MEMOIR
The Jacket
by GARY SOTO
Connect to Your Life
Worn Out Have you ever had to wear a piece of
clothing that someone else picked out, or that you
thought was uncomfortable or ugly? How did you feel?
Build Background
GEOGRAPHY
The setting for “The Jacket” is Fresno,
California, where Gary Soto grew up.
Fresno, which means “ash tree” in Spanish,
is located in central California. Beginning in
the 1920s, farmers needed cheap labor,
and Mexican laborers came to work in the
fields of cotton, grapes, and beets that
surrounded the town. Over time, Fresno’s
Hispanic and Chicano community grew.
Fresno gradually became an industrial city
as factories were built to process and
market farm produce. Gary Soto’s stories
are often set in Fresno.
WORDS TO KNOW
Vocabulary Preview
mope
terrorist
profile
vinyl
swoop
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Focus Your Reading
LITERARY ANALYSIS
HUMOR
The quality that makes a literary work funny or
amusing is called humor. One way Gary Soto
creates humor in “The Jacket” is by exaggerating,
or overstating, things. He also makes surprising
comparisons. For example, he describes feeling
“bitter as a penny.”
ACTIVE READING IDENTIFYING THE AUTHOR’S PURPOSE
Writers usually write for a particular reason or
purpose. The author’s purpose might be to
entertain, to inform, to express an opinion, or to
persuade readers to do or believe something. You
can find clues to the author’s purpose in the subject
and tone of the work, the audience for which it was
written, and the effect that it has on readers.
As you read “The Jacket,”
think about what the author’s purpose seems to be.
Jot down events, images, or description that suggest
Gary Soto’s purpose for writing the memoir.
READER'S NOTEBOOK