Gary Soto was born on April 12, 1952, in the farming community of Fresno, California, to Mexican-American parents. In his essay “Being Mean” he talks of how his father and grandfather worked at the Sun Maid Raisin Factory and his mother peeled potatoes at Reddispud. Soto’s father faced an early death due to a work-related incident and his mother remarried. In his collection of poems entitled “Home Course in Religion” Soto talks of the arguments that his mother and stepfather had, showing a difficult relationship between the two. Due to the family’s poverty Soto was forced to work and earn money as an agricultural laborer in California’s San Joaquin Valley and the tire-retread factory in Fresno. His earlier poems focus on this personal history. Although Soto comes from a tough background and does not mention it in his poetry, he does have an impressive academic background. He graduated magna cum laude from California State University at Fresno with a degree in English (1974). In 1976 he received a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of California Irvine. (Boyle 3112-3113)
Soto began writing poems in 1974 while studying geography in college. He was inspired one day, while working on a te
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/ My stepfather was drinking Jack Daniel’s /…The trouble with you. Soto also noticed that many poets wrote about places where they grew up or places, which inspired them; for example James Wright wrote about his home of Ohio and West Virginia and Gary Snyder wrote of the Sierra Nevada and Japan where he studied Zen Buddhism and the pacifistic ways . This poem therefore explores the theme of hope. planned a campaign to end poverty nationwide by rallying in Washington D. Reluctant at first, he gave up his study of geography and decided to become a poet after reading Edward Field’s poem “Unwanted”, in which he talks of how he wanting recognition and love. He enjoyed writing poems about his past, which has remained a source for his works. They demanded bilingual education in Chicano schools and Chicano studies in Universities and insisted on Chicano only organizations.
Themes
Soto’s poetry is largely autobiographical and his themes stem from his Mexican-American heritage and his impoverished life in the San Joaquin Valley. Imagery is used to show Soto’s admiration of his favorite baseball player, “It was a figure-Hector Moreno/Quick and hard with turned muscles, /His crouch the one I assumed before an altar/ Of worm baseball cards, in my room. Soto was
inspired by the work because he felt it related to his own life. Soto now wrote about the beauty and ugliness of his childhood and life in the valley. Soto found his want to write poetry odd because as a child he was not encouraged to read and did not have books.
Approximate Word count =
4291
Approximate Pages =
17 (250 words per page double spaced)
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