Nic Cameron

Curmano P.1
Poetry Essay
2 April 2015

Oranges By Gary Soto is a great poem about love and happiness. The poem is
about a boy who loves his girl and wants to show her that by spending time with her
and buying her an expensive chocolate. Soto uses many poetic devices to explain
the relationship and develop the happy tone, and the theme that everybody can
have love.
The poetic devices in Oranges by Soto further the metaphor for love using
oranges. The first time I walked with a girl, I was twelve, cold, and weighted down
with two oranges in my pocket (Soto 1-4). This seems to be that he was going to
give her one of the oranges to show her that he loves her. The oranges in his pocket
were for her and whatever she wanted to get. I took the nickel from my pocket,
then an orange, and set them on the counter (35-38). He was trying to use the
orange as money because he didn't have enough for what the girl wanted. The
saleswoman understood his problem and helped him out by accepting the orange. I
took my girls hand in mine for two blocks then released it to let her unwrap the
chocolate (47-50). He was spending time with her and they both wanted to eat
their food together. It seems that he enjoys spending time with her and wanted to
impress her by being able to buy her a chocolate. This poem shows us the deep
metaphor for love imbedded in this poem called Oranges.
Sotos Oranges has a prominent happy tone to establish the relationship between
the girl and the boy in the poem. She came out pulling at her glove, face bright
with rouge (14-15). This seems to show that the girl came out of her house happy
to see the boy. This also might have shown that they missed each other and are
happy to be back together after a while away from each other. Light in her eyes, a
smile starting at the corners of her mouth (28-29). This explains that the girl is
really happy to be spending time with her boyfriend. This also tells us that the girl
was surprised and happy that he would buy her something. I took my girls hand in
mine for two blocks, then released it to let her unwrap the chocolate (47-50). This
seems to show that they were happy to be with each other on that day. This also
shows that she was happy to have that chocolate because he bought it for her. This
is why I think that the tone for Gary Sotos Oranges is a happy nice tone.
Love is love, no matter who you are or what you have you can have love. Gary
Sotos Oranges describes that you can have love even if you don't have the
money to spend on each other. He uses Rhythm, Personification, Imagery and

Rhyme to help create a happy, nice and loving tone that shows the greatness of
love. One should have love in their life at least once, Or they will miss out on a great
thing.

Works Cited
Soto, Gary. "Oranges." Poetry Activity Printable: "Oranges" by Gary Soto. N.p., n.d.
Web. 13 Apr. 2015. <http://edhelper.com/poetry/Oranges_by_Gary_Soto.htm>.