City Of God Research Paper

The first factor which allowed Rocket to escape the allure of gang life in The City of God was simply his conscience; from a young age, even before he was able to fully understand the concepts and politics behind organized crime and violence, Rocket was not able to stomach the life of crime that his brother had chosen. Rocket continuously chose to stay behind when his brother would commit crimes with his gang; I believe that the violent death of his brother subconsciously validated his decision to avoid organized criminal activity. Rocket continued, for many years, to resist the temptation of becoming a dealer; he was able to secure an honest job at a supermarket and was content working to save for a nicer camera. Following the loss of his
job, Rocket made a half-hearted attempt to rob a bus driver, a bakery clerk and a driver lost in the wrong part of town; however, all three of these attempts were quickly abandoned by Rocket as he was unable to separate the idea of monetary benefit to himself from the act of harming people in the process. The second factor which allowed Rocket to resist the allure of gang life in The City of God was the fact that he was consistently pursuing outside interests and these interests soon began leading him away from gang life. Early in life, Rocket became interested in the art of photography; eventually he was able to purchase a camera for himself and became the official photographer for his group of friends. His friends would pay him for copies of the photographs and Rocket began saving this money to afford a more quality camera. This preoccupation with becoming a photographer and reporter allowed Rocket to focus on something outside of the violence and poverty of The City of God; Rocket was motivated to move forward with photography and this combatted the option of joining a gang. In order to become a reporter, Rocket began working an honest job as a newspaper delivery boy; this work kept him out of the city and away from the violence for long periods each day. This created a life in which Rocket was separated from The City of God and disenfranchised from the notion of becoming a member of the organized crime community. These two factors worked in harmony to keep Rocket far removed from a life of crime; his conscience allowed him to resist gang life as a child while his interest in photography and reporting allowed him to resist gang life as a teenager and into adulthood, even when life was tough and crime seemed like the easiest solution to monetary trouble.