Gary+Soto+BIo

=Gary Soto=

//History of Gary Soto:// Gary Soto was born on April 12th 1952, and found an interest in writing poetry during his high school years. What is interesting was the Gary Soto himself was not a good student in highschool due to family problems; lack of money, problems finding jobs, etc. Against being a bad student, Soto attended Fresno City College and the California State University where he earned his B.A. degree in 1974. During college was when Soto began his writing career. Soto also explains that not all of his work has been published, he was denied a book, and burns some of his poems.

Audience of Soto: The audience of Gary Soto is not very small, or limited. Mr. Soto writes stories that are light hearted, providing a window for everyone to enjoy, "Gary Soto's poems are fast, funny, heartening, and achingly believable, like Polaroid love letters, or snatches of music heard out of a passing car; patches of beauty like patches of sunlight; the very pulse of a life" (AmazonReviews). If Soto's poems are truly "patches of beauty" and "funny, heartening, and achingly believable" then they are met for everyone: children, adults, the elderly, and anyone who finds interest in his poems.

//Cultural Effect on the World:// Gary Soto's influence on the world is nothing phenomenal, nothing to the extreme. His writing has definitely changed the whole literature expectations of writing as Shakespeare has done, but he may have touched individuals. Soto produced poems of everyday life, poems that touch the heart that may have saved someone, given them hope, perhaps brightened a person's day. It may not be a big difference to the world, but it makes a big difference to that person. It is their only world, and Soto may have just made it better.

//Aim of Gary Soto:// The aim of Gary Soto is never really defined. In contrast, it can be inferred about what motivated him to write. Soto himself says that some of his poems reflect things from his childhood, such as lack of a father. "Soto especially places importance to the presence, or lack of presence, of a father" (umich). This statement suggests that his work may be a form of venting. Every child has a way, from throwing fits to becoming extremely quiet. Soto, once he reached college in his twenties, may have wrote his work, or started to, at least, by venting what he could never say in person.

Three Texts by Gary Soto: "You're in this dream of cotton plants. You raise a hoe, swing, and the first weeds Fall with a sigh. You take another step, Chop, and the sigh comes again, Until you yourself are breathing that way With each step, a sigh that will follow you into town..." (Soto).
 * A Red Palm**

"I was hoping to be happy by seventeen. School was a sharp check mark in the roll book, An obnoxious tuba playing at noon because our team Was going to win at night. The teachers were Too close to dying to understand. The hallways Stank of poor grades and unwashed hair. Thus, A friend and I sat watching the water on Saturday, Neither of us talking much, just warming ourselves By hurling large rocks at the dusty ground And feeling awful because San Francisco was a postcard On a bedroom wall. We wanted to go there, Hitchhike under the last migrating birds And be with people who knew more than three chords On a guitar. We didn't drink or smoke, But our hair was shoulder length, wild when The wind picked up and the shadows of This loneliness gripped loose dirt. By bus or car, By the sway of train over a long bridge, We wanted to get out. The years froze As we sat on the bank. Our eyes followed the water, White-tipped but dark underneath, racing out of town" (Soto).
 * Saturday At the Canal**

"All through lunch Peter pinched at his crotch, And Jesús talked about his tattoos, And I let the flies crawl my arm, undisturbed, Thinking it was wrong, a buck sixty five, The wash of rubber in our lungs, The oven we would enter, squinting ---because earlier in the day Manny fell From his machine, and when we carried him To the workshed (blood from Under his shirt, in his pants) All he could manage, in an ignorance Outdone only by pain, was to take three dollars From his wallet, and say: 'Buy some sandwiches.You guys saved my life'" (Soto).
 * Mission Tire Factory, 1969**

//Three Literary Devices Used Where and When:// Metaphor - The comparison of two things while lacking the use of like or as: "And feeling awful because San Francisco was a postcard..." (Soto).

Imagery - The use of descriptive language to create an image in an individual's head: "And I let the flies crawl my arm, undisturbed..." (Soto).

Exaggeration - The intended use of over stating something to provide emphasis: "'You guys saved my life'" (Soto).

"Gary Soto." Gary Soto. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. "Gary Soto." Gary Soto. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. "Gary Soto." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Apr. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Soto, Gary. "Mission Tire Factory, 1969." Poemhunter.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014. Soto, Gary. "A Red Palm." Poemhunter.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Soto, Gary. "Saturday At The Canal." Poemhunter.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2014