The Pie by Gary Soto Analysis Example

📌Category: Literature
📌Words: 511
📌Pages: 2
📌Published: 04 February 2022

Before a young, six-year-old Gary Soto steals a pie from a local grocer, he is innocent. In fact, as Soto recreates this experience in “The Pie,” he represents himself as sinless. “Boredom,” however, “[makes him] sin,” (paragraph 2) and gluttony causes him to love it. After he eats the pie, young Soto feels extreme guilt and paranoia. Soto recreates the experience of his guilty six-year-old self by showing us how he is tempted, describing the indulgent act, and, finally, revealing his lesson.

The pie manages to tempt Soto despite his religious beliefs. Gary reveals his religious background to the reader by stating that “I [he] was holy in almost every bone” (1). Gary believes that he was on good terms with God before stealing the apple pie. Gary goes into the German Market and decides that he is going to steal the pie by thinking, “...my sweet tooth gleaming and the juice of guilt wetting my underarms” (2). Six-year-old Gary realizes that he may not be on good terms with God after he commits the sin of greed. Young Soto is overwhelmed by the thought of committing a sin, so “I [he] nearly wept trying to decide which [pie] to steal…” (2). Gary is starting to be blinded from guilt by gluttony and greed. Soto stole the apple pie even though it was unethical.

Gary Soto eats the apple pie despite knowing that he is guilty. Readers realize Soto’s feelings about stealing by him expressing, “In my [his] front yard I [he] panicked about stealing the apple pie” (4). This is when Gary knows that he is guilty and hopes that he will be forgiven. Despite Gary’s worry of his connection with God, he continues to admire the apple pie: “The slop was sweet and gold-colored in the afternoon sun” (4). Gluttony allows Gary to devour the pie without worrying about his immoral decision. Soto then refused to share pie with his neighbor, Cross-Eyed Johnny. Gary regretted his action and saw that Johnny was “...watching me eat the pie by myself” (6). Cross-Eyed Johnny represents a religious figure such as God watching over Soto and witnessing his wrongdoings. Six-year-old Gary’s selfishness and ignorance turned him away from God.

Soto begins turning away from God and ignores his crime. After Gary eats the apple pie, he notices that “My [his] face was sticky with guilt” (7). The moment of enjoyment stopped when Soto remembered that he would have consequences for stealing. Young Soto entered his home and found “...the kitchen stifling with heat and lunatic flies…” (8). The heat and flies symbolize the negative aftermath of Gary stealing the pie. Gary realized that he needed to learn from his experience: “I was cold and then crawled back to the light, rising from one knee… to dust off my pants and squint in the harsh light” (8). Gary was straying away from God when he was in the cold and darkness, but he repented when he came to the light. Gary’s lesson is revealed after confronting sin instead of ignoring it.

Gary Soto viewed sin as something to run from throughout The Pie. In multiple instances, Gary was worrying about his relationship with God or consequences for his actions. Soto’s beliefs change in the end, he realizes that the only way to escape sin is by enlightenment.

+
x
Remember! This is just a sample.

You can order a custom paper by our expert writers

Order now
By clicking “Receive Essay”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement. We will occasionally send you account related emails.