Seventh Grade Essay by Gary Soto

In the story, “Seventh Grade”, Gary Soto creates a character that faces challenges with impressing his crush. As Victor tries to win Teresa over with embarrassing tactics his French teacher helps him to not embarrass himself in front of Teresa. So does Victor actually learn from his experience? Does he have responsibility in the problem he has caused? In the beginning of the story Victor decides that in his seventh grade year he is going to get a girl named Teresa. Victor soon discovers that Teresa is in his French class, so Victor becomes very excited. In French class Victor blurts out that he knows French, and then murmurs out an incorrect French sentence. Knowing that he embarrassed himself, Victor becomes scared. Victor’s French teacher, Mr. Bueller, does not say anything, avoiding saying that Victors French is incorrect. Victor has full responsibility in creating his problem. If Victor did not try to impress Teresa by reciting his attempted French then there would not be a problem. The only influence on the problem was Mr. Bueller who solved the problem. Towards the end of the story Victor has definitely learned from his experience. Victor has learned that you should be yourself, although Victor knows he will have to carry on his problem by renting out French textbooks in order to impress Teresa. I know this from the following sentence, “… and after biology a long sprint to the public library, where he checked out three French textbooks. He was going to like seventh grade…” and, “ Victor couldn’t stand to look at Teresa. He was sweaty with shame”. The story ends happily. Victor has accepted that he will have to work hard in seventh grade to prove to Teresa that he is quite fluent in French. This is proved in the following sentence, “… and after biology a long sprint to the public library, where he checked out three French textbooks. He was going to like seventh grade…”. The story is ended in an exciting fashion with a funny sarcastic remark. The short story "Seventh Grade" uses an embarrassing situation caused by the characters actions to impress a girl. Victor, the main character, understands that he has full responsibility in creating his own problem. A positive sarcastic comment by Victor creates a happy end to the short story.