Gary Soto Rhetorical Analysis Essay

As kids, people make mistakes. It’s inevitable, just like any other part of life. In an excerpt of Gary Soto’s autobiographical narrative, Soto uses contrasting diction to argue that guilt way eat away at one’s innocence.
Soto uses positive diction and vivid imagery to describe himself and the cause of his actions. In the beginning of the passage, Soto portrays the image of himself being a good and proper boy by using allusions from the bible and childlike diction. Soto uses phrases like “holy in almost every bone”, “shadow of angels, and “flowery dust” to further the contrast between this act of sin and the true character of Soto as a six year old. This also sheds a light onto Soto’s ways of looking at life, and how his morals, even as a six year old, tell him that stealing is wrong. Soto specifically uses the phrase “holy in almost every bone” to show how innocent Soto originally is, as holy is a
Furthermore, Soto uses this vivid imagery and elated diction, when he is describing the pie. He uses words like “sweet”, “gold-colored”, “finger dripping”, and “gleaming” to show the appeal of the pies to a six-year old. As Soto first eats the pie, this elated diction is used so Soto can show how guilt can first reap benefits. In fact, to describe the delectable nature of the pie, Soto uses words with specific positive connotation, such as “perfumed”. When Soto describes his burp, which is a disgusting and unpleasant action, Soto opts out of describing his burp with words with negative connotation, but rather uses the word perfumed, which is rich with positive