Significance of San Francisco

San Francisco is where many significant people in the book live including Jimmy Espinoza, Donte Lewis, and Doug. San Francisco is where Snyder attends sessions of the ManAlive and RSVP programs. It is also where the San Bruno jail is located. This jail is where Jimmy was incarcerated and it is where he now leads RSVP workshops with inmates. San Francisco is a jurisdiction that is at the forefront of gender-based batterer intervention programs. However, it also includes a subculture, like any jurisdiction, that makes it difficult for people like Donte and Jimmy to truly reform, as is demonstrated by both their personal stories.