Allusions In A Summer Life By Gary Soto

Gary Soto’s vivid imagery and religious allusions recreate an event where sin and guilt leads him to reflect upon his actions as a six-year-old child. In the beginning of A Summer Life, Gary Soto reveals that he has a religious background by quoting that “he knew enough about hell” and that he “was holy in almost every bone”. In addition to his religiously influenced statements, he also states “angels flopping”. The recurrence of allusions from the bible in the introductory passage emphasizes that Soto knew about God and therefore, the consequences of sin even at a young age. However, what overpowers Soto’s six-year-old conscious to steal an apple pie is “boredom”, which as how Soto explains, “Made me sin”. After Gary Soto’s self-aware reflection on what caused him to steal, he continues with how the incident began. …show more content…
Out of all the other pies six-year-old Soto could haven chosen, it is significant that he craves for an apple pie. For the reason that an apple is symbolic to temptation due to the passage in the bible where Eve is tempted by a snake to pick an apple despite God commanding Eve not to do so. Similar to the story from the bible, Gary Soto makes a connection between himself and the first sinners, Adam and Eve, when he quotes, "I knew an apple got Eve in deep trouble with a snake”. The realization that Soto will soon be punished for his sin much like how Adam and Eve was leads him to feel guilty and