Although cold outside, the boy is not concerned about the cold, as his heart is warmed with the thought of his walk with the girl. Soto's use of informal dictation in this poem enhances the overall theme of the youthful excitement of the event and what it meant to the boy. "Frost crackling"/"Beneath my steps, my breath/Before me, then gone,/As I walked toward/Her house, the one whose/Porch light burned yellow/Night and day, in any weather." (lines 5-11) This is a long sentence, which is broken down to create a rhythm and concrete words are used at the end of some of the lines, i.e. crackling and weather. The description of how cold it is, "Frost crackling"/"Beneath my steps, my breath/Before me, then gone," (Lines 5-7) lets the reader know that the boy does not live in Florida or California where oranges grow, giving strength to the idea that the oranges the boy has are significant. .
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.
