Gary Soto Quotes

In the Time of the Butterflies, a novel by Julia Alvarez, takes place in the Dominican Republic during the time of the Trujillo regime. The main characters are four sisters, Minerva, Patria, María Teresa, and Dedé, who fight against Trujillo’s oppression. All of them except for Dedé get killed in the end by Trujillo. A great amount of violence occurs over the course of the novel.

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”

Since Soto knows stealing the pie is a sin his guilt is amplified when he ignores his knowledge. Soto’s guilt is emphasized through the tone of the story, “my sweet tooth gleaming and the juice of my guilt wetting my underarms… I nearly wept trying to decide which to steal.” By Soto’s tone towards the pies over exaggerating on which one to steal shows that he is nervous and anxious.

     As mentioned before diction was used along with other elements to help bring out the heart of the matter in Soto’s story. When Soto says he held the pie like a “discus” it makes one think that maybe he was ready to throw it like a Frisbee because at the time he was so nervous. Also, when Soto first steals the pie, he notices that the grocer’s forehead “shone with a window of light.” It seems because Soto is so nervous, he begins to notice every little detail of what is going on in front of him. Another example occurs when Soto is eating the pie and he declares that his teeth were “bathed with the jam-like filling.” This makes him look as if he is relishing every moment of eating the pie.

As Tim Burton, a famous director and producer once said, ¨one person's craziness is another person's reality¨ This directly applies to the Dominican Republic during the time of Rafael Trujillo's rule. Minerva Mirabal, is a woman who risks her life rebelling against her powerful dictator and his regime. Her ultimate goal is freedom and her rights. However, Minerva has not always shown disdain and hate towards Trujillo. Minerva's views on Trujillo and the regime change throughout the book. When Minerva is a young girl, she thinks of trujillo as a god like figure. After Sinita tells her about Trujillo's secret, Minerva's views of him and his regime change tremendously. Minerva turns against Trujillo and the regime, and has joined the rebellion.

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

Eric Schmidt, the chairman of Google said, “If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place.” The quote shows modern society well. Living in 21th century is like living in a glass box. We are living in society that needs only a few clicks to get information of others.

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,

Growing up Soto’s life at home wasn’t ideal and he never had high hopes for it. Soto’s family was Mexican American so he was born into a Chicano culture. Every one of their jobs, even his as a child, was some type of physical labor, “and he worked in the fields as an agricultural laborer and as a low-paid

Open mindedness and effort to accept multiculturalism are keys for people to realise the consequences of the prejudistic way they lead their lives. A life that values the presence of normality and neglecting anything that are not considered the norm. Craig Silvey bring this idea into novel ‘Jasper Jones’ through the use of a historical ‘universally recognisable’ small town such as Corrigan set in Western Australia in 1960’s a representation of time when Australians lived in such strict social order that the law cannot be trusted. The use of setting, symbolism and first person narration by the author teach the reader about the reality of ‘White Australia’s’ segregation, how those have an affect on other culture residing in Australia at the time

Time and time again people have proved that fury and anger kills the civilized and rational thinking that humans possess and wreak havoc by their unintentional actions that occurred in the heat of the moment. Romeo and Juliet is one such example of the consequences that result from letting fury manipulate a person. When Romeo and Juliet both release uncontrollable and animalistic emotions, it caused great damage to city of Verona. Throughout the scenes where the fury of young Romeo and Juliet are in full force, Friar Lawrence is nearby attempting to quell the emotions that cause great distress, by using his position of trust with great weight. Although Friar Lawrence is highly trusted by many characters, he proves optimism and wisdom is not able to save people from

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.

Gary Soto’s religious word choice is used to to express his guilt while simultaneously acknowledging his religious beliefs. He makes his biblical beliefs known by proclaiming, “ I knew enough about hell to stop me from stealing. I was holy in almost every bone.” While these statements indicate that he is pious, Gary Soto lets the audience know that though he steals the pie he still is religious. Once the pie is stolen, he uses Adam and Eve as a reference to his fear of dying of thirst. He writes, “ what scared me… was being thirsty for the rest of my life.” Linking Eve stealing the apple to