A Narretive Essay: One Last Time

In “One Last Time,” Gary Soto talks about how he grew up in an immigrant family, and to make money had to work the fields. He talks about how the menial jobs made him feel and what he thought of them. I may not be able to relate to the immigrant laborer part of the story. I understand what it’s like to come from very little but still think that some things are not worth doing just to get something if it will make you feel like less than you are. Soto goes into great detail about his time picking grapes and cotton, but he doesn’t really go into as much detail about why he feels the way he does. I feel that even though he talks about being a laborer and how he felt, it can be understood by many different types of people. I think that it is a true testament to a person’s character that they can rise above challenges that are set in front of them and make something positive come from the experience. Soto talks about his childhood and how being the child of an immigrant farmer affected him and what he took from the situation. He starts the story by talking about his mother and how she would spend her day working in the grape fields to pay the bills. While his mother was a crop laborer, my mother did any job she could so that she could pay the bills; there isn’t a job that a mother wouldn’t take to provide for their family. While the woman I’m speaking of come from different worlds the love and care that a mother provides to her family is timeless. Courage, strength, and an unshakeable faith is what make these women do jobs that would break a lesser person. He talks about what it’s like the first time he works the grape fields, and how he felt after making what little money was offered to the workers. When I first started working I realized how little minimum wage really was after taxes. I think there are difference and similarities between the two of us. While I can’t relate to the type of work he did, I can relate to the lessons he learned about hard work and