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Gary Soto’s The Jacket Essay

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All of us pass through adolescence before reaching adulthood. It is a crucial stage in everyone’s life that plays a big role in the adult life. “The Jacket” is a representation of Gary Soto’s adolescent life. It is a short story depicting his hardships as an adolescent as he battled with peer pressure and low self-esteem or lack of confidence caused by the ugly green jacket. The jacket serves as a symbol of his personal battles, growth, maturity, and his readiness to face the cold and harsh challenges in his life. The narrator strongly claimed that his clothes have failed him when he recalled the green jacket he wore on his fifth and sixth grade. He believed that instead of looking like a champion, his day-old guacamole colored jacket has …show more content…

He got D on his math quiz and bullied by the playground bully Frankie T. while his best friend Steve Negrete did nothing but stare at him, and the girls turned away to whisper and talk about him. He also claimed that the teachers were of no help as they looked at him and talked about how foolish he looked like in his new jacket. He felt that they were all laughing and belittling him while wearing that awful jacket. During lunch time, he stepped out to the field and wanted to play kickball. Despite of the cold atmosphere, he removed his jacket and started playing. When the school bell rang he slipped back into his jacket and went to his class. As soon as he was able to warm up a bit, the fire bell rang that prompted everyone to go outside. As he queued outside, other children looked at him and again he felt as though they were all laughing and saying, "Man, that's ugly"(Soto, 474). Although he believed it was ugly, he continued wearing the jacket since he has no choice. All the more he felt bad because wicked things happen continuously. He was unable to do his homework, he got C’s in most of his quizzes, and he even forgot the capitals and rivers of South America. The girls who were previously friendly to him blew away like loose flowers following boys in neat jackets (Soto, 474). Despite of the bad lucks it caused him, he still wore the jacket for three years and has tagged along with him wherever he went. And all those years he was unlucky

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