Gary Soto’s Experiences With Poverty And Love In His Poem Oranges

Gary Soto was once a young boy figuring out how to grow up.​ Gary Soto writes his poems to relate to his readers and by using certain literary devices he can do so. Soto reflects on his first date, which allowed him to mature and grow confident with the opposite sex. At first, he was nervous and felt the “pressure to impress his date” but once the date was near over he had broken out of his shell. The love he felt for the girl, his first date became an experience to remember. The coming of age experience allowed confidence to spark, and maturity to rise. The darkness of the poem is overtaken by the brightness like the night sky is overtaken by the early morning sky. That new brightness is a symbol of his newly confident self and his level of maturity has risen. ​Soto’s experiences with poverty and love influenced his poem “Oranges” which demonstrates the universal theme of coming of age.

The use of literary devices convey the idea of love and coming of age.​ The theme of love is created with the orange, the girl, the surroundings, and the saleslady. The description of the girl uses imagery and symbolism. The girl’s face was bright with makeup, readers can picture the girl with bright cheeks ​“with rouge”. ​The bright rouge color represents love and happiness, through the bright color​ ​“she is linked closely to the orange as a symbol of love”.​ ​The oranges represent the true meaning of the poem, the coming of age story of the young boy. The oranges also represent love, the bright color brightens the mood. The oranges are put against the gloomy cold weather, in which the oranges brighten the mood, the bright color also is referred to as love throughout the poem.​ The oranges are linked to the chocolate bar as a ​“seemingly unreachable goal”.​ ​It becomes difficult because growing up in poverty he does not have enough to pay for the chocolate bar. The love he has though is he uses all of his money and one of his oranges to pay. The saleslady also accepts the payment as she knows what is going on as she does this out of love. The cold weather is represented by his immaturity and loneliness ​but when the ​“fog hangs like old coats” ​and cars can pass by because it is not below freezing any more​. The weather has brightened, as the brightness represents love meaning, it has grown and loneliness is filled with happiness. The brightening weather also represents that unreachable goal has become accomplished and the confidence and maturity level has grown as that goal had a coming of age change​. He has now become so confident that he can “make fire in his hands”. ​As the boy reflects on him being a teen he remembers the coming of age event and how it changed him as a person, as Soto uses certain literary devices readers learn what a coming of age event is.

​Soto was influenced to write a poem based on his past experiences. ​Soto was born in Fresno, California, and all of his poems are based on his life to relate to teenagers. He experiences love for the first time, which is a coming of age event. A coming of age event is a memory you remember the oddest things like an ​“unusual cold snap”.​ ​That unusual cold snap represents how he was before he met his first love, he was grey and lonely.​ There was no happiness considering​ “his father was killed in an industrial accident”.​ ​When the girl came into his life it filled that loneliness a little brighten the mood as represented ​by the ​“images of light or brightness”. While growing up he was influenced by the ​“impoverished surroundings, his family’s struggles to provide... a secure home”. ​When he tried to pay for the chocolate bar he could not, having to use his orange and all of the money he had. Readers see this as a major coming of age experience as he overcame the idea of being short on change, growing the confidence with the girl. The boy using all of his money and the sales lady allowing him to use an orange to buy the bar represents the strong love. ​Soto tells his poems based on his gift of memory, he used his experiences to convey the idea of love and poverty and how it is shaped.

​Growing up in poverty and going on his first date changed him, he felt more confident and happy. The coming of age event that happened shaped him to be more self-reliant.​ As Soto grew up in poverty as a young boy, and his dad dying he formed the poem “Oranges” off his own life. ​The literary devices used and the poet’s past life can form the poem “Oranges” as it tells a coming of age story of a young boy.