Analysis of “The Map”
In “The Map”, Soto uses a man who marks on a map to symbolize the geography and weather of
different places around the world. This poem is about a man named Molina,
who squats at noon with a map and marks on it with a pencil. His markings
symbolize weather and geography of any where from Spain to Central and South
America. Gary Soto displays this symbolism throughout his poem, for example:
“He unfolds a map and, with a pencil,
Blackens Panama
Into a bruise;
He dots rain over Bogotá, the city of spiders,
And x’s in a mountain range that climbs
Like a thermometer”
These lines represent symbolism because Molina is not really making rain in
Bogotá, but he is representing rain by dotting over Bogotá’s location on the
map. In a way, he is really playing as God with the map as the earth.
Also, he marks a mountain range with x’s to symbolize the mountains.
Molina’s markings on the map are symbols for geographical and weather
conditions. In this case, symbolism is the best choice for a literary
element, and Soto used this symbolism to affect the outcome of the poem
because the markings represent something else, and the symbols add to the
imagery of the poem. The markings on the map also symbolize Molina’s
superiority over the land and his ability to play God over the land on the
map. This map does not just show geography, but also weather. “The Map”
uses markings to symbolize real weather conditions in different places and
the descriptions become richer as Molina adds symbols to the map.
“The Map”
By
Gary Soto- from
The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry- 2nd Edition
1978
When the sun’s whiteness closes around us
Like a noose,
It is noon, and Molina squats
In the uneven shade of an oleander.
He unfolds a map and, with a pencil,
Blackens Panama
Into a bruise;
He dots rain over Bogotá, the city of spiders,
And x’s in a mountain range that climbs
Like a thermometer
Above the stone fence
The old never thought to look over.
A fog presses over Lima.
Brazil is untangled of its rivers.
Where there is a smudge,
Snow has stitched its cold into the field.
Where the river Orinoco cuts east,
A new river rises nameless
From the open grasses,
And Molina
calls it his place of birth.
Analysis of “Mission Tire Factory”
In “Mission Tire
Factory”, a poem about teenage factory workers, Soto uses imagery to
describe the events in one day’s hard work. This poem is about Soto himself
and three friends, Peter, Jesús, and Manny, who work together at a tire
factory. On a hard day of working, Manny falls from his machine and the
three other friends save him, resulting in Manny giving the friends three
dollars and telling them to go buy themselves sandwiches. “Mission Tire
Factory” uses imagery to explain the conditions under which the boys are
working:
“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”
The imagery
created by Soto describes the harsh working conditions under which the four
teenage boys labor. The imagery in “Mission Tire Factory” creates the
atmosphere in which Manny becomes injured and gives the reader a sense of
what kind of hard work and dangers Soto must have experienced as a teenage
Mexican-American. Manny’s “ignorance outdone only by pain” creates an
image of how the boys were inexperienced in such a dangerous work.
Combining a dramatic story with detailed imagery, “Mission Tire Factory” is
more of a short story than a poem.
“Mission Tire Factory”
By Gary Soto- from Where Sparrows Work Hard
1969
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."
Analysis of “How Things Work”
In the poem “How Things Work”, Gary Soto relates his life experiences and
his point of view of the way the world works, using personification for
different daily actions and life. “How Things Work” is similar to a tutorial
for life, like what things in life are always certain, and relates the
different everyday actions to a cycle. This poem is directed toward Soto’s
daughter and acts as fatherly advice. Soto demonstrates how these actions
are increased with personification:
“As far as I can tell, daughter, it works like this:
You buy bread from a grocery, a bag of apples
From a fruit stand, and what coins
Are passed on helps others buy pencils, glue,
Tickets to a movie in which laughter
Is thrown into their faces.”
Personification is used in these lines to increase the affect of the
action. For example, the last two lines are strengthened by the addition of
laughter being “thrown” into their faces, instead of “tickets to a humorous
movie”. Combining personification with ordinary actions, “How Things Work”
is an appealing poem that teaches how to relate different everyday actions
with a cause and exaggerated affect.
“How Things
Work”
By Gary Soto- from The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry- 2nd Edition.
(1985)
Today it's going
to cost us twenty dollars
To live. Five for a softball. Four for a book,
A handful of ones for coffee and two sweet rolls,
Bus fare, rosin for your mother's violin.
We're completing our task. The tip I left
For the waitress filters down
Like rain, wetting the new roots of a child
Perhaps, a belligerent cat that won't let go
Of a balled sock until there's chicken to eat.
As far as I can tell, daughter, it works like this:
You buy bread from a grocery, a bag of apples
From a fruit stand, and what coins
Are passed on helps others buy pencils, glue,
Tickets to a movie in which laughter
Is thrown into their faces.
If we buy goldfish, someone tries on a hat.
If we buy crayons, someone walks home with a broom.
A tip, a small purchase here and there,
And things just keep going. I guess.
"The Jungle Café"
By Gary Soto- from The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry- 2nd Edition.
1985
We could wipe away a fly,
Drink, and order that yellow
Thing behind the glass, peach
Or sweet bread. Sunlight
Is catching on a fork,
Toothy wink from a star.
The fan is busy, the waiter is busy,
And today, in this cafe
Of two dollars and fifty
Cents, we’re so important
Dogs are shaking our hands.
“Welcome, turistas,” they say,
Or might say if they could
Roll their Rs. Where we sit
It’s three o’ clock, and
Across the room, where
Old men are playing dominos
It’s maybe later, it’s maybe
Peru under their hats.
There are toads in this place
—sullen guards by the door—
and the bartender is just another
Uncle fooling with the radio.
“A little to the left,”
I shout, and he dials left,
Then right, until it’s German
Polkas, accordions by the sea.
The toads move a little.
An old man clicks a domino.
Omar, my gypsy friend, puts in—
“Love is chasing me up my sleeve.”
I salute him, he salutes me,
And together we’re so drunk
We’re making sense. Little
By little, with rum the color
Of a woman’s arm, we’re seeing things—
Of a dancer, no two,
Make that three with one chair.
And that man—the old one
Over there—is so blurry
He thinks he’s flying.