The Challenge By Gary Soto

Lying to people can be risky. In the short story “ The Challenge,” by Gary Soto, Jose learns how difficult it can be to get away with a lie. There is a new girl at school that Jose wants to impress. He wants to get to know her. He makes up scenarios in his head, one of them being that he lies about knowing how to play racquetball. She invites him to play with her and he loses terribly. He then regrets his decision about lying to her and doesn’t want to be friends with her anymore. In the story, “The Challenge,” by Gary Soto, the protagonist, José, learns lying won't get you far in life.
In the beginning of the story Jose lies about knowing how to play racquetball. Jose wants to understand or get to know Estella, she doesn't show interest in

He is trying to get closer with her and doesnt know what to talk about. Once they got to the court, Jose got nervous and lied about forgetting supplies at home. On that account, he says “ I forgot my balls at home” (Soto 4). This proves that Jose lies a lot. It proves that he really doesn't know how to play racquetball and is just doing this for Estella. While they are on the court he doesn't want Estella to notice how bad he really is, so he lies to get out of the situation. Estella and Jose are playing racquetball on the court. When Estella notices that Jose doesnt know how to play. He hasn't scored once and she is upset that he lied to her but they continue playing. Estella asks Jose if he knows how to play racquetball, but Jose thinks she is talking about his fall. She declares “Can you play?” ( Soto 5). This connects to the idea that Jose is a liar. When she asks him if she can really play this is her way of noticing how bad he is, and that he lied. When she says this, he doesn't understand but he doesn't want her to know that he lied so he is trying his best to

Jose feels regret for lying to Estella. He feels miserable and doesn't have the energy to walk home. After losing this game, he felt too embarrassed to see anyone and tell them what had happened. As a consequence he feels that, “After a bone jarring handshake and a pat on his aching back from Estella, he hobbled to his uncle's house, feeling miserable” (Soto 6). This evidence suggests that Jose is regretting lying. He now notices the big mistake that he made, and wants to take it back but it is too late. This proves that while Jose was trying to make up lies to get girls to talk to him, shows that it doesn't work, and lying is never the answer. The score is bad, and doesn't look good for Jose. He realizes that lying was not the best decision to get to know her. The score was 17 to nothing and Jose felt embarrassed. He regrets lying to her and now knows not to. He saw that “Estella served again and again until the score was 17 to nothing and Jose was ragged from running” ( Soto 6). This proves that Jose doesnt know how to play racquetball. He lied to get to hangout with her and now he wants to leave, but he can't let her know that he lied. Jose wants to ask questions and learn more about racquetball so he's not as bad. Although asking any questions could ruin what's happening on the