Soto Gary's Growing Up

However, when the mother is almost done with her education and only has one more assignment left, tension begins. The mother has to go to Costa Rica so she can graduate, but she has to go for almost the entire summer. That means that her daughter will have to stay with her grandmother, who she hasn’t seen in forever. “Mom wouldn’t leave me. We’d go together.Right?”(12) The mom doesn’t want to leave the daughter, but she can’t take her either. The mother also doesn’t even try to understand why her daughter wants to go with her. The daughter had lost her father and probably has a fear of losing her mother as well. “I burrowed my head head under the pillow with the baseball. A tiny piece of me felt guilty for stealing it, but it belonged to my dad and that made it special. That made it a part of me.” (46) The daughter seemed to be more connected with her father then her mother. Her father could’ve understood her more or at least tried. The mother doesn’t even attempt and makes the final decision with caring about her child’s opinion. The different points of view of the mother and the daughter over the topic of going somewhere creates tension between the two

Gary Soto, born on April 12th, 1952 is a proud Mexican-American that grew up in a very low class neighborhood in Fresno, California with both of his parents (Gillespie,

Through the course of this story, it was a huge misunderstanding by Maria that Nemecia had killed their grandfather and hurt her own mother. However, Maria is not to blame for this misconception

First Cecilia did not know how importatn her family was, so she really wanted to go on her first class field trip instead of going to her grandmother’s house. “It’s not fair,’

Izzy’s mother had just recently received the opportunity to finish her research in Costa Rica, although this would require her to be away from her daughter for two months. During this time, Izzy must live with a grandmother she knows little about, in a city she knows nothing about; New Mexico. She is accustomed to moving around, although she resents doing so. Being in this unknown land for the summer would force her to abandon newly bonded friendships. However, the most painful aspect of this change is the fact that she would be thousands of miles away from her mother. Izzy’s mother is passionate about finishing her studies, and sees the positives that will result from it, but Izzy fails to do so. As stated in paragraph 15, ‘ “I’ll be home at the end of July. And after this I can finally graduate. Our lives will change then.” She reached over and stroked my hair. “For the better.” ’ This quotation demonstrates the mother's positive association with the move, and how it will be a beneficial change for the future. On the other hand, Izzy disagrees with her mother, and wants to remain in California. Paragraph 24 reads, “New Mexico is worlds away from California. And what am I going to do for two whole months with someone I haven’t seen since I was six? That was half my life ago. She’s a stranger! . . .” (24 Cervantes). As demonstrated by the quotation, Izzy does not want to live in New Mexico with her grandmother, and this has caused her to be infuriated. They clearly have opposing views on how the future should play out, which has resulted in fighting between the two. Izzy, easily aroused, stormed away from her mother out of fury, which worsened the situation. Depending on how this life altering decision plays out, their relationship may be weakened. To conclude, because of their contrasting views on how Izzy’s mom should respond to the

The authors of the four memoirs overcame their childhood obstacles with the help of their parents. Gary Soto overcame his childhood obstacle by finally listening to his mother. Laurence Yep overcame his early life obstacles by letting people into his life. Barack Obama over his infancy obstacle by accepting his father. Julia Alvarez over her barrier by accepting the U.S. All these authors have only one thing in common they all had help from their parents to achieve their obstacles.

Gary Soto was born in April 12, 1952, and he was raised in Fresno, California. Gary is a Mexican-American author and poet. His mother and father were Angie Soto and Manuel Soto. Gary writes books for kids from K-12 and he even writes books for adults. He also writes books in various genres such as fiction, poetry, humor, short stories, autobiography and more. Gary Soto is an author that has works that can be enjoyed by kids, teens, and adults.

Which, of course she accepts without much intensive thought. In this new line of work, Maria travels to America, experiencing horrors that change her life, and new found realities that determine her future.

I mention it because, in this story we can find my three main points that I am going to talk about. Happiness is an important part to be a successful family, because if we are not happy in our home, with our family, then we will have a hard time to find happiness in our daily life as well. In Gary Soto’s story, when the kid is trying to be the perfect family, as shown in the Tv shows, with eating dinner and speaking politely to each other. His mother denied his idea really quick so as you read, he started working. I think he was completely wrong, and he realized that as well after a while. We do not need to be like other “perfect” families to be able to be happy. It does not matter if we are wearing a nice suit, or a bathing suit to the dinner,

As a result of these roles, the daughter’s and mother’s perspectives differ greatly, thus adding tension between the characters. Since the family moves a lot, the teenage daughter has her own concerns. Such as, making friends, and trying not to be the “new kid” in school all the time. On the other hand, the single mother, has other concerns. These include trying her best to support her daughter, and going to Costa Rica to complete her research so she can graduate; and this is all “for the better,” for her and her daughter. In an intense argument about moving to Costa Rica, the mother states, “...this a wonderful opportunity for you,” the daughter responds, “Opportunity? For me? Or for you?” This depicts the rising tension between the mother and daughter. It is obvious that in this scenario, the daughter felt like she was powerless, and that her other always gets to decide everything. This causes the daughter to become contrary and withdrawn. At one point in the story, the narrator goes into her room, and ignores her mother who is trying to talk to her from the other side of the door. In the text, her mother states, ‘She paused for a moment then continued. ”Would you please talk to me?”’ This emphasizes the conflict between the two, since the tension at this point reached it’s peak. Since the daughter isn’t replying to anything her mother says, this really implies the emotional stress both the mother and daughter went through. In general, it’s hard to constantly switching schools and trying to make new friends, but in this case, it becomes evident that the narrator is at the end of her line. She can’t take it anymore, all the moving, and “fitting in.” This establishes a strong sense of emotional struggle from the narrator’s perspective. By doing so, the author makes it blatantly obvious that the

The relationship between mother and daughter is very evident in this novel. It is implied by the priest that Maria has duties in the household and duties as a woman. François Paradis also knew that Maria would make a good housewife, one that would give wholly, love of the body and the soul that she would be a devoted spirit that would not waver.[6] These similarities are apparent when the daughter’s first love is represented by a symbolic abduction, (winter storm) that is followed by a return to her mother’s way of life. She generously accepts Gagnon as her husband, thus guaranteeing the continued existence of family,

Maria is fifteen years old. Her mother reports that Maria has been performing poorly in school and has withdrawn from her family. This began after her transition to secondary school. Her performance further deteriorated when she began second year. Maria stopped participating in a number of her occupations including hockey, playing the piano, the girl guides, shopping with friends and going to the cinema. She now prefers to stay on the computer of listening to music.

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.

The film begins by showing Maria in an open and beautiful field. This gives her inspiration and a sense of adventure (based upon the images that images she sees). She works at an abbey and is continuing to face a number of difficulties. This is because Maria has the reputation for being mischievous and not following the practices of the nuns.

Living in Mexico throughout her teen years was very rough. Unlike other teenagers where their parents constantly provide for their children, Marisela’s life was a lot different than the usual parent- child relationship. She lived with her Abuela ( Grandma) Lupe, along with her 3 brothers and sister. She constantly had to take care of her brothers and sister at such a young age, that she became the mother-like figure of the