Imagery In Gary Soto's Small Town With One Road

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

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”

After stealing the apple pie and feeling guilty and paranoid Soto seeks redemption and shows that through imagery. Soto tries to redeem himself by helping his sister but later has to crawl underneath the house because the image of the kitchen swirling was too much, “the kitchen swirling with heat and flies” this image resembles Hell. This image reveals that the guilt was too much for Soto and that the crawling underneath the house resembles asking for forgiveness. During the time Soto goes underneath the house and stays there he gives the image that Soto is coming back alive and free of sin, “I lay until I was cold and then crawled back to the light, rising from one knew, then another”. This image religiously represents that Soto is coming back from the dead and rising into the light. This image shows that Soto is forgiven and that his sin for stealing the apple pie is gone.

They are obviously used to show that Soto is nervous and moving around quickly because there is a lot of action going on at the time. However, in the some of the last paragraphs there are many more complex sentences, which are used to show that Soto has returned to his state of boredom and also to express that there is not much going on inside Soto’s head..

Richard Blanco’s diverse background makes him relatable for people of multinational upbringings. His writing thoroughly appealed to me because he did such a good job capturing the emotions of a child coming into a new world. Having experienced that, I wanted to see if I could have that effect on people. I used some of the techniques that Blanco uses, in my poem “New Identity”, to familiarize the reader with what he has been through. Richard Blanco accustoms the reader to his experiences by using figurative language, diverse diction, and allusions.

Soto talks about sacrifice, and we all go through that. What we do to please other people. The boy had to give up his orange because he didn't have enough money. He told his girlfriend that she can chose any kind of candy found in the isle, and she chose a chocolate bar that cost a dime, now the boy only had a nickel and a pair of oranges in his pocket. Instead of feeling embarrassed and cheep in front of his new girl, the boy decided to put up the nickel and an orange on the counter for the saleslady.

From the beginning of the poem, Soto depicts himself as a ten year old who wanted attention. He also depicts the era by which the setting of the poem is written. He states, “At ten I wanted fame”, the word “fame” standing for his intense need for attention (1). In the next line he said, “I had a comb / And two Coke bottles, a tube of Bryl-cream” (1-2). By this he meant, he had thick glasses and slicked back hair, and for that era, thick glasses were for nerds, and the slicked back hair was the fashion in the 1950’s. In addition, a slang word in the 1950’s was “Daddy-O”, who by which Soto refers to a priest (17). He states, ‘“No way / Daddy-O’ to an imaginary priest” (16-17). Since Soto uses the word priest, and not pastor or reverend, this indicates the person for whom he imagined calling “Daddy-O” was a Catholic male (17). Soto uses the word “Chale” toward the imaginary priest, which

The poem begins explaining to the reader the story of a Mexican American as he worked in an industrial factory at some point in his life. “In the factory I worked, in the fleck of rubber, under a press of an oven yellow with flame.” (Lines 1-3) Soto uses visual imagery to describe the color of

Gary Soto, who among many things was a Mexican-American poet, many times wrote about what he knew best: his life. Growing up as a Chicano in America in the 50s and 60s, Soto worked in fields as a laborer from a young age. It is evident that coming from a Hispanic working class family greatly influenced his poem “Ambition”. As he is known for, Soto's poem is filled with imagery of everyday life, while harping on important details and themes of things that he may have seen around him., but in this instance, there was a bit of confusion. To begin with, the poem “Ambition” starts off with the line "For years our ambition was to eat/Chicken"(1-2). Without further analysis, at this point the reader is most likely confused, much like I was. Chicken? How could eating be one's goal, one's aspiration in life? The word ambition is usually associated with lofty goals. It would not seem out of place to say that one's ambition was to become a doctor or to make a better life for oneself. So the speaker in the poem could not truly believe that all that he wanted in life was to eat chicken. The outlandishness of this statement seems to be the speaker pointing huge arrows towards places in the poem that invoke deeper meaning to

Soto explains his emotional perception by writing The next day when I got home from school,” I discovered draped on my bedpost a jacket the color of day-old guacamole. I threw my books on the bed and approached the jacket slowly, as if it were a stranger whose hand I had to shake. I touched the vinyl sleeve, the collar, and peeked at the mustard-colored lining.” Also he writes”. I looked ugly.” another emotional

Soto repeats multiple ideas throughout his piece. The repetition of the plumbing under the house three times to express the guilt he felt in God’s eyes. The plumbing was a connection to God and six-year-old Soto believed God spoke to him through it. Toward the end of the passage, Soto expresses, “I listened, ear pressed to a cold pipe, and heard a howl like the sea” (81-83). The “howl” represents Soto’s guilt. He believes God is angry with him for stealing. Soto also incorporates words to express the emotions of sadness and happiness. Multiple hyperboles of “wept” (12) to describe his desire for pie; “crying” (43) to describe his satisfaction; and “tears” (52) represent guilt. The repetition of the three emotional words show a strong feeling Soto possessed. The feelings contrasted but ultimately existed as representations of

“Mexicans Begin Jogging” Throughout the poem “Mexicans Begin Jogging” by Gary Soto, Soto uses a variety of literary devices such as synecdoche, comparisons, and imagery to strengthen the diction of his poem. “Mexicans Begin Jogging” describes an average day in the life of a Mexican-American man. When the border patrol arrives he is forced to run from the factory where he works, even though he is a legal occupant of America. As he describes, he “Ran past the amazed crowds that lined /

A great example of imagery is in the line, “brake rods, exhausts, piled like snakes” (63). This quote is depicting what one can find in used car lots that were full of not only car parts, but snake-like salesmen as well. The scorching heat of the sun is mentioned again when Steinbeck explains that “the sun whipped the earth”, and this is also an example of personification (163). Moreover, by explaining in great detail most actions and conversations the Joads had throughout their travels, Steinbeck makes the reader feels as though they are a part of the family. Private enterprise is criticized as a man tells the Joad men, “... “ever’thing in California is owned... An’ them people that owns it is gonna hang on to it if they got to kill ever’body in the worl’ to do it” (206). This conversation had served to raise awareness of how the large farming companies were taking advantage of people by running small farmers out of business, paying low wages because men would work just to feed their starving children, and keeping the poor poor. Steinbeck was advocating for change with his writing. Another attack had been on the government in this quote, “Sheriff gets seventy-five cents a day for each prisoner, an’ he feeds ‘em for a quarter” (271). By including this, the novel is demonstrating how its take on the corruption of the government and its law enforcers - that this practice of paying to put struggling people in jail

Soto utilizes imagery to demonstrate himself realizing his wrongs that were crafted by temptation. Before he steals the pie, he mentions his background about religion, which makes him anxious about sinning. By mentioning the “shadows of angels flopping” and the “messages in plumbing that howled underneath the house”, Soto shows that his moral compass abides in him always- until boredom strikes. Through this, he displays how this emptiness of what to do make him forget what’s the right thing to do. He then paints a clear picture of him in the German market, observing pies on a rack. Soto then goes into his feeling of desire by mentioning his “sweet tooth gleaming” and “juice of guilt wetting his underarms”. The clear temptation leads six year old Soto to steal the pie. Despite the “sun wavering” and “no one seeing”, Soto begins a feeling of paranoia, contrary from what may seem as a peaceful day. The creeping anxiety builds up as he begins to further realize his sins. When his neighbor, Cross Eyed Johnny, “stands over his shoulder” and asks for a piece of the pie, Soto’s “tears blurred his