Gary Soto Essay

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David Yun Mrs. Hamilton AP Lang and Comp, Period 1 October 14, 2013 1996 Gary Soto is a Mexican-American author and poet. Soto wrote a small passage, “1996”, describing a time when he was six years old and stole a pie, this passage reveals his inside thoughts, internal emotions, and his choice of actions during and after his minor pie theft. In the passage “1996”, Gary Soto’s representation of his guilt and how he copes with it is developed through his vivid imagery, fast pacing, and descriptive diction, showing that guilt is the prices to pay when greed overwhelms the person. In the first part of the passage Soto begins by stating, “[knows] enough about hell to stop stealing”. However this was not enough to stop his greed from overwhelming him. In the beginning, he sets the setting of the story through his descriptive diction, he is in a store standing in front of a pie rack deciding on which flavor of pie to steal. He sarcastically states, “I nearly wept trying to decide.” He tries to forget the religious aspect, trying to block out any sense of good or anything that would make him have second thoughts before doing this. Soto tries to “[forget] the shadows of angels”. The pace before he steals the pie is very fast, making the reader wonder if Soto was caught or not. When later succeeding in slipping pass the clerk with a pie hidden behind his coffee lid Frisbee he runs down the street. Soto assures himself that “no one saw” and he feels as is a burden was taken of his shoulders. He feels assured and sits on somebody’s lawn ready to delve into his forbidden pie. Until a neighbor comes out of the house looking for his mail, that’s when Soto runs off with his pie somewhere else. Later his temptation took control, he could not resist the sweet and delicious temptation and sin, he was about to partake in. He began to “[breath] in the pie’s sweetness,” and took

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