Poem Analysis: Saturday At The Canal
Saturday at the Canal Analysis
In the poem, Saturday at the Canal, author Gary Soto tells the story of two teenage kids who are unhappy with their lives. They were expecting their lives to be different even though they were only seventeen. The author makes sure we realize just how miserable they are. He uses descriptive writing to help us understand how they feel. Soto is also careful not to be too specific about certain ideas in order to help the reader create their own interpretation of this poem. Saturday at the Canal is not a cut and dry poem where you know exactly what it is about, it is a poem that lets us use our imagination. The poem starts out with a heart-wrenching statement “I was hoping to be happy by seventeen”. Within the first eight words of this poem, we the readers are already drawn in. We want to know why a seventeen year old is not happy at such an important point in his life. We begin to think of possible situations where a seventeen year old wouldn’t be happy with life; bullying, heart break, or maybe even death. We have to continue to read in order to understand why this teenager is having such a hard time. Soto peaks everyone’s curiosity by implying that this teenager has never been happy in his entire life. He relies on our nosiness to ensure that we will continue to read. …show more content…
They talk about how school was “a sharp checkmark in the roll book” implying that school was more like a chore. Once they checked one thing off the list, another one was right there to follow. Soto helps us see the type of teenager the character is. He brings us back into a school hallway where we hear the tuba sound for the sports pep rally. Once everyone leaves for the rally, the only people left in the hallway are the burnouts and loners. The ones with “poor grades” and “unwashed hair”, the ones similar to our
In the poem, Saturday at the Canal, author Gary Soto tells the story of two teenage kids who are unhappy with their lives. They were expecting their lives to be different even though they were only seventeen. The author makes sure we realize just how miserable they are. He uses descriptive writing to help us understand how they feel. Soto is also careful not to be too specific about certain ideas in order to help the reader create their own interpretation of this poem. Saturday at the Canal is not a cut and dry poem where you know exactly what it is about, it is a poem that lets us use our imagination. The poem starts out with a heart-wrenching statement “I was hoping to be happy by seventeen”. Within the first eight words of this poem, we the readers are already drawn in. We want to know why a seventeen year old is not happy at such an important point in his life. We begin to think of possible situations where a seventeen year old wouldn’t be happy with life; bullying, heart break, or maybe even death. We have to continue to read in order to understand why this teenager is having such a hard time. Soto peaks everyone’s curiosity by implying that this teenager has never been happy in his entire life. He relies on our nosiness to ensure that we will continue to read. …show more content…
They talk about how school was “a sharp checkmark in the roll book” implying that school was more like a chore. Once they checked one thing off the list, another one was right there to follow. Soto helps us see the type of teenager the character is. He brings us back into a school hallway where we hear the tuba sound for the sports pep rally. Once everyone leaves for the rally, the only people left in the hallway are the burnouts and loners. The ones with “poor grades” and “unwashed hair”, the ones similar to our