The Pie
In the autobiographical narrative “The Pie,” Gary Soto tells of a sin he commits as a child and later feels guilty about. Although he knew stealing was wrong, that knowledge still did not keep him from taking a pie from the market. With the use of religious diction, vivid imagery, repetition, and pacing, Soto tells his readers of his life-changing experience, and what he thinks is the meaning of sin. The author uses religious diction throughout the narrative. Although as a young boy, Soto was “holy in almost every bone,” (line 1) he still stole the apple pie. He says he “knew enough about hell” to keep him from stealing, yet he did it anyways. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but blames his sin on boredom. Earlier, he saw “shadows of angels” (line 2) in his backyard, and heard the pipes howling underneath his house, which he describes as being “God howling” in line 8. “The Pie” is full of colorful and vivid imagery. The use of this rhetorical strategy helps the re . . .
This is the most exciting part of the story. ” (line 21) Readers will hear “the plumbing that howled underneath the house,” just as Soto describes (line 3). Gary Soto’s essay can almost be summarized by the final line: “I knew sin was what you took and didn’t give back. While he is at the market, he “nearly wept trying to decide which [pie] to steal. For example, he describes the howling of the plumbing underneath the house three times. In the story, Soto repeats many words and ideas. ” The author’s point of repeating the idea that the boy is on the verge of tears, even from the beginning of the story, is to show that the whole time he knew what he was doing was wrong. From this line, we can also see that he learns his lesson of stealing and sinning, because the reader senses a tone of remorse and regret in the sentence. Little remorse is shown, but as the story slows down after line 25, you can tell the boy is worrying about what he just did. The most important idea repeated is how Soto is described as crying nearly the whole time he is stealing the pie. ” What the young boy knew was the wrong thing to do was just that. Later in line 27, when Soto begins to regret what he has done, he describes how “tears blurred my eyes. Hancock, in reality, had no idea of what Soto had just done. In line 15, Soto smelled the pie he had taken and “breathed in its sweetness,” which conveys the sense of smell.
Common topics in this essay:
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Acceptance Essays
