Guilt – n. the sensation of sadness and despair that follows an action of wrongdoing. It’s common to feel guilt after one has committed something that goes against their ethics. One can never escape guilt, as it is always present. In a passage from his autobiographic novel, A Summer Life, Gary Soto shows the eternal struggle of a six-year old over doing right and wrong and explains the overexaggerated guilt a young one may feel after doing wrong by way of imagery, diction, and symbolism. From a passage of A Summer Life, Gary Soto highlights the struggle within a child deciding to do right or wrong through stimulating imagery and concise diction. Towards the beginning of the passage, the narrator, a young Gary Soto, finds himself in a grocery
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A few minutes after sinking his teeth into the apple pie, the narrator meets an individual by the name of Cross-Eyed Johnny, who asks to have a bite. The narrator immediately breaks down into what could be described as a meltdown. The image of the narrator’s “…tears [blurring his] eyes…” and “…crust [falling] from [his] mouth” shows a picture of guilt taking over the narrator after eating some of the pie because the reader connects with how one can feel anxious and upset after committing an action that would be deemed as wrong. After telling Johnny that he can’t have some of the pie, he is met with the comment on how his “hands are dirty.” This line, spoken by Cross-Eyed Johnny, has deeper meaning when one analyzes who spoke it. Cross-Eyed Johnny symbolizes God watching the narrator committing the sin because it represents the fall of man and the rejection of God. Through this symbol, the author shows his younger self’s guilt and how he rejected Johnny, much like how man rejected God. After finishing off the pie, a young Gary is overwhelmed with thoughts of guilt, and starts looking for something to busy himself with something. He climbs under the house to listen to the pipes, only to climb back out and find a familiar pie tin in the distance. The description of him climbing from out under the house to be met with the “…glare of a pie tin” depicts the nature of sin and guilt because the reader sees how the narrator cannot escape what he has done. He must face the action he committed, and the consequences that go with it. He – the narrator – makes an important realization that “…sin was what you couldn’t take
A few minutes after sinking his teeth into the apple pie, the narrator meets an individual by the name of Cross-Eyed Johnny, who asks to have a bite. The narrator immediately breaks down into what could be described as a meltdown. The image of the narrator’s “…tears [blurring his] eyes…” and “…crust [falling] from [his] mouth” shows a picture of guilt taking over the narrator after eating some of the pie because the reader connects with how one can feel anxious and upset after committing an action that would be deemed as wrong. After telling Johnny that he can’t have some of the pie, he is met with the comment on how his “hands are dirty.” This line, spoken by Cross-Eyed Johnny, has deeper meaning when one analyzes who spoke it. Cross-Eyed Johnny symbolizes God watching the narrator committing the sin because it represents the fall of man and the rejection of God. Through this symbol, the author shows his younger self’s guilt and how he rejected Johnny, much like how man rejected God. After finishing off the pie, a young Gary is overwhelmed with thoughts of guilt, and starts looking for something to busy himself with something. He climbs under the house to listen to the pipes, only to climb back out and find a familiar pie tin in the distance. The description of him climbing from out under the house to be met with the “…glare of a pie tin” depicts the nature of sin and guilt because the reader sees how the narrator cannot escape what he has done. He must face the action he committed, and the consequences that go with it. He – the narrator – makes an important realization that “…sin was what you couldn’t take