Oranges/Gary Soto critical analysis

Often times our most vivid memories are of a first time experience. First day of school, first kiss, first dance, first job, or first car, are often detailed memories that will be etched in our minds forever. Many writers draw upon their own memories or first time experiences as a theme when creating poems, dramas, short stories and even essays. Themes that a reader can relate to or that spark a memory of a similar experience are often enjoyed and are stimulating to the reader. A person looking at the poem "Oranges" by Gary Soto, (474) to analyze and critique it would use a formalist approach. The poem “Oranges” uses imagery and strong concrete words to create meaning in his poem. Soto uses many other literary techniques as well, in order to convey the experience of a young boy’s first date to the reader, such as using acute attention to detail and the use of fragmented and run-on sentences, or short sentences for emphasis. Gary Soto seems to have taken an experience from his memory and written his poem “Oranges” about a boy’s first walk with his girlfriend. This poem is written in first person and is narrated by a boy who is a reliable source.

The descriptive words in the poem “Oranges” provide the reader with a sense that the events being described are of great importance to the young man narrating the poem. Soto creates sensory images, words that create sound in our minds as we read. “A dog barked at me, until/She came out pulling,” (lines12-13); Entered, the tiny bell/Bringing a saleslady” (lines 22-23). As the two walk the author uses very descriptive words to give detail to the landscape, “Her down the street, across/A used car lot and a line/Of newly planted trees,/Until we were breathing/Before a drugstore. We” (lines 17-21). Instead of just saying we walked past a car lot and trees, the author gives us a more descriptive picture and uses “used” car lot and “newly” planted trees as images against the cold December walk. As they walk into the drugstore the boy’s actions and the description of the candy “I turned to the candies/Tiered like bleachers,” (line 25-26) visually gives the candy importance. The boy asks the girl what she wants; knowing he only has a nickel in his pocket, and when she picks up a chocolate candy that costs ten cents he quietly lays the nickel and an orange on the counter. "I didn't say anything./I took the nickel from/My pocket, then an orange,/And set them quietly on/The counter. When I looked up," (34-38). Again the orange is significant in the poem as the boy uses it to purchase his girl a gift. He trades one of his oranges, one of his symbols of joy, to buy his girlfriend a piece of chocolate, giving of his own joy in order to give this girl joy. “Light in her eyes, a smile/Starting at the corners/Of her mouth.” (lines 28-30).

title “Oranges” gives an instant burst to the poem with a visual image of vivid color and even a sense of smell. An orange can symbolize many things, but in this poem it symb

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