The Jacket By Gary Soto Summary

In the novel, Love Medicine, the reader gets to read about what it’s like to live a life as an Ojibwe Indian. The reader follows a family through the struggles of their everyday lives and witnesses how the individual characters develop through this story. Louise Erdrich created a character that’s development during these 60 years stood out significantly, Lipsha Morrissey. Lipsha’s character develops from a shy, anxious young man he was in the beginning into a more strong and confident man to wards the end. He does so by learning the true meaning of family and by discovering his own self worth in the process.

First and foremost, the literary element in “The Jacket” supports the overarching theme, focusing on the small things like appearances can distract humainity from the bigger more important things. In fact, the boy distracts himself with the small things like his jacket, therefore his life was filled with conflict and hard times. Soto explains, “I blame that jacket for those bad years. I blame my mother for her bad taste and cheap ways. It was a sad time for the heart.” The boy struggled during in his life, and instead of taking the blame for his troubles he blamed it on his mother and his green jacket. This difficulty could relate back to something that happened in his childhood that affected him. The boy may have had a hard life experience that made him struggle and

In Chapter Seven: Lessons From My Year as a Freshman, Rebekah Nathan summarizes and answers questions on the knowledge she gained from becoming a freshman. The author begins the chapter with a cross-cultural conversation between professors and students. She discusses how professors are not aware of the students living conditions or the effort that goes into achieving a high GPA. Likewise, the students do not understand professor rank and advancement. Nathan also reflects on the time she spent as a student and gains a new perspective during course preparations. The writer continues the chapter with an analysis of student culture and conformity that she experienced during her field work. In the last section of the chapter, Nathan looks back

When reading the text Fear, by Gary Soto, I can’t help but assume the author’s purpose or overarching theme was that our past or life experiences can affect how we act. In this stories case, a life without love, can cause terrible behavior. The plot of the story revolves around a boy that comes from a broken home, and due to such circumstances he bullies his peers. The story was a typical encounter a fifth grader would have with Frankie (boy from a broken home). The narrator says, “Some of us looked away because it was unfair. We knew the house he lived in: The empty refrigerator, the father gone, the mother in a sad bathrobe, the beatings, the yearnings for something to love” (Soto, Par. 10). It’s easy to see that Frankie is only in need of love, and without it his actions become sort of evil. Another examples comes in when we get a look at

In the story The Jacket by Gary Soto, the jacket has a negative affect on his life because everybody laughed at him and tried to do it behind his back.

The old saying is don’t judge a book by it’s cover and I think that is a lesson that we all should know. Society sucks nowadays because if you don’t have the right clothes or the right car or the right amount of money then you are an outcast. Well let me tell you it is okay to be an outcast. If you want to be like Hester Prynne then go for it. If you want to be like one of the girls from the Crucible then do it. The main point of this paper is don’t let people judge you if they don’t know you. Be you.

“It’s funny how one little thing can change your perspective on everything.” For young Gary Soto, that one thing was a guacamole-colored jacket. In the memoir, “The Jacket,” author Gary Soto conveys the message of his insecurity, his poverty, and his ultimate self destruction through the use of figurative language. Soto’s clever use of personification, metaphors, and similes clearly illustrates the message that the way you dress influences how you feel about yourself.

In the article the boy says,”That green ugly brother who breathed over my shoulder that day and ever since.” He realizes that not everything you get is the most beautiful thing ever. You have to work with what you have get and have to enjoy it while you can because you have memories, good or bad in and with everything. Next, the article states, “I stared at the jacket, like an enemy, thinking bad things before I took off my old jacket whose sleeves climbed halfway to my elbow.” This connects to the above quote because he classifies the jacket as an enemy then later he calls it a brother which shows he finally understands that he needs the jacket to stay warm. He explains that the jacket is necessary for him and he has to live with

Instead of enjoying her time away from her family, all she thinks about is how they might be hurt and that it is all her fault. Soto says, ”But an ill feeling stirred inside her. She felt awful about arguing with her father. She felt bad for her mother and two brothers, who would have to spend the next three hours in the car with him. Maybe he would do something crazy, like crash the car on purpose to get back at her, or fall asleep and run the car into an irrigation ditch. And it would be her fault.” Maria thinks that it is her fault that her family could get hurt because she angered her father before they left since she wanted to act mature and stay home by herself. She feels like it is all her fault if her family gets injured because she made a fuss over staying home. As well as this, Soto also says, “...she was riddled with guilt, since it was she who would have disturbed her father and made him crash.” Maria has the impression that it is her fault that her father got angry and could hurt their family. She thinks that her father would hurt his family to get revenge on her for not wanting to going on the family

Insecurity is the feeling of anxiousness and feeling self-conscious about one’s physical characteristics. In Gary Soto’s short story “The Jacket,” the main character says, “ I heard the buzz-buzz of gossip and even laughter that I knew was meant for me. And so I went, in my guacamole-colored jacket.” The boy with the ugly jacket feels insecure about his outward appearance because of the cruel laughter and judgement others are revealing and also tries to hide himself from the unwanted attention. Soto uses literary elements to express the hatred the boy felt towards the jacket, symbols to show that he was embarrassed of his culture and he wishes he had clothing like his other peers, and conflict to impact the way others viewed him to support the overarching theme: Focusing on the small things can distract one from the important things that matter.

Many people don’t have much value for themselves. This is may be because in this age technology is so readily available. We have a stronger opportunity to compare ourselves. A strong example is Cyrano De Bergerac, the head-strong protagonist from Edmond Rostand 's Cyrano De Bergerac, Cyrano is portrayed to be the mighty swashbuckler, he secretly possesses major doubts about his outward appearance. A reader can infer that, although his muzzle might be robust, he finds it makes for a great distraction from his glorious self. Cyrano leads himself to believe the hearsay that he is not worthy of anything, let alone love. His corrupted mind insists he is not, and never will be, striking enough because of his nose. Cyrano’s one true love, Roxanne, has no idea he loves her because he has allowed himself to believe that she could never be in love with his beastly semblance. It is human nature to believe oneself to have worse features and flaws, which in turn leads to self-devaluing or self-destruction, as Cyrano clearly demonstrates.

After I read this article, 16-Year-Old Reveals America 's Real Dress-Code Problem, I do agree and disagree in some points. First, I disagree with the high school principle’s phrase that is “Modest is hottest.” I think he has a problem with the word choices. Why did he use the word “hottest”? For me, I think he tried to prevent his students from the “gangs,” but he should have to change his word to another. If I were a student in that high school, even the principle was well-intentioned, I would feel uncomfortable. I think the word “hot” or “hottest” is inappropriate because it must be used in other ways, which not involved in the education. Second, I think that the “Dress-Code” is a good idea, but it would be fair and better if this code was

Change is inevitable. At some point in everyone’s life, they will experience change which will be a turning point in their life. A common change is moving homes and transitioning into a new society. Living somewhere for your whole life in which you call ‘home’ is comforting and safe. Having to leave that safety blanket and beginning a new life can be intimidating and frightening. A person’s former ways and morals could change into the polar opposite. However, keeping something from before can be a friendly reminder and help hold on to the past. In the short story, Clothes by author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, the main character Mita thoroughly experiences this situation as she moves from her homeland India, to modern America to marry a complete stranger and commence a life with him. She holds on to and cherishes her Indian style clothing until she becomes influenced with American fashion. Throughout the

Fashion is more common in current society than in the ancient tribes or peasant communities. Modern society is an open one where class differences are not as severe as in primitive society. Its urban and mobile class structure allows people to develop its own personality taste and implement its new course. The modern world is more open-minded to differences and consequently places few restraints on the cycle of fashion. Our principles of judgment have also changed. Nowadays the individual is evaluated more by observable externalities than by his descents, his personality or his authentic accomplishments. The clothes a man dresses in, the language he speaks, the behaviors he demonstrated have more credence in ascribing a status than his simplicity, patriotism and

Today, our society is filled with various cultures, beliefs, and lifestyles. Despite differences, everyone wants to be accepted by others in their community, but what has to be done in order to be accepted is not clearly defined. Being accepted could mean wearing the right clothes, being involved in the right clubs or groups, or simply being a kind or generous individual. People should just be normal. As stated in the book Remix, “the label ‘normal’ is loaded with a range of cultural assumptions” (Latterell 9). Everyone has a different view of what is normal. No one can clearly define what normal is, but people still expect others to act normal by their own standards. Today, people are pressured by society to conform to expensive trends when