In this scene, Willy introduced the young child given the nickname Smiley into the Mara Salvatrucha the movie is trying to show people that the violence just doesn’t affect grown-ups, but the child as well. Smiley’s grandma tried her best to keep him away from the gang violence but she was still unable to do that because it surrounds them. The most interesting thing about this scene is grown men were willing to hurt a little boy to recruit him in their gang. This shows that these people are fine with hurting anyone or putting the life of anyone in danger. Near the ending of the scene where El Mago repeats thirteen two times is because he saw Willy didn’t want to hurt the little boy but since Willy has no choice he has to follow the rules of the Mara Salvatrucha also showing how hard it is for the people to disobey them because their life can also be on the line.

Right, when Smiley was accepted as a member they forced and taught him how to kill a person. The reason as to why they killed him was because Lil Mago accused him of being a rival gang because of a tattoo he had. Although Smiley didn’t have any understanding as to why he was killing the person he was still forced to do it. This may happen to many Central Americans when coming to the United States. Since the violence is everywhere even when coming to the U.S they have trouble making it out alive. Something even more interesting is how Lil Mago is carrying his son around his members and allowing him to be around all this violence. Yes, the baby may be young but if influenced in that way he will grow up thinking that violence is okay and it is the only way to solve things. This makes it much easier for the cycle of violence to repeat itself instead of fixing it. This whole scene just shows how young kids in Central America are influenced by their surroundings making it more of a reason for families to want to leave.