Throughout the short story Alien Turf, Piri, a little Puerto Rican boy who just moved to an all-Italian neighborhood encounters many obstacles. Piri will face rejection and inadequacy. He gets teased, and beaten up, but still, he stays strong and acts older than he really is. At the end of the story, Piri is encountered with a strong sense of compassion from Rocky, an Italian boy who had previously beaten him up. The boys realized …showed first 75 words of 605 total…

…showed last 75 words of 605 total…story. His views about everything were disregarded in that instant when his friend threw the asphalt in Piri's face. He knew that if they really wanted to, they could have beaten Piri up real bad since he couldn't see, but Rocky knew that it would not be a fair fight. Rocky also recognized the fact that Piri needed his compassion and care in that instant, and that was exactly what he was going to do.