we die. I believe that Stork has used this particular question through D.Q. to say that everyone has a task/objective/goal, we just have to find it and work on it for the rest of the time that our lives last for. And for the book I think that it is an innuendo that D.Q. finds his task and works on it very hard for how long he can.

As this book is coming to an end it has shown to be a very good piece pf literature, with so much emotions mixed up in the story. If I were to predict/infer the ending of the book, I’d say that D.Q.’s task was to write the Manifesto and indeed succeeds in his task before he dies and leaves the Death Warriors legacy in the hands of Pancho Sanchez. Pancho will live by the rules written in the Manifesto and transmit them, also he won’t be Marisol’s boyfriend because it would stain his friend’s memory.    

The Albuquerque Trip

Pancho wakes up to a thunderstorm to find his punching bag soaking wet and even tougher than before so he imagines that the bunching bag sister’s killer and he starts punching it with a lot of determination, rage, anger, and sorrow until his knuckles are filled with his own blood. D.Q. had witnessed the event as he was in his rain proof cocoon (rain poncho) and only informs Pancho that tomorrow the will be leaving to Albuquerque for his medical treatments. When in Albuquerque Pancho meets D.Q. mother whom he finds very attractive and good looking, also he notices the tension between mother and son, and how eager D.Q. is for getting the emancipation papers signed by his mother but she refuses to sign them. After Pancho met D.Q.’s mother and stayed throughout the whole discussion between mother and son, he walks with Father Concha and he gives Pancho 300 dollars, 100 for him and 200 to spend doing fun stuff with D.Q. the whole month in Albuquerque.

“…The balance of hope and acceptance is the heart of what it means to be a Death Warrior. It’s an equilibrium that needs to be maintained.” (Stork, 83). I believe that D.Q. said this because there was a time when he had hope in recovering from his illness but a lot of time has passed since he lost his hope and started to accept/embrace the idea that his time on this Earth is coming to an end. I think that Stork used this sentence to tell us that some people that may have same or similar illnesses may have lost hope and started to accept their situation but that we can and have to help them keep a balance between acceptance and hope, or in other words let them accept their situation but do not let them lose all hope.

Up to here the book has given me a lot to think about like the idea of a mother trying to help his child and be with him but the child pushing her away, despising her, not wanting to see her. That must be very hard for any mother and I think that D.Q. should let her mother in her life, let her help him, because after all Helen (D.Q.’s mother) is his family, and family has no end. In the other side Pancho and D.Q.’s friendship has been growing constantly and D.Q. is teaching Pancho the concept of the Death Warrior Manifesto.

Meeting Pancho Sanches And His Past

Pancho Sanchez is a 17-year-old adolescent who has lost his mother and father, and very recently his sister. After his sister's death he was sent off to a foster home and then got himself kicked out of that foster home and into the St. Anthony's Orphanatory. Pancho is kid, who’s mind is clouded by vengeance and hatred, he wants to kill the man that murdered his sister. IN the foster home he meets a boy with brain cancer called Daniel Quentin or just D.Q. Pancho is assigned to take care of D.Q. because, although D.Q. can walk he doesn't have enough strength due to the radiation of his treatments. As Pancho's eagerness to find Rosa's (his sister) killer grows, D.Q. notices that he has to tell Pancho what his plans are. D.Q reveals that he is dying and that before his death he wants to write a book with the help of Pancho, called " The Death Warrior Manifesto" in which there are rules/instructions on how to live life. Pancho says that that's never going to happen and he leaves the room kind of mad/bad, leaving D.Q. alone. A few hours gone past, Pancho decides that he is going to build a punching bag and he gets the help of a boy who everybody calls Memo. After they're done building it Memo calls two other kids to help them get the punching bag up in the tree, one of the boys was called Coop, he was very strong and a little taller than Pancho, so Pancho asked him if he wanted to fight Pancho for 20 bucks. Pancho won the fight but he felt something in the actions that he did was not right, so the next morning he called his guardian, Mrs. Olivares, and asked if he could go and get some stuff from his trailer, she said yes. D.Q. came along with, although Pancho didn't want it he came. at his trailer he got Rosa's diary and his father’s revolver for when he finds Rosa's killer.

“Rule number one: A Death Warrior does not whine aloud or in silence under any circumstance.” (Stork, 38) I think that what this quote means is that the Death Warriors should never complain about anything aloud or complain about things but not saying them but thinking them. I believe that D.Q. said this to Pancho because Pancho is always complaining about something, if it’s not liking it ant St. Tony’s then it’s about how the cops refused to look further in in the death of his sister. I also think that he says this because maybe D.Q. used to complain about how unfair life is for giving him brain cancer or maybe for his parents abandoning him when he was just a youngling. Any ways, I chose this quote because it made me think deeply about how both D.Q. and Pancho may be feeling, and about how we complain about everything and not be thankful about what we have at the moment.

So far this book has proven to me to be very interesting and a little bit sad. Sad because I can’t even begin to imagine what Pancho must be going throw, first losing his mother, then his father, and now his sister. Then there’s D.Q., honestly I have to say that I admire him for his peacefulness knowing that his time on this Earth is about to run out but I admire him the most for what he intends to live behind when he parts. I think that the Death Warrior Manifesto will help Pancho in his life, that is if he follows it.