Religious Allusions In Gary Soto's A Summer Life

Gary Soto’s imagery and religious allusions reminisce an event where sin and guilt leads

him to reflect upon his actions when he was a six-year-old child.

In the beginning of A Summer Life, Gary Soto reveals that he has a religious background

by quoting that “he knew enough about hell” and that he “was holy in almost every bone”. In

addition to his religiously influenced statements, he also states “angels flopping”. The recurrence

of allusions from the bible in the introductory passage exhibits that Soto knew about God and

therefore, the consequences of sin. However, what overpowers Soto’s six-year-old conscious to

steal an apple pie is “boredom”, which as how Soto explains, “Made me sin”. After Gary Soto’s

observation on what
After stealing the pie, Soto starts to mutter “No one saw” indicating that he is attempting

to comfort and rationalize his guilty mind. Paranoia begins to manifest in Soto’s mind as he sees

a “squirrel nailed … on the trunk”, an allusion to Jesus’s crucifixion. Along with Soto’s highly

religious influenced depiction of his external world, he then depicts himself with an animalistic

behavior when he “clawed a chunk” and “pushed it into the cavern of his mouth”.

Eventually, Soto soon acknowledges his guilt for the sin he committed when he vividly

remembers “the grocer’s forehead … the warm air … and the car that honked” as he cried. Even

as a six-year-old, Gary Soto can reflect upon himself and the sin he had committed. As Soto

“crawled back to the light, raising from one knee … and squint in the harsh light”, it symbolizes

the righteousness of God and asking for forgiveness, similar to a person confessing their sins at

Gary Soto explores his journey of desire, guilt, and redemption supported with a plethora

of clearly vivid imagery and allusions from the bible to express his introspective conclusion on

what sin is through first-hand