Southland

“Now, the old neighborhood is feared and avoided, even by the people who live there.” 

This introductory sentence sets up the sad decline of the Angeles Mesa neighborhood (where the past events of the narrative take place) into the ghetto it’s become. It was once a place where no one wanted to leave, and now it’s feared by guests and locals.

“Now, the children feel trapped in that part of the city, and because they’ve learned, from watching their parents’ lives, the limits of their futures, they smash whatever they can, which is usually each other.” 

Children learn from their parents that they have no future. This realization breeds idleness and, worse, violence. This is a damning assessment of the plight of inner-cities.

“It is only those who aren’t totally shattered by a loss who can comfort the others, who are.” 

Jackie feels like an imposter in mourning her grandfather Frank. She didn’t cry at his funeral (or at his wife’s), and she allowed their relationship to grow distant due to getting on with her life.