Presenter: Shellie Garza

Respondent: Ginger Cridland

Recorder: Kenny O’Brien

by Gary Soto

(Unsettling America, 217-218)

Gary Soto was born April 12, 1952. His family worked as farm laborers in Fresno, California. He was raised in a home with no books and no encouragement from anyone to read. His father died when Gary was five years old. His father was twenty-seven years old. He was raised by his mother and his grandparents. He grew up in a neighborhood surrounded by Hispanic families. Most of Gary Soto’s work is based on his childhood days and memories in this neighborhood. Gary first became interested in poetry after he read "Unwanted," by Edward Field. Gary had feelings of alienation and not "fitting in." Edward Field’s poem made him realize that what was feeling was a common feeling to a lot of people in the human race. That was exciting to Gary and he grew more excited about the written word because he had made a connection to poetry. He soon realized he wanted to be a writer. Gary went on to graduate with honors in 1974 from California State University. He obtained a B.A. in English. In 1976, he received his Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of California. He was also named 1976 Graduate Student of the Year in Humanities at the University of California. Gary Soto is a poet, essayist, fiction writer, and film producer. He has won numerous awards, such as the Discovery-Nation Prize in 1975, the U.S. Award of the International Poetry Forum in 1976, and the National Book Award in 1995. These are just three awards he has received. He has received many. He began writing books for children in 1990 and has found much success on that front. He has written children’s novels, poems, and picture books. He also produces short 16mm films. He currently resides in Berkeley, California with his wife and daughter.

2. Course Objectives

• Objective 3c - The Mexican American narrative: "The Ambivalent Minority" - Baseball was traditionally a white man’s sport, and yet, "the game before us was more than baseball, it was a figure - Hector Moreno."
• Objective 4 - Assimilation - Hector Moreno is assimilating through baseball into the dominant culture and he is accepted and seen as a local hero.
• Objective 5a - Influence of minority writers.
• Objective 6a - Image of the individual, the family, and alternative family -

• Objective 7b - Shifting names or identities of the dominant culture - The words shift from the stick of brown light to the imagery of the black torch of hair and then the black is fading back into the "arms of brown people."

3. Interpretation

The narrator begins the poem with, "at 8, I was brilliant with my body…." The words of a boy that describes himself as fifty pounds and shy. This is an 8 year old child who practices his baseball stances in front of an altar of baseball cards. The little boy might have escaped to his room and his collection of baseball cards to dream of becoming a great baseball player to escape his reality of the death of a father who he remembers vividly "hanging over the table or our sleep" or an escape from an abusive mother who "was the terror of mouths."

The boy does not have a Hispanic frame of reference with which to identify in the Caucasian dominated world of professional baseball. In the summer months, he sits in the bleachers at a local park and cheers for the neighborhood baseball teams. It is true he likes baseball, but he also likes to watch his hero. He says that he comes to the park "because he is Mexican, a stick of brown light in love with those who could do it." In Hector Moreno, the young narrator has found a glimmer of hope in a time when it is difficult to be a Mexican.

Hector is well received and actually cheered for by Caucasians and Mexicans alike primarily because of his athletic ability. The narrator compares his own identity in saying, "what could I do with 50 pounds, my shyness, and my black torch of hair, about to go out?" to that of Hector’s identity, who is described as "quick and hard with turned muscles." The fact that the narrator even thinks to compare himself to his local hero demonstrates his internalization of thought processes that one day he could be Hector. That possibility exists. Hector is brilliant with his body on the field whereas the young narrator clarifies his statement and says, "In the bleachers I was brilliant with my body." He is allowing Hector’s accomplishments to be his own. And although he may not join Hector on the field, he plays out his own brilliance in the bleachers. He is one with Hector and the fans in the bleachers. He is "in the presence of white shirts," chewing sunflower seeds, drinking water, and biting his arm in the clutch innings along side fans of both brown and white descent.

In this neighborhood park, in the bleachers cheering on his favorite player, the young narrator has assimilated to the contemporary culture through baseball. In the final sentences, the young narrator explains his reaction when Hector makes a great play. He explains that "in my mind I rounded the bases with him, my face flared, my hair lifting beautifully…." He is able to see himself in the spotlight of glory right along side Hector. He feels a oneness with Hector as well as all peoples of Mexican descent. The narrator stated early in the poem that Hector "can do it" and because Hector could "do it" he was a positive example of a Mexican hero whom the Mexican children were proud to emulate. Hector, the narrator, and all Mexicans with misplaced faith are seen as "coming home to the arms of brown people."

IV. Question of Style:

The poem is written in free verse. The poem is affective in poetic form because written in poetic form, the author is able to cut to the chase, so to speak, and relay a period in his life that was bittersweet. He can talk about the pain, but not elaborate. He can evoke feelings in the reader through select languages of poetry. He can create mood through poetry. He doesn’t have to talk of all the trials and tribulations, he just tells the reader about the struggles. He shares choice words to relay a segment of his life and hopes that in his select choice of words that he can help "others hear the minority voice."

Figurative language:

• alliteration - "…bleachers….brilliant….body."
• imagery - throughout the poem
• personification

- "gloves eating balls"

5. Sources Cited

Shellie - Shellie poses the first question: What does Black Hair mean to you?

Ginger (respondent)- This poem is about identifying with his culture. One of his main cultural characteristics is his black hair.

Charlie - I think it’s about Hector, his hair, his muscles, the line about cards, this guy is his idol.

Sheri - It’s a tribute. The writer pulls together with his idol. The baseball cards are like a shrine to him.

Shellie - He looks at Hector like a God.

Dr. White - Also, the dominant culture uses blonde hair. This poem is about his culture. All the kids on soup commercials are all blond. Why is that? We’re all supposed to want to be blonde, even though blondes make up a small percentage of our population. Black hair opposes this.

Shellie - I am reminded of Selena, who became god-like after she died. But, I see Hector as more of a local kid who became successful.

Ginger - And the part about his hair lifting beautifully, almost with a sense of pride. I have four grandsons who are all half-Hispanic. One cares a lot about his hair. He even avoids sunlight.

Shellie - Does the little boy in the story feel any different than other eight year old boys?

Ginger - Yes, I think he feels different. I once asked my grandson if his girlfriend was white. Now, he just tells me. He’s proud of his heritage.

Sheri - I think he does feel like every other eight year old boy.

Shellie - I agree with you. It’s like Michael Jordan. We all wanna be like Mike. Let’s move on to the next question. What is meant by "twisting butter knives?"

Dr. White - Instructs the class to read "and mother was the terror of mouths Twisting hurt by butter knives."

Student - It means laying something on thick.

Class - his mom is mean.

Shellie - The mom was abusive. I have read other poems written by Gary Soto, and the mother is repeatedly mean and physically abusive. What about the last two lines of the poem?

Charlie - He’s in a ballpark and then he goes home.

Dennis - It’s a metaphor for home plate. I thought of crouching as the catcher does crouch. It all relates to baseball.

Dr. White - It is a pun, both literal and metaphoric.

Charlie or Dennis - He’s going home, to his neighborhood.

Shellie - I had a lot of fun with this poem. What about his black torch of hair? Even a black torch shines at night. But why is it about to go out?

Dennis - It refers to his parents. It’s a growing up kind of thing.

Shellie - Just a footnote. I think the father in this poem was an alcoholic; therefore, I think the kid had it rough even before the dad died. If there is any truth in this story about Gary Soto, I say good for him, he made it!