Before You Read · meaning seems to expand as the tree itself grows over time. Reading Skills Main Idea: The Heart of the Matter Many works of nonfiction are focused on a main idea,

Before You Read

The Grandfather

SKILLS

Understandsymbols With

multiplemeanings

Identify majnidea.

INTERNET

VocabularyPractice

More About

Gary Soto

Keyword. LEI 94

Make the ConnectionQuickwriteThink about someone who means a great

deal to you. What is this person like?

Why is he or she so important to you?

Write down a few sentences explaining

what this person means to you.

Literary FocusSymbols with Multiple Meanings:One Trunk, Many BranchesA wedding ring, we all know, symbolizes

marriage, but what does the ocean repre-

sent? Some people might say that it sym-

bolizes freedom and possibility; others

might think it represents the frightening

power of nature. Sometimes a symbol—

an object, person, animal, or event that

stands for something more than itself—

has one clear-cut association (like a wed-

ding ring). Other symbols (like the ocean)

are more open-ended and may have

multiple meanings.Symbols in literature allow writers to

suggest layers of meaning. Sometimes a

symbol's meaning changes as a work un-

folds. Other times a symbol represents

one thing for one character and some-thing else for another character. Symbols

are also open to the reader's interpreta-tion. In fact, they may have differentshades of meaning for each of us. All of

these meanings are valid as long as they

are based on clues the writer plants in thetext While it may be difficult to figure outall the meanings of a symbol that operateson many levels, such a symbol can have anespecially powerful appeal to our emo-tions and imaginations.

As you read "The Grandfather,"pay

special attention to what the author. GSoto, says about the avocado tree plantedby his grandfather. Notice how the tree'smeaning seems to expand as the tree

itself grows over time.

Reading SkillsMain Idea: The Heart of the MatterMany works of nonfiction are focused ona main idea, a central message that thewriter wants to communicate to the

reader. When a main idea is stated di-rectly, you almost can't miss it. Look forit near the beginning or at the end of anessay or speech, for example. When themain idea is implied, or suggested. youcan discover it on your own by makinginferences, or educated guesses. You'llfind clues that point to the main idea inthe details included in the piece and inthe type of language the writer uses. Asyou read "The Grandfather," try to deter.mine what single idea lies at the heart ofSoto's essay.

Vocabulary Development

gurgle (gur'gol) v.: make a bubblingsound while flowing.

hovered (huv'ord) v.: stayed suspendedover something.

sulked (sulkt) v.: showed resentment andill-humor.

meager (mé'gor) adj.: thin; small;inadequate.

430 Symbolism and Allegory • Synthesizing Sources

34 tree was money.

andfather believed a well-rooted tree was

the color of money. His money he kept

hidden behind portraits of sons and daughters

or taped behind the calendar of an Aztec I

warrior. He tucked it into the sofa, his shoes

and slippers, and into the tight-lipped pockets

of his suits. He kept it in his soft brown wallet

l. Aztec (az'tek'): of the Aztecs, a culture existing in

Mexico before the Spanish conquest of the early 1500s.

that was machine tooled with "MEXICO" and

a campesin0 2 and donkey clitnbing a hill. He

had climbed, too, out of Mexico, settled in

Fresno ß and worked thirty years at Sun Maid

Raisin, first as a packer and later, when he

was old, as a watchman with a large clock on

his belt.

2. campesino (kam'pe•se'n6) n.: 'Spamsh for "peasant'

or " farmworker."

3. Fresno (frez'nO): city in central (Lallforma.

The Grandfather 431

After work, he sat in the backyard under the

arbor,4 watching the water gurgle in the rose-

bushes that ran along the fence. A lemon tree

hovered over the clothesline. 'IWo orange trees

stood near the alley. His favorite tree, the avocado,

which had started in a jam jar from a seed and

three toothpicks lanced in its sides,

rarely bore fruit. He said it was

the wind's fault, and the

mayor's, who allowed office

buildings so high that

the haze of pollen 5

from the countryside

could never find its way

into the city. He sulked

about this. He said that in

Mexico buildings only grew so

tall. You could see the moon at

night, and the stars were clear points

all the way to the horizon. And wind

reached all the way from the sea, which was blue

and clean, unlike the oily water sloshing against a

San Francisco pier.

During its early years, I could leap over that

tree, kick my bicycling legs over the top branch

and scream my fool head off because I thought

for sure I was flying. I ate fruit to keep my

strength up, fuzzy peaches and branch-scuffed

plums cooled in the refrigerator. From the

kitchen chair he brought out in the evening,

Grandpa would scold, "Hijo,6 what's the matta

with you? You gonna break it."

By the third year, the tree was as tall as I, its

branches casting a meager shadow on the

ground. I sat beneath the shade, scratching words

in the hard dirt with a stick. I had learned "Nile"7

4. arbor (är'bor) n.: shelter made of branches or

covered with vines.

5. pollen (päl%n) n.: powdery grains from a seed plant.

The fruit-bearing parts of plants must be dusted with

pollen in order to produce fruit.

6. Hijo (é'h6): Spanish for "child" or "son."

7. Nile (nil): very long river in Africa, flowing through

Egypt into the Mediterranean Sea.

in summer school and a dirty word from my

brother who wore granny sunglasses. The red

ants tumbled into my letters, and I buried th

knowing that they would dig themselves back

into fresh air.

A tree was money. If a lemon cost seven centsat Hanoian's Market, then

Grandfather saved fistfuls of change

and more because in Win.ter the branches of his

lemon tree hung heavyyellow fruit. And Win.ter brought oranges

juicy and large as soft.balls. Apricots he got by

the bagfuls from a son,who himself was wise for

planting young. Peaches he got froma neighbor, who worked the night shift at

Sun Maid Raisin. The Chile plants, which

also saved him from giving up his hot, sweaty

quarters, were propped up with sticks to support

an abundance of red fruit.

But his favorite tree was the avocado because

it offered hope and the promise of more years.

After work, Grandpa sat in the backyard, shirt-

less, tired of flagging trucks loaded with crates of

raisins, and sipped glasses of ice water. His yard

was neat: five trees, seven rosebushes, whose

fruit were the red and white flowers he floated in

bowls, and a statue of St. Francis 8 that stood in a

circle of crushed rocks, arms spread out to wel-

come hungry sparrows.

8. St. Francis: Saint Francis of Assisi (1181?—1226),a

lover of nature who was said to have preached to

sparrows.

Vocabularygurgle (gur'gel) v.: make a bubbling sound while

flowing.

hovered (huv'ord) v.: stayed suspended oversomething.

sulked (sulkt) v.: showed resentment and ill-humor.

meager (mé'ger) adj.: thin; small; inadequate.

432 Collection 6 Symbolism and Allegory • Synthesizing Sources

Other thought, a warning to •Jlt' kccp

the living. Five years later, another

on a branch, larger than the first

when crushed with a fork into a

N cd tortilla.

Grandfather sprinkled it with salt

it with a river of Chile.

, good." he said, and let me taste.

I took g big bite, waved a hand over my

nd ran for the garden hose gurgling in

I drank long and deep, and later

smile from an ice cold watermelon.

Birds nested in the tree, quarreling jays with

liquid eyes and cool, pulsating throats. Wasps

a horn-shaped hive one year, but we

sNIDkcd them away with swords of rolled up

Meet the Writer

Gary Soto

A California Boy

Gary Soto (1952- ) grew up in a Mexican

American family in Fresno, a city in Califor-

nia's San Joaquin Valley. He went to college,

planning to major in geography. Then apoem—"Unwanted" by Edward Field—

changed his life. The poem helped him dis-

cover the power of language. He began to

see how he could reach other people by

writing about his own experiences, and

that's exactly what he did—and is still doing.

Soto even named his first book, The Elements

of Son Joaquin (1 977), after his birthplace.

Much of his award-winning fiction and

poetry draws on childhood memories, the

everyday details of Mexican American life.

As Soto puts it:

newy»apcr• lit With matches. By then. the treewas tall enougJi for me to climb to look into theneighbor's yard. But by then I was too old forthat kind of thing and went about with mybrother, hajr slicked back and our shades darkas oil.

After twenty years, the tree began to bear.Although Grandfather complained about howmuch he lost because pollen never reached thepoor part of town, because at the market he hadto haggle over the price of avocados, he lovedthat tree. It grew, as did his family, and when hedied, all his sons standing on each other's shoul-ders, oldest to youngest, could not reach thehighest branches. The wind could move thebranches, but the trunk, thicker than any waist,hugged the ground.

I tried to remainfaithful to the commonthings of my child-hood—dogs, alleys,my baseball mitt,curbs, and the fruit of 3the valley.... Iwanted to give thesethings life.

For Independent ReadingIf you enjoyed "The Grandfather," take alook at the book it came from: A SummerLife. You might also enjoy reading Soto'sBaseball in April and Other Stories and A Fire in

My Hands, one of his collections of poems

for young adults.

After You Read Response and Analysis

FOCUS

Skillsalyze symbolswith multiple

meanings.

Skillsentify main

idea.

SkinsWrite an

planation.e about a

symbol.

Reading CheckI. How many years passed before the

avocado tree produced its first fruit?

2. Why did Soto's grandfather believe

that "a tree was money"?

3. Why was the avocado tree the grand-

father's favorite?

Thinking Critically4. How would you characterize Soto's

grandfather? To answer, consider his

move to California and his attitude

toward his backyard and the avocado

tree.

S. What differences did Soto's grand-

father see between Mexico and Cali-

fornia? How did he feel about these

differences? Support your answerswith evidence from the essay.

6. What do you think is the main ideaof the essay? In other words, whatpoint is Soto making about hisgrandfather and the ties that bindthe family together?

7. The avocado tree is a symbol thathas multiple meanings in the essay.Soto develops these meaningsthroughout the work, and he bringssome of them together in the lastparagraph. Use evidence from theessay to explain how the tree mightsymbolize the following people:• the grandfather• Soto

the grandfather's family8. How would you describe the writer's

tone, or attitude toward his subject?List two or three adjectives.

9. Soto's essay is filled with imagerylanguage that appeals to our senses Ofsight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.Choose the two or three images thatmost appeal to you, and explain Whyyou think they are effective.

Extending and Evaluating10. The essay is titled "The Grand-

father," but a great deal of it focuseson the avocado tree. Do you thinkthe essay would have been moreeffective if Soto had included moredirect description of his grandfatherand less description of the tree? Whyor why not?

WRITINGVIP (Very Important Person)Soto associates his grandfather with hisbackyard and, more specifically, with hisavocado tree. Write a few paragraphsexplaining why a particular person is impor.tant to you. Look back at your Quickwritenotes for help. Then, consider whether youassociate that person with a particular placeor object. If so, make that symbolic con.nection clear to your reader.

A Symbol of Your OwnThink about a natural place (such as apark or a beach) or an element of nature(such as a flower or a bird) that has sym-bolic meaning for you. What do you asso-ciate with this place or element? Doesthis symbol have multiple meaningsfor you? Write a paragraph or a poem inwhich you reveal the symbol's meaning ormeanings and its appeal for you. Remem-ber that symbols are appealing becausethey often carry powerful associationsand affect our emotions. Try to use spe-cific images to make your symbol vivid toyour reader.