Structure

The book’s overall narrative is essentially chronological, beginning from the author’s arrival in America as an undocumented immigrant and ending with his settling in California as a person with full and accepted immigration status. Within that overall chronology, the book is divided into three parts, each one focusing on a segment of the author’s life. The overall parameters of each part are identified by their respective titles, “Childhood,” “Boyhood,” and “Youth.” More significantly, the content of each part is shaped by the circumstances in which the author was, at the time, pursuing his education. “Childhood” focuses on his time in elementary school, while “Boyhood” focuses on his time in high school. “Youth” focuses on his time in college, during which he pursued three degrees, undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral.

The shaping and defining of the author’s life in terms of education as well as...