Analysis Of A Summer Life

Good authors can create wonderful stories, but it all starts with the setting. Without the setting, the story will have no plot and the characters will have no reason to be there because the setting is a crucial element. Barry Callaghan, the author of “Our Thirteenth Summer” can effectively use setting as an important part of a story. The setting of “Our Thirteenth Summer” is in Toronto’s Annex District during the 1840’s, when the Holocaust was occurring. The setting influences the behaviour of the characters and reflects the society in which the characters live.

deal with some of his hard times as a child. He makes it humorous because he tries to do jobs for other people that don't need to be done. For instance, he tries to rake his neighbors leaves in the middle of summer. In Soto’s “Being Mean”, his neighbor says, “It's summer, and there ain't no leaves.” This is humorous because although he did end up getting money, he was only 9 and did not consider the time of year or the jobs that he should be doing. Moreover, Soto felt very highly about his working. Although he was doing jobs that to some would be considered “degrading” he was virtuous about it and very hard-working. For example, he says, “I felt suddenly alive

In the poem “Behind Grandma’s House”, Gary Soto writes about an experience he had as a young boy. He speaks of himself as being a nerdy Spanish boy who wants attention. He screams out for attention by acting out in negative ways. Most know, to bring attention to one’s self, one can acquire it by acting negatively or positively, but negative attention brings punishment. Soto obtains his grandmothers attention at the end of the poem, but he may have regretted it. Gary Soto’s “Behind Grandma’s House” is a 1952 free verse poem that uses imagery to suggest the speaker’s perspective of the story.

When Soto contemplates on which pie to steal, you can sense that he is nervous and very apprehensive. On account to the fact that he was feeling guilty and uneasy, I can tell that he knows what he is doing is wrong. “An idle mind is a devil’s workshop.”

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.

One major trademark of Gary Soto’s works is his use of the importance of family in his stories. Readers can feel and understand his passion and appreciation for family. Often, Gary uses family to tell stories about his upbringing and as a sense of pride in his stories. In A Summer Life, he says, “My brother showed me his palm, where a sliver had gone in quick as a stitch on a sewing machine when he climbed the rabbit hutch at the Molinas’ house” (Soto 14). This quote is an example of his close relationship to his family and his adventurous upbringing in Fresno, California. Later in A Summer Life, Soto says, “My face was hot, my hair sweaty, but nothing scary seemed to happen” (Soto 20). This quote once again shows that Soto had a very adventurous upbringing, and he enjoyed being able to go out and explore for himself at a young age. Soto’s family life has always been important to him, but his family life has also suffered heartbreak and adversity. According

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

We have observed two different short stories, one called “Examination Day” by Henry Slesar, and another called “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury. “Examination Day” is about how when a person becomes 12 years old they have to take an examination determining their intelligence. Anyone with an intelligence above the norm is considered unacceptable. Anyone smarter than the norm is eliminated. The story focuses on a very intelligent boy taking his Examination, and getting killed for being too smart. The story “All Summer in a Day” is about a colony on Venus that faces constant rain and the sun shining once every 7 years. The story focuses on a girl Margot, from earth who is harassed by the others on Venus since she remembers the sun being

Gary Soto’s body language sets the stage for symbolism on his aim on stealing pie from the grocer’s store. “...the juice of guilt wetting my underarms” (Soto 13). The juice of guilt symbolizes his religious knowledge, since he is acknowledged

In the article, “ A Tale of Two Summers for Parents”, by Belinda Luscombe makes a point in which summer is the most difficult time especially for parents. The difficulty is mainly due to the fact that the children have 6 extra hours of free time on their hands and that the parent working works for minimum wage. At these circumstances the parent cannot get a babysitter, therefore leaving the child alone while the parent works to be able to put a meal on the table. As it was stated in the article, Deborah Harrell, was taken into custody for leaving her 9 year old daughter at the park with a cell phone while Deborah went to work at a McDonald’s that was near. These are the results of low wage income and the cost for a babysitter when it isn’t

This changes with the appearance of Cross-Eyed Johnny, a neighborhood boy who asks for some pie and is denied. Soto continues to eat, but “tears blurred [his] eyes as [he] remembered the grocer’s forehead”. This time, the mention of tears is not “because it was about the best thing [he] had ever tasted” but rather because he felt true guilt. He is reminded of the angelic grocer, and even though he is beginning to feel horrible continues to stuff his face with pie. Cross-Eyed Johnny comments, “your hands are dirty,” before “[climbing] his roof” to watch the other boy eat. This once again brings up the symbolism of dirty hands, as though they are tainted with sin. The symbolism intensifies as Cross-Eyed Johnny “[jumps] off and [hobbles] away because the fall had hurt him”. This represents a fall from grace, for the young Soto has committed perhaps the worst sin of his six-year-long life. He begins to feel paranoid and sees “the pie tin [glaring] at [him]” and feeling his face “sticky with guilt”. The personification of the pie tin shows that the boy feels like he is being watched and judged for his sin, and wet imagery is once again used to describe the stickiness of guilt. The sweetness was too tempting to resist, but now he has to deal with the guilt that clings to him covers his conscience. As he sits on the curb, “A car

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.

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

     Finally, imagery is used throughout the story such as the “proximity of God howling beneath the house” which seems to convey a dark image of God. Another example of imagery occurs when Soto burps to “perfume the air.” It gives one a sense that Soto is burping not just let out gas but to give him a sense of relief and

The author uses imagery to interest the reader in her story that may seem mundane without the imagery. An example of this happening is when Jeannette is going to her new school in Welch it was her first day and the teacher picks on her because she did not have to give the school her records to her not having them as that is happening a tall girl stabs her out of nowhere“I felt something sharp and painful between my shoulder blades and turned around. The tall black girl with the almond eyes was sitting at the desk behind me.