La Bamba Short Story Analysis

Everyone gets worried sometime in their life.In Gary Soto 's short story “La Bamba” the main character, Manuel, thinks”Why did i raise my hand?”He is worried about what will happen and how he will be perceived.In “La Bamba” Manuel has volunteered to pretend to sing “La Bamba” in front of the whole school for a talent show.Manuel starts becoming worried because he wants to impress people, especially a girl he likes.He doesn 't know what will happen and how he will be perceived during his act so he is very worried until the climax of the story.The amazing characterization, symbolism and man vs. man in “La Bamba” all contribute to the theme of the story:One does not have to constantly worry about how people perceive them; they are great the way they are.
To start off,the characterization in

Second,the symbolism in “La Bamba” supports the overarching theme:In fact,at the start of “La Bamba” Gary Soto writes “But summer was giving way to fall: the trees were turning red, the lawns brown, and the pomegranate trees were heavy with fruit.”Soto writes this to symbolise that Manuel is changing. Manuel is becoming more aware of how he looks and emotions are running high to do well in the talent show. Like summer giving way to fall Manuel is changing in many respects. In some ways Manuel is like beautiful leaves; happy and self-confident. In other ways Manuel is like the brown grass: he is unhappy and feels exposed.There is also another piece of symbolism supporting the theme.Soto also writes “This is not fun at all. Everyone was just sitting there. Some people were moving to the beat, but most were just watching him, like they would a monkey at the zoo.”Soto writes this to symbolise how manuel is worried about how people perceive him.He didn 't like other people watching him and being focused on just him.All throughout “La Bamba” Manuel is always worried about how others perceive him in one way or another when he shouldn 't and he should just be ignore how others