Mexicans+Begin+Jogging

=Title: "Mexicans Begin Jogging" pg. 1195 by: Gary Soto =

At the factory I worked In the fleck of rubber, under the press Of an oven yellow with flame, Until the border patrol opened Their vans and my boss waved for us to run. "Over the fence, Soto," he shouted, And I shouted that I was an American. "No time for lies," he said, and passes A dollar in my palm, hurrying me Through the back door.

Since I was on his time, I ran And became the wag to a short tail of Mexicans-- Ran past the amazed crowds that lined The street and blurred like photographs, in rain. I ran from that industrial road to the soft Houses where people paled at the turn of an autumn sky. What could I do but yell vivas To baseball, milkshakes, and the sociologists Who would clock me As I jog into the next century On the power of a great, silly grin.

 =Title: Mexicans Begin Jogging = The Title of the Poem is "Mexicans Begin Jogging", and it is written by Gary Soto. The title of the poem does suggest the poem's subject and theme in many ways. "Mexicans Begin Jogging" begins by placing the reader in the shoes of the author. Soto is working the factory's press when the border patrol showed up and everyone had to run to escape deportation. His boss tells him to go jump over the fence, as the others did, and run but he is unconvincing. Soto tells his boss that is is an American, but he was accused of being a liar. Rather then explaining to his boss, he just runs. Soto runs, and runs and at some time yells "Vivas". He never needed to run, but he does anyway. The poem explains the title itself by showing and giving examples. Soto in the poem is the Mexican running away to be free and from deportation. media type="file" key="mexicans begin jogging.mov"  =Author: Gary Soto   = Gary Soto was born April 12, 1952 in Fresno, California. In High School, he began to read works by Steinbeck, Hemingway, Jules Vernes, Robert Frost, and Thorton Wilder. During this time, he started to think about becoming a poet. When he was twenty, he attended Fresno City College, where he discovered many contemporary American poets such as Edward Field, W.S Merwin, Charles Simic, James Wright, and Pablo Neruda. Later he found novels by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. That was when he decided to become a writer. Gary Soto graduated from Fresno City College majoring in English.

=Genre: = "Mexicans Begin Jogging" is a narrative and dramatic story. A narrative story consists of a setting, characters, and there must be a plot to the story. In this particular poem the plot is set to be written around an incident that occurred when Soto was working at a factory in a plant that employed Mexican illegals. When the border patrol inspected the plant, Soto's boss assumed he as well was an illegal Mexican, and shouted to him to run, while Soto was explaining he was not an illegal Mexican. The boss did not believe him and he was on his way to run to a new country. The setting of this poem occurs at a factory, and the main characters are Soto, his boss, and the border patrol. Along with being a narrative poem it as well has a dramatic scene. The dramatic technique used is listened through the dialogue between Soto and his boss. In lines 6-8 a dialogue between the two was said " Over the fence Soto," he shouted, And I shouted I wan an American. "No time for lies," he said. This shows its a dramatic poem because you can feel the tension between the two characters and you want to keep reading the poem to see what happens next such as in any dramatic story.  =Form: = The form used in Gary Soto's poem is free. He doesn't use rhyme in his poem, and no rhythm occurs. His stanzas are separated into different parts of the poem. In his first stanza, he talks about working at the factory, and the border patrol coming. In the second stanza, he talks about running through the city and trying to get away. Also, at the end he talks about knowing he is safe, so he is happy. =<span style="color: rgb(12, 0, 255)"> = =<span style="color: rgb(12, 0, 255)">Imagery: = The imagery used in Soto's "Mexicans Begin Jogging" are auditory and visual. In lines 2-3, Soto uses visual imagery to show the color of the flame that came out of the oven. Also, in lines 13-16, he talks about the crowds he sees while running through the city, and how the buildings changed from large and nice to small and dirty. On line 17, he uses auditory imagery because he talks about how he screams "Vivas!" while running through the city. =<span style="color: rgb(12, 0, 255)"> = =<span style="color: rgb(12, 0, 255)">Figurative Language: = Irony is used through out the poem, especially in the beginning when the border patrol comes. I was expecting for Soto to get caught, but thats not what happened. He got the chance to get away and escape to a new country. I believe that Soto in a way compares the two location he was living in. In the beginning of the poem he describes where he worked at a plant house, and that it wasn't in good shape. Then later running to America he says " I ran from industrial roads, to soft houses". Soto is showing the great difference between the two places. Allegory was very well written in this poem. The hidden meaning behind "The Mexicans Begin Jogging" is that a man can not be taken for something he is not. Soto knows in his heart he is an American, but everyone else thinks of him as a Mexican because of the complexion of his skin. Another meaning behind the poem is that a man must go through a lot of hardships to get to where he is at now, he has to work hard and believe he can achieve anything.

=<span style="color: rgb(12, 0, 255)"> = =<span style="color: rgb(12, 0, 255)">Devices of Sound: = Even though cacophony is said to be harsh discordant sounds, I believe that when someone tells you, " you are not an American" that it's a rude way of using cacophony to show disrespect in a mean tone of voice. Repetition was used when Soro's boss was telling him to run. He kept insisting he should get away and escape being caught.

=<span style="color: rgb(12, 0, 255)">Other Elements: = The overall mood of the poem is moved from being relaxed to full of tension and problems. In the beginning it just explained the plant factory and the jobs done, then all of a sudden the border patrol showed up, and the "illegal" Mexicans had to run and the drama began there. The literary devices that create this mood are parallelism because<span style="color: rgb(0, 124, 255)"> things were said in the same sense but using different verbs. Along with parallelism repetition and restatement were used. The way these devices were put through out the poem is by restating what was going on with Soto through the poem. The way he was explained from running through the new country was all said in many of the lines, but just in a different way. I believe the theme of the poem is hope. The reason I would say hope is because this guy Gary Soto knowing he's not an illegal Mexican still runs for his life hoping to settle somewhere where he doesn't have to run away every time the border patrol comes. He looks to find hope in America when he gets there. The theme is revealed by Soto running through the towns in America saluting everything and everyone, and believing he did find some hope atleast.

=Analytical Paragraphs:= Gary Soto's "Mexicans Begin Jogging" is a poem which explores many emotions from desire to anxiety, and into the middle of the poem it unfolds a tale of freedom and courage. The poem deals with a man's constant struggle to strive for something better and bigger. This poem has a lot of meaning behind it, and the one explanation that pops out to me is, the poem is about a man living a life full of hardship and trouble. He's put through a lot of drama running away from home just because the border patrol assumes that he is a Mexican. In lines 1-3 of the poem Gary Soto explains his job and what he does it says "At the factory I worked in the fleck of rubber, under the press Of an oven yellow with flame". This just shows how he works on a press and doesn't have that good of a job. Later in lines 6-10 the poem says "Over the fence, Soto" he shouted, and I shouted that I was an American. "No time for lies,"he said, and passes A dollar in my palm, hurrying me Through the back door. " These four lines to me explain the this man was taken for. He believes himself that he is an American inside, but everyone sees him as an illegal Mexican and for this reason he needs to run away. The last lines of the poem it says " As i jog into the next century" On the power of a great, silly grin." The two lines, I take as Gary leaving his country came into this new one just because he was a Mexican and while leaving he has a grin on his face. This poem means a lot, but most importantly it shows the hardships one man has to live through to live a better life, a life where you don't have to watch you back every five seconds, a life where no worries occur on a daily basis 24/7. -Belma Mekic

Gary Soto's poem "Mexicans Begin Jogging" is about the hardships he has to go through while escaping the border patrol. It is also about the commitment he has so he can get away from them, and how he realizes how happy he is once he escapes. In lines 5-9, Soto talks about how no one believes he is an American, and how he is only given one dollar to live off of. Later in the poem, in lines 13-15, he talks about how he had to run as far as he could while still being afraid of getting caught. Lastly, he feels relieved when he knows he is safe. He yells "Vivas" in line 16 because he knows that the border patrol will not catch up to him. He knows that he will be fine. - Mark Yocca =<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"> =