Rocky Rontal

Rocky Rontal (whose given name is Adrano) is the protagonist of "The Ballad of Rocky Rontal." He is born in a poor neighborhood in southern California, and he has six siblings and an abusive father. Rocky's circumstances lead him to start committing armed robberies and auto theft as a teenager, to support his family after his father leaves, and he eventually joins a local gang. Regional gang rivalries lead him to commit murder and to spend 32 years in prison. While he is incarcerated, his younger and only sister is raped and murdered. The horrific event, combined with the whole of Rocky's past, leads him to seriously contemplate the abstract concepts of compassion and forgiveness.

Lincoln

In "Abraham Lincoln Has Been Shot," Alarcón seems to leave it deliberately ambiguous as to whether the character of Lincoln refers to the sixteenth American president. Lincoln, in the story, is...