of this poem sets up the scenery and the tone for the poem. It is about a man who works in cotton fields for a living. This leads one to assume that the setting is on a farm in a rural area. The man lives on this cotton field farm with his wife and sons. The dream of cotton fields Soto speaks about could be interpreted two ways. The man could literally dream of his cotton plants at night because he spends so much time there. On the other hand, the author could be using the word "dream" to help the reader imagine them being the person in this poem. Next there is the second stanza of this poem, which is the longest of the three. The character speaks about the sun being a "red blister" coming up in your palm. One could assume working in the sun and heat is blistering and Soto is using this metaphor to signify how strenuous the work is. On the other hand, working in fields could also cause the blister upon the characters palm. A person could use the metaphor literally or more figuratively depending on who reads it. Soto also uses the phrase "not yet [a] broken chair" to give a clue as to the age of the character in the poem. If he is not yet broken, then he would still be young and able to move about easily. Soto also gives indication of the man's education level by the phrase "in an abandoned school of dry spiders dust settles on your forehead, dirt smiles under your fingernails." When Soto says the school is abandoned it may signify that the character turned his back on school.
Despite the fact he may not have gone to school, the man certainly works hard. In the poem as he chops the rows off cotton, he is adding up the things he can buy for his family. He is definitely a selfless person as well because he is only adding up things he wants to provide for his family, milk, meat, bread, and full cupboards. There are no treats for himself that he talks about. The phrase "10 hours and then the cupboards creek" signals the end to his work day (the cupboards are full). After his workday he finally rests: Soto uses the simile "the minutes jerk like flies" to show that his day is slowing down after all his …show more content…
work. The third stanza of this poem is set in the evening. This is the stanza where the poem is wrapped up. The man talks about dusk, and how it costs money to light his home. "The lights in your home are on. That costs money, yellow light in the kitchen, that's thirty steps." This could be interpreted as thirty steps in the cotton field to pay the electricity that he is burning. It seems the man is very aware of the expenses and his situation in life. Soto also says "you were a fool in school, now look at you, you're a giant among cotton plants." Upon reading this one thinks that school was unimportant to him, or like noted earlier, he might have dropped out or abandoned school. Soto also has the character talking to his oldest son, asking him a multiplication problem. "He knows as well as you, and you smile" This would maybe make one assume that neither the character nor his children were very educated. Finally Soto ends by saying that he goes to sleep with a "red sun" on his palm, "the sore light you see when you first stir in bed." Essentially the man goes to bed knowingperhaps with his dry or overworked handsthat the first thing he will do in the morning is work more in the cotton fields, and the next day and the next day. Looking back on this poem, it was very well written.
I don't think it was difficult to get the gist of what the author is trying to show. It was written in a way that relates to the everyday man. The character was really stuck in his daily grind of life, and although he knew that, he seemed accepting of it. The pace of the poem was steady and tired like the man in the fields. One thinks of the clock ticking as he cuts, cuts, cuts. The character was a good provider for his family and he worked hard for his possessions. This poem could easily be derived from a day-in-the-life of a cotton field owner, or it could have been found in someone's
journal. The poem was also very logical. It was clear-cut and concise. Soto chose to write this poem blank verse and not include rhyming. Rhyming a poem like this would have taken the tiredness from it. . A poem that is hum-drum such as this one is served best by not having a rhyme scheme to it. In closing, this poem is a reminder of the hard work that a farmer or any middle class man puts into making a living. For a person who has never worked on a farm it gives insight as to what kind of work it requires. Soto's poem also put money into perspective. On a daily basis it is difficult to recognize where all the money goes that a person makes. On the contrary, the reader knows step for step where his money goes. It is now clear why Gary Soto is such a celebrated literature writer, his poem was interesting and fun to read. It made the reader think, and that was probably the point. I look forward to reading his poetry again.