Symbolism in 'The Jacket' by Gary Soto

“Man, that’s ugly, I heard the buzz-buzz of gossip and even laughter that I knew was meant for me” (para. 7), Soto expresses. When the author wore the jacket, he felt that everyone was making fun of him and his ugly jacket. He also criticizes his teachers’ behavior: “The teachers were no help: they looked my way and talked about how foolish I looked in my new jacket” (para. 6). Something similar happened to me when I wore the bear costume. My classmates teased me by calling me “bear.” Soto, however, suffered for a long time when ridiculous behavior from my friends lasted only a

First to say, the theme of this story is a little bit tricky to completely pinpoint. Throughout the whole story, almost all of the characters have a conflict with being extremely poor. Even though they are poor, it does not seem to phase them because that is what they always knew. Some may think this theme is about Native Americans trying to survive in the world that was taking away from them. The more appropriate theme would lean towards the abandoning of culture practices due to living in a world of ridicule. Many of the Native Americans in this short story have long forgotten and have

This show what poverty is like in the kid’s life outside of school. Poverty affects their behavior in school. In To Kill a Mockingbird, By Harper Lee, Walter Cunningham is a little boy who only goes

“I remember the green coat that I wore in fifth and sixth grades when you either danced like a champ or pressed yourself against a greasy wall, bitter as a penny toward the happy couples.” The owner of the jacket feels left out because of a new jacket his mom gets him. Everyone laughs at him and they stop being his friend because of a jacket he as to wear. The author Gary Soto really expresses how the boy in the jacket feels and how everyone else feels about the jacket. He also uses really good tone to help with what the people are feeling. The theme of “The Jacket,” one should not judge themselves by how others judge them, is supported by conflict. One thing that is relayed is that everyone makes fun of him and he takes it personally and

He remembered his shock at his parents’ passing. The words seemed unreal- yet here he was, with no money, no family, and no means to support himself or the farm where he’d grown up. Prematurely forced into manhood, he decided to sell his farm and looked for small work around the village as a servant, so that he would have a roof over his head and some food to sustain himself. However, most in the village were too poor to afford such luxuries, and those who had the money did not think much of paying a mere boy for work. He realized the money he had made from selling the farm was dwindling, and he moved out to the city in a desperate attempt to find more opportunities for

The Working Poor is a story of hard times in our lives, that can vary in times of the poor struggles, middle class struggles, and just overall all struggles of everyday people whom have difficult times in their lives. In this reading we found there were difficult things happening to people in this book in different chapters and nothing really had a positive note from what the basis of the story had led us to believe. There is some of this story where its chapter talks about money and how it is breaking down people’s lives simply with all aspects that are fairly difficult with money; such as income tax as its goes into how the people cannot do their tax returns or pay their taxes, people being scammed out their money, little to no trust in banks, and it even mentions certain tax company in its efforts to stress the difficulties faced. Another speaks on some people life stories Ms. Christine, Ms. Debra Hall, and Ms. Caroline Payne. These women faced many difficulties that it speaks about and it almost becomes a consideration to be a biography in the story in this chapter really. Later in the chapters it brings on some hardships on the men in the story where some of these men make difficult decisions and they are not good to be honest they bring hardship to their families to the next level because these are times where men should have been considered the workers while they had a wife whom did house work and natured the

Living in poverty and not being able to meet basic needs leads the characters to result to desperate measures such as stopping Frank McCourt’s education and taking a job to support the family. Frank is forced to take the job mostly because his father is an

Life for them was terrible. "Madame Loisel came to know the ghastly life of abject poverty." She worked day in and day out, along with her husband, and it took a toll on her. "Madame Loisel looked old now." She had scrubbed away her soft hands when she had to begin washing dishes on her own. Her hair grayed and she could no longer associate with the friends that she used to know. "...She played her part heroically. This fearful debt must be paid off. She would pay it." She did not complain much, probably to the delight of her husband, and she was brave enough to own what had happened. Complaining would have meant that she blamed someone else for her mistake, but she had acknowledged that what happened laid on her shoulders. But she still secretly longed for the glorious night she had spent at the ball, where she had been admired by

In the short story, “A Piece of Streak” by Jack London, the ideation of oppression and poverty by displayed the protagonist’, Tom King, he is a retired fighter, that struggles with his current situation. The sense of struggle and sadness is developed through the reoccurring themes of oppression and poverty, symbolism of the tobacco-less pipe and the dull and lifeless tone created through diction and literary devices. The theme of oppression is one of the main concepts that is explored by his failure to provide the basics of life, including: food, proper clothes, and a reliable income. Without these basic needs of life, a family in society would be considered improvised. The reader learns that the King family struggles to provide food for the children. The narrator states that, “the two children in the other room had been sent early to bed in order that in sleep they might forget they had gone supperless” (London 1). The inability to provide a meal for his children and wife is a clear example of poverty. In connection, the only food they are able to purchase is considered “lower class” food. The narrator mentions that Tom’s dinner consisted of. “flour [that have been borrowed from the neighbour] for the gravy. The last two ha’pennies had gone to buy bread” (1). As mentioned before, bread and low quality gravy is a “lower class” meal and is inexpensive. However, the family is still unable to provide food for dinner, one of the basics of life. Another component that is mentioned by the narrator that reflects oppression and poverty is the fact that they do not have proper and purposeful clothing. Within the character description, it is stated that Tom’s appearance consists of “a cotton shirt, a cheap, two shilling affair, showed a frayed collar” (1). Due to lack of financial security, they are unable to provide better clothes. The theme of oppression and poverty is an significant to develop the plot and create images throughout the text. The symbolism of the pipe is a significant to the theme of oppression and poverty, while developing the protagonist. The pipe represents what he used to have, which is now gone. In his youthful years, Tom was a successful fighter. However, as he aged, he became unable to continue

He purposely illustrates situations, especially in the intercalary chapters, designed to make the reader feel pity for them (Meyer 131). One tenant describes the conditions in the following quote: “What do you want us to do? We can't take less share of the crop – we're half starved now. The kids are hungry all the time. We got no clothes, torn an' ragged.

The second part finds the narrator starving again and reduced to living in a workshop above a stable, abandoned because the snow comes into the building. The weather has turned cold, and the narrator's writing is going nowhere. After losing his keys, he is forced to spend the night in the jail as homeless, but he is turned out starving because he's lied about his position in life. At each avenue he tries, the narrator fails to earn or borrow money. Finally, a pawnbroker turns down his last possession, the buttons on his coat. During this part, the narrator is saved; not by his own work, but by an unnamed passing friend who realizes what a desperate situation the narrator is

The narrator has been homeless for six years and is continuing to do so. He claimed to be a boring heartbreaker and an effective homeless man. When the narrator found his grandmother’s headdress in a pawnshop, the price was far beyond his reach. Alexie have shown the narrator’s eagerness in buying the headdress back by testing him with a quest to buy it back with $999. The narrator is emotionless. With this quest, it had helped

This is especially shown through each of the family member’s body language and faces. The father is worried, focusing on the grandmother (who might be his mother). He is sitting slouched with a low hanging neck. His expression reads anxiety, worry, and care. The mother tells the opposite story, she only appears to be worried and focused on one thing, her husband. It seems that he isn’t eating much and she seems to be worried about his health and wellbeing. As a good wife does, she cares about her family so much that she can be consumed with worry and anxiety for them. The grandfather’s eyes tell a story of deep sadness and unhappiness. He looks at his wife with love and worry, while holding out a cup asking for more tea. It’s a loving gesture despite the grandmother’s unhappy disposition. The grandmother looks down in sadness and worry, perhaps because while she pours the tea, she gets to watch her whole family experience what she felt as a mother growing up. Watching the little one grow up in a life of hardships while the parents tried as hard as they could to transcend that. The daughter’s back facing the audience is significant because often times, growing up without the privileges other children may have had can be an embarrassing thing. She shows her back in shame and you can see her head falling slightly, probably because while her family worries for everyone, she worries for herself. Being poor is often romanticized in movies, but the reality is that it is one of life’s greater hardships. Not everyone is given the same opportunities and because of that, most people grow up and live a life of

The first struggle Francis faced involved cooking. He made it to his apartment and realized that he was hungry. Consequently, he couldn’t read the labels on the food cans and he was unable to cook any food. Ahmed brought Francis a pizza but he doesn’t like the look of it and thinks it’s messy. “But I did not like Ahmed’s present.” It did not look like good food to me; it seemed messy (164). His bed, another problem gave him havoc every night. It was made for americans, not 6 foot 6 Sudanese men. Francis had trouble getting around in Fargo. Francis’s transportation, a bike didn’t ride well in the snow. “One second I’m riding my bike, the next I’m a snowman” (172). Even though Francis made good money he still had trouble with the hard labor at

In the story, the father of the middle-class family beliefs that all his problems come from the lack of money. The story starts off by the father dropping off his kids at school and the bumper falling of his car. Throughout the story he’s constantly putting himself down: “Note to future generations: Park Avenue = type of car. Ours not new. Ours oldish”. This quote is an example of him telling the reader that he is suffering financially. As the story goes on the father reveals that he feels pressured by society and his own family. Also he one of his problems in the story is that he believes that he does not satisfy his kids enough. This all make him believe that all of his problems will go away if he was upper class, this is actually the reason