Jade Zhang

10/05/14
Period: 6
Body paragraph rewrite
Thesis: In the autobiographical narrative by Gary Soto, Soto uses biblical allusion,
imagery, and diction to recreate the time he stole a pie when he was just 6 years
old.
MOD: In the beginning of the passage we can how he was so drawn into the
delicious pie that it caused him to steal from the grocery store. Throughout the
passage we are able to see the progressions of his guilt vs his enjoyment and
satisfaction over the pie through these rhetorical devices.
In the beginning of the passage Soto uses biblical allusion as early in the 3 rd
line to show how stealing was something completely out of the ordinary from his
typical innocent behavior. He says Some days I recognized the shadows of angels
flopping on the backyard grass, and other days I heard faraway messages in the
plumbing that howled underneath the house when I crawled there looking for
something to do. This shows how he had on and off good days. The angels
symbolize purity and goodness almost as if his backyard as a representation of
heaven in his point of view. The plumbing underneath his house represents hell, and
he says how he crawls under there when he has nothing to do. In the next line (line
7) Soto says But boredom made me sin. This relates back to Soto crawling under
his house when hes bored. This relates to the bible when Eve was tempted by the
snake to take the apple, its almost as if boredom is Sotos snake.