What Manzanar can teach Gabriel?

A lot of our classroom discussion, as well as posts on this blog, has been centered on the fascinating character Manzanar. With this in mind, one of the most poignant scenes I've found while reading has been the scene on page 111 when Gabriel speaks of interviewing Manzanar. I think it's safe to say that up until this point of the novel we are lead by Yamashita to have a soft spot for Manzanar, recognizing that his existence is more profound than crazy. In this scene, it struck me how easily Gabriel, our only first-person narrator, comes to realize Manzanar's profoundness. Here, Gabriel claims to feel that Manzanar some how knows "the way." I think that this "way" that Gabriel speaks of has to do with Manzanar's ability to make something whole out of the chaos of our society, or in his case, the L.A. freeway. Gabriel makes distinct reference in this scene to the fact that he, as a current events journalist, could not categorize Manzanar as anything but a crazy old man. To me, this reference is a commentary on the idea of "current events." Gabriel, and others in society, seem hellbent on current events and projecting this events to the masses. In doing this, there seems to be some sort of unifying principle lost between these events. Every event becomes it's own story. With Manzanar, Yamashita seems to show a character who does not look solely at individual events, but rather a larger picture, one where all events, or in the symbol, cars, flow together in a harmonious way. This is what I think Gabriel wishes to learn from Manzanar. It seems that Gabe needs to understand more fully how our society is intertwined and how better to relate to the connections that are unclear. Manzanar is a crazy homeless man, but he also sees something unified where disunity exists. Gabriel wishes to see the same.