In the memoir, “The Jacket” by Gary Soto, the author presents a central idea: that living in poverty can lead to insecurity and closing oneself off from others. By not being able to afford a nice jacket, Soto feels as if everyone is judging him, and does not make an effort to interact with people or try at school. Since Soto’s family lives in poverty, when he asks his mom for a new jacket, he is given an ugly greenish brown jacket instead of the nice one he envisioned. He thinks people are judging him for the jacket he wears. After a fire drill occurs, Soto thinks, “Everybody saw me. Although they didn’t say it out loud, ‘Man, that’s ugly’, I heard the buzz-buzz of gossip and even laughter that I knew was meant for me.” Soto thinks that because he has a cheap, “ugly” jacket, everyone is making fun of him. …show more content…
By feeling that people do not like him and laugh at him, Soto begins to not interact with anyone. He wants romance and good friends, but ends up not trying for it. Once 3 years have passed, Soto says this, “All during that time no love came to me- no little dark girl in a Sunday dress she wore on Monday. At lunchtime I stayed with the ugly boys who leaned against the chain link fence and looked around with propellers of grass spinning in our mouths.” Since Soto had a mindset that people made fun of him/disliked him, he never reached out to get the romance or friends he truly wanted. Soto couldn’t afford the nice things that other kids had growing up, and this led him to feel insecure and made fun of. This also caused him to not try and talk to people to get the life he desired. Soto uses symbolism to support the central idea that living in poverty can lead to insecurity and closing oneself off from others. Soto does this with his guacamole-colored jacket to represent poverty and not being able to afford nicer