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The Afterlife Gary Soto Analysis

Decent Essays

Imagine being stabbed by an unrepentant murderer before a date, but you realize only then your life truly begins. The protagonist in Gary Soto’s The Afterlife, Chuy, becomes a spirit and finds himself stuck in a world between the living and the dead. Chuy observes the daily lives of his grief-stricken family and friends which sparks a sudden hatred towards his murderer. As he transitions into the afterlife, he undergoes several significant physical and emotional transformations and develops a love for a ghostly girl who committed suicide.
Throughout Chuy’s life, he believed he was average at best. From his looks to his physical abilities, he never stood out and was left to do what he could to win over the girl he liked. “There were flowers pinned to the banner, and a lot of signatures and drawn hearts. Did people really like me?” (IV, 62) He believed that he was in the shadow and others did not care about him. After Chuy’s life ended, parts of him began to vanish. He was in a new state of being where nobody could see or hear him, and his old values became less relevant, for he was “dead”, and nothing living could be his. He was never able to perceive his strengths. “What a rare gift for an …show more content…

Though Chuy often pondered what was next, he felt amazed at his transformation. “Dead, with my eyes wide open, I began a new life without a body. I had nothing to fear,” (I,13) which suggests that he had accepted his fate until he realized that the people who were once in his life mourned his unfortunate death. “Yeah, I loved my friends, whose eyes, I noticed, were red from crying,” (IV, 62) Although he found the love of his life through the afterlife, anger would surge through his body at the thought of Yellow Shoes, the man who took his life. For the first time, he hungered for revenge. However, his anger does diminish when he is around Crystal, for his love for her takes over his

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