Summary

Just before Christmas, Bruce makes his second journey to California. This time, he is traveling to forget a heartbreak. He spends three weeks looking for paid music work unsuccessfully before realizing that he has to go back to New Jersey. There he is a big fish in a small pond and for now, it is "the only place [his] talents could sustain [him]" (163). Before going back East, Doug Springsteen asks Bruce to take a trip to Mexico with him. This gesture is the first big sign that the father-son relationship is beginning to improve. However, they still get under each other's skin and it is not long before Bruce goes back to New Jersey.

Bruce comes to the realization that the strongest element of his music is his songwriting. He seeks to model himself after Bob Dylan and...