Gary Soto Seventh Grade Analysis

Introduction “If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you.” -Unknown “Seventh Grade”, a short story by Gary Soto, shows experiences can lead to change in personality traits. For example, the main character Victor is not very confident around his crush, Teresa, on the first day of school. Throughout the short story Victor learns not to be subjective towards people and act like himself.
Body 1 In the short story “Seventh Grade” by Gary Soto the thought is change in personality happened in the story because of some of the events in French Class. An example of this would be, ‘“ Victor didn’t know what to say. The teacher wet his lips and asked him say something in French. The room grew silent. Victor felt eyes staring at him. …show more content…
The text states, ‘“She smiled and said, “Hi, Victor.” He smiled back and said, “Yeah, that’s me.” His brown face blushed. Why hadn’t he said, “Hi, Teresa.” or “How was your summer?” or something nice.” (Soto 23) Teresa talking to Victor may seem like a very small thing to others but for Victor it takes all his energy. Victor was nervous so he stuttered and messed up what he was going to say. Victor was taught to act like himself after he messed up.Also the text reveals, ‘“Yes, now somebody give me an example of a person—you, Victor Rodriguez.” “Teresa,” Victor said automatically.”’(Soto 21) This show the thought that Victor zones out and thinks about Teresa. When he is called on he just says Teresa because she is always on his mind and doesn’t pay attention to the answer . One thing Victor can learn from is to think before he speaks.The author states, ‘“He raced to metal shop. After metal shop there was biology, and after a long sprint to the public library, where he checked out three French textbooks.”’ (Soto 25) This event happened after Teresa asked him for help with French. This event shows how after he talks to Teresa that’s all he thinks about. This shows how like before Victor needs to think before he speaks. Meeting and talking to and about help him learn to think before he speaks and act like …show more content…
Also Victor is deciding his friend about how he looks. After his friend shows him how to scowl he thinks it is not him. This shows Victor needs to stop being subjective towards people.The author states, “‘..., Victor tried scowling. He felt foolish, until out of the corner of his eye he saw a girl looking at him.”’ (Soto 23) This shows how Victor instead of deciding what Micheal (his friend) did he tested if scowling really worked. This interaction helped Victor taught to question things he is confused about. This helped Victor become a inquirer. Learning to scowl helped him learn to not to be subjective to people and helped him become a