In Soto's work, a reader is impressed by the vast amount of vivid contrasts to illustrate a point, not only from a child's view but also from a religious one, too. Soto's first sentence is, "I knew enough about hell to stop me from stealing. I was holy in almost every bone." Interestingly, Soto mentions the negative first; he knows he does not want to go to hell so for that very reason -and that reason alone -he wants to abstain from stealing. The weakness of this is that a person or child cannot be lectured by his mother about morals and be expected to instantly adopt them. No, all that Soto has is an empty shell that contains no substance and will crumble under the slightest amount of pressure. Furthermore, Soto remarks that there were nine different kinds

Another important part of Soto's work is the outstanding imagery that he employs. One of the best examples of this imagery can be seen when Soto writes, "A squirrel nailed itself high on a trunk, where it forked into two large bark-scabbed limbs." The squirrel could be an allegory which stood for Jesus Christ on the cross dying for Gary Soto's sin. Perhaps in another way the squirrel could represent Soto himself because personally he had to blame himself "...squirrel nailed itself...". When Soto refuses to share his pie with Cross-Eyed Johnny, Johnny remarks, "Your hands are dirty [with the pie]". This image reminded this reviewer of Brutus' hands when they were dirty with the blood of Caesar. Dirty with the pie, dirty with the sin of stealing, dirty with the sin of selfishness, yes, little Gary's hands were dirty. Finally, when Soto crawls under his house to escape the heat, he sees, "The pie tin glared at me and rolled away when the wind picked up. My face felt sticky with guilt." Like Adam and Eve hiding from the Almighty in the Garden of Eden, Soto is hiding from the "heat" the guilt that is associated with his sin. When the pie tin rolls away, it seems to say that even though you will be able to hide, you and God will always remember this -it will stick to you. The imagery conveys a vivid and explicit picture of what Soto sees but cannot write; it is like the conscience of Gary Soto critizing himself.

Gary Soto's passage struck this reviewer as a window into the mind of a six year old but also into the mind of human nature. Like Adam and Eve, a person can be temporarily blinded with immediate overwhelming desires. But when a person suc

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Approximate Word count = 1115
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)