A Summer Life By William Zinsser Analysis

In “How to Write a Memoir”, William Zinsser gives some useful hints for people who are thinking about writing a memoir. These tips are “Be yourself,” “Speak freely,” and “Think Small”. (Zinsser 8, 17, 29) According to Zinsser, following this advice will lead to a great memoir. Gary Soto follows these three rules in his memoir, “A Summer Life” by writing in a child’s perspective, honest storytelling, and recalling small memories.

Zinsser says memoirs written from a child’s point of view are great, and Gary Soto follows this in “A Summer Life”. In the chapter “The Sirens”, Gary recalls that when he was “five, what I knew best was at ground level.” This means he is writing in a child’s point of view. At times, he would say and do childish things, such as in the chapter “The War Years”, where he fed plums to his sleeping uncle (Soto, 76) , or in the chapter “The Colors” where he made forts out of mud and smashed them while he made little bomb noises. (Soto, 93) This is something only a child would do, not an adult. We learn about Gary’s life from his point of view, not the adults around him. …show more content…
Just like Zinsser suggested. In the chapter “The Magic Tricks”, the narrator’s mom wanted him to tie his shoelaces. So, she gave him two days to figure it out, or she’ll take his shoes away. (Soto, 69) Gary’s mother is shown as mean here, but it’s just how Gary saw his mother, and how he told his story. In the chapter “The Almonds”, the narrator describes his neighbor, Mr. Drake, as a grumpy, old man who always argued. (Soto, 62) That might or might be true, but that’s how Gary saw him. Gary isn’t worried about upsetting people with his stories, he writes them truthfully as he remembers