Gary Soto Pie Analysis

In the short story Mr. Soto exclaims when he was younger he pushed a lawn mower, door to door trying to find someone who would pay him to cut their grass. At the time he did not know that his area was in the lower-class bracket, “It struck me like a ball. They were poor, but I didn’t even recognize them. I left the projects and tried houses with a little luck, and began to wonder if they too housed the poor” (101). This is significant because later he speaks about how he was so oblivious to how he grew up. Later in this childhood story he stated that he wanted to become a hobo since he thought there was no jobs for him in the world since he did not want to work like his father. He exclaimed that his dad would come home with blistery hands, sit down their living room chair and stare at the television for the rest of the night. At the end of this story he starts talking about how he became who he is now, and why he fell into his career. “It’s been twenty years since I went door to door. Now I am living this other life that seems a dream. How did I get here? What line on my palm arched in a small fortune? I sit before students, before grade books, before other professors talking about books they’ve yet to write, so surprised that I’m far from that man on the sidewalk” (101). This quote from “To Be A Man,” is a very smart and somewhat humorous line, because Mr. Soto realizes that he could have easily been a hobo on that

Tim O’Brien uses several rhetorical strategies in this story. A strategy that is easily found in the story is imagery. He uses a lot of sensory details to help the reader know what it feels like in a certain situation. “Except for the laughter things were quiet,” (67) and “You hear stuff

Soto’s use of imagery serves as an aid to the reader to better understand the author’s perspective, which is that of a six-year-old boy. Prior to stealing the pie, the author uses imagery to describe his temptation to steal. “My sweet tooth gleaming and the juice of guilt wetting my underarms” (Soto 1). The imagery here illustrates both the irresistibility of the temptation to steal and the immaturity of the young boy as he can’t take his mind off of anything but what is in front of him. After stealing the pie, Soto

He “knew enough about hell to stop [him] from stealing” and was “holy in almost every bone”. Soto’s diction makes it clear that his younger self was well behaved because he was scared of the consequences of sin, but not necessarily because he wanted to be good. It also implies that even fear could not stop the most mischievous parts of him. Regardless of his willingness to behave, the young Soto truly believed in a God, and often saw “shadows of angels” and heard “faraway messages in the plumbing”. These symbols appear throughout the passage in order to show how sin changed Soto’s interpretation of them. The narrative continues, and the young boy stands in a German Market, staring at pies. As he ponders which type to steal, the “juice of guilt” wets his armpits and he “nearly [weeps] trying to decide”. This imagery of wetness is associated with his sin, and strongly contrasts the dryness of “the flowery dust priests give off”. The opposing wet and dry imagery show that the boy is sometimes bored with the dryness of religion, but the possibility of stealing a pie both terrifies and excites him. Once again, he is reminded of “the proximity of God howling in the plumbing”

In the novel, Bless me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, a boy goes through many more experiences than any child in the hot summer days in Santa Rosa, New Mexico. He witnesses the deaths of his close friends and family. This boy expresses his emotions and grief through his dreams, only to wake up with fear and confusion in his mind. Antonio’s life is filled with dreams that foreshadow future incidents, as well as influences Antonio’s beliefs of religion and ideas of innocence.

In his autobiographical narrative A Summer Life, Gary Soto vividly recreates the guilt felt by a six- year-old boy who steals an apple pie. Through Soto’s reminiscent he has taken us on a journey of his guilt, paranoia, and redemption through the usage of tone, allusions, and imagery.

Throughout the autobiographical narrative written by Gary Soto, many different literary elements are used to recreate the experience of his guilty six-year old self. Different elements such as contrast, repetition, pacing, diction, and imagery. Soto narrates this story as a young boy at a time when he seems to be young and foolish, Soto foolmaking mistakes, but at the same time hoping to learn from them. Soto uses each of these devices to convey different occurrences in the narrative.

Often in literature, authors create plot by writing about characters maturing throughout the story. One work that explores childhood to adulthood is The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. In this novella, Esperanza Cordero is a young girl who lives in a poverty stricken area in Chicago. During the story, Esperanza grows up from being an adolescent to a young adult. In the novella, the theme is that losing innocence brings about maturity. Cisneros expresses Esperanza growing up by juxtaposing vignettes. Tone is also used to enhance the change in Esperanza’s thoughts while maturing. Both the juxtaposition of vignettes and tone support the theme that the loss of innocence and the gaining of

Mary Ann Shaffer’s and Annie Barrows’ novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society offers insight into life during, and shortly after, World War II through a collection of letters between successful author Juliet Ashton and many others ranging from her publisher to a man by the name of Dawsey Adams who found a book with her address in it. Juliet describes her hardships during the war, specifically on page 25, paragraph 4, where she can be quoted saying: “Remember the night last year when you met my train to tell me my home had been bombed flat? You thought I was laughing in hysteria? I wasn’t- it was in irony-if I’d let Rob store all my books in the basement, I’d still have them, every one”. On this quotation you can see how Juliet

We see a male falling in love with the female of his dreams. He wants to do whatever he can to be with her. Soto used a combination OF contrast, descriptive language, and figurative language to help convey his theme. In line 3 It says, "Alas I confess that I am not true to myself but to/you..." and the reader can tell that he wants her to know these things.

As a teenager who is still considered an imperceptive kid by her parents, I’ve heard my fair share of important conversations. Many of which only took place around me because it was believed that I wouldn’t have any interest in them or be able to understand. Yes, because obviously I’ve been living under a rock my entire life. In all honesty, it’s a little hard to not notice topics such as climate change, pollution and poverty because of the constant buzz they produce. The true weight of these problems is recognized and constantly discussed and yet we’re unable to get up and - quite literally - clean up our acts.

Moreover, the author induces imagery of different types to project his argument of lost innocence. The narrator expresses “I lingered before her stall, though I knew my stay was useless, to make interest in her wares seem the more real.” (Joyce 246). Kinesthetic imagery portrayed in the quote allows the reader to recognize the loss of innocence of the narrator due to the choices the narrator makes. The narrator decides to linger around because he understands the reality of the bazaar, which interposes his lost innocence.

I was gifted some baru seeds from Baru Baron in Toronto. When I opened the package my mind instantly thought of graham cracker crust. I wanted to create something light, cooling, and fresh tasting since it's the summer. Typically key lime pie is made with a graham cracker crust so I thought I'd try a raw version.

In the “quest” of solving the case, I can propose several talents and a few weaknesses, suitable for the mystery featured in the book “The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.” Firstly, I am a self-proclaimed strong music student with ears that can hear small changes in sound and pitch to a good extent, so when I am interviewing a person to gather evidences, I can notice the shift in the tone, speed or stability of the suspect’s voice to help with deciding whether the suspect is lying or not. When lie detectors and modern technology we have nowadays to detect lies is missing, my ears can contribute to tell lies and truthful statements apart. Even in modern times, a lie detector is not always completely accurate, so my decision can be one of

A perfect chicken pot pie with all the right stuff to turn an evening at home into a won-