Too Many Tamales Poem By Gary Soto

Gary Soto is one of the most accredited poets/authors in literature. In his works, he memorably portrays the life, work ethic / practices, joys of traditional Mexican Americans cultural day to day life style. He not only does this with poems, but he also portrays similar messages in the books that he writes. Soto is known for having an “eye” for telling his stories to the point where you can actually see the plot line in front of you as you read. This is a distinguished factor that is pointed out by many people who enjoys his work. Gary Soto is known for planning his written works strategically. In most of his work, you will eventually notice that, he uses effective metaphors, that includes a use of irony, to resolve the typical poetic
Since there are not many books that focus on the Latino, or the Chicano, culture, he tries to write stories so children, who are from that background, could see their selves and could actually relate to the stories that they were reading. After he made this discovery, Soto wrote children books such as “Too Many Tamales” where the protagonist, Maria, is helping her family make tamales for her mother’s wedding. While they were cooking they let Maria see her mother’s wedding ring and Maria loses the ring in one of the many tamales that they were making (Too Many Tamales, Putnam). In another one of his books “Novio Boy” His main character, Rudy, is taking a girl, Patricia, out on a date and he goes to one of his friends to seek dating advice. Later on he realizes that he does not have enough money to take her out on the date that he would want to (Novio Boy, Putnam). By writing books of the genre, Soto is trying to help connect his writing with a day in a typical Childs life, and even though this book was written in the 1990’s it still applies to today’s teenagers. He is letting children and teenagers know that mistakes happen and we will encounter problems, however, we will get through them. While in an interview Soto once stated how he “believed that the connection Latino teens feel to his work is mainly one of pride” (Gary Soto, Ted Fabiano,). Although Mexican Americans do not have an extensive
His poetry establishes its own world that needs few outside reference points to make itself felt as whole. One major principle in his work is his use (and sense) of community. With that element he portrays patriotism and ethnic pride. When he writes, he creates a message that says that he knows how dangerous it is to say alive in the world. He also creates an environment that lets his reader know that he sympathizes with them. Despite what people may think, when Soto writes, he creates connections with the outside world that are realistic but oddly satisfying. (Gary Soto, Poet of