The Marble Chop Rhetorical Analysis

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“When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there.” This quote, said by Zig Ziglar, shows that you should never give up. It also goes hand-in-hand with, “The Marble Champ”, by Gary Soto. The message from this story tells that no matter what, always try your best to accomplish the goal, and it may be achieved. This story represents this when Lupe decides to be more athletic, when Lupe worked hard and when Lupe won the final competition. First of all, “The Marble Champ” shows to stay determined to reach your goal when Lupe sets her plan. She realized she was all brains, and wasn’t very athletic. According to page 1, “... though Lupe had a razor-sharp mind, she could not make her body, no matter what, run as fast as the other girls’... The truth was that Lupe was no good in sports.” Following, it says, “‘I wish I could win something, anything, even marbles.’ At the word ‘marbles’, she sat up... ‘Maybe …show more content…

According to the text, it says that she “practiced shooting” to get accurate aim. After she found out that she didn’t have enough power in her thumb to move the marble far enough, she decided to exercise her wrists and fingers (specifically the thumb). First, she made her wrists more powerful by doing “twenty push-ups on her fingertips”. Then, she “squeezed a rubber eraser one hundred times.” These examples illustrate how Lupe put a lot of effort into learning how to become better at sports. Furthermore, she listened to her brother’s advice on playing marbles, since he had competed with it, too. He “gave her tips on how to shoot: get low, aim with one eye, and place on knuckle on the ground.” This third example also represents her persistence to become more active because she decided to take the time that could be a break and made sure she did more work, but instead by