The Grandfather by Gary Soto is an account of an old man who has lived his entire life in the town he was born, but now wants to go see his long lost family. The story starts with the old man thinking about what brought him to this point in his life, and how it relates to different events of his past. The main character is a man who has lived his life as an immigrant and all the struggles that pursue. The story then progresses to him looking for jobs and realizing that no one will hire him because of his age, or because he only spoke Spanish. The ending shows how he overcomes these obstacles and finds a job.
The Grandfather is an interesting story about overcoming struggle and pursuing dreams. The main character in The Grandfather by Gary Soto is represented as an old man who had always worked hard labor jobs ever since he was very young. His entire life revolved around work until he became too old to continue this trend. The old man, now having retired from work, longs to see family members he had not seen in a long time. The old man’s family left him as a child with his grandparents. The Grandfather is an immigrant from Mexico who, as Gary Soto states in his short story, “… orked long days for little pay” (Soto).
The idea of the grandfather being an immigrant adds to the power of the story. The main character is a representation of all immigrants who have come to America and struggled through their lives without any thanks or appreciation. The Grandfather has been living his life under these circumstances until now that he can’t continue working anymore and tries to live out what he wants before it’s too late. The central conflict in The Grandfather is between the old man’s ideas of pursuing dreams before they are gone versus accepting fate and letting time slip away.
The Grandfather starts with the old man looking back on his life and realizing how it led to this point where he can no longer work, or want to work anymore. The first sentence of The Grandfather is “I sit here in my room, thinking about the things that brought me here, to this little house” (Soto 1). The grandfather is an old Mexican man who has lived his entire life working very long days. The story then moves into flashbacks of different times in his past until it comes back to the present day. The first flashback is when the main character states “… ne time I was so hungry… I ate a rotten eggplant” (Soto 4).
The actual event actually happened during a time when he was working for a man named Mr. Anderson and the Grandfather realized that there was no food around so he had to eat something. The next flashback is when The Grandfather talks about something that happened at The Fremont Fair, where The grandfather saw his family but they didn’t see him (Soto 5). The last flashback in the story starts out with The Grandfather thinking about how “… little by little, I lost my family” (Soto 7).
This took place during an important time in Mexican history when many immigrants were coming into America looking for opportunity and prosperity, which includes The Grandfather’s family as well. The story then jumps back to the present day where it finds The Grandfather sitting inside of his home, clearly having nothing to do. The Grandfather then starts looking for jobs and realizes that he is too old and no one will hire him because he can’t speak English (Soto 10). The final part of The Grandfather comes when The Grandfather finds a job and it becomes clear he won’t be able to live out his dreams, even though they aren’t gone yet: I went over my list again… it didn’t make any difference; I couldn’t find a job. ”
The story ends with The Grandfather working at the same place as before where “… he started as soon as he could” (Soto 14). He had worked there already, but now does it willingly instead of having to do so just because it was the only option. The Grandfather wanted to work before he got old but now that his time is almost up, The Grandfather has to accept the fact that “only time was still waiting for me”(Soto 15). The story ends with The Grandfather accepting fate and knowing that it will be over soon.
The theme of The Grandfather by Gary Soto is about pursuing dreams until the end. The grandfather had worked tirelessly for many years trying to make money so he could support his family. The idea of working hard like this is supposed to equate success in life. The main character eventually becomes an immigrant himself after coming into America looking for prosperity and freedom. The central idea of The Grandfather is not really clear until towards the end when The Grandfather starts looking for jobs and realizes that he is too old and no one will hire him because of his lack of English.
The Grandfather then finally accepts fate knowing that his time with his family is fleeting. The theme of The Grandfather is to pursue dreams until the end; The protagonist has suffered greatly throughout his life, trying to make money by working hard for many years before becoming an immigrant himself. The central idea of The Grandfather is not clear until The Grandfather starts looking for jobs and realizes he can’t escape fate, which involves spending what little time he has left with his family. The message in The Grandfather by Gary Soto is to chase your dreams as far as you can so you have something other than accepting fate at the end.
The protagonist of The Grandfather by Gary Soto was driven to succeed because he chased his dreams for so long, even though The Grandfather knows that it will be over soon. The time period in The Grandfather is modern day because The Grandfather works at a factory and has some money saved away even though most people spend what they make, unless they are saving up for something important; this is the case with The Grandfather (Soto 6). The place where The Grandfather lived when he first came to America would be Mexico because “in Mexico… e were like kings”(Soto 3), which shows he was poor then but wanted to change that by doing anything possible.
When The protagonist says “by then I will be running my own business”(Soto 3), The Grandfather is trying to say that he will be living a better life. The type of story The Grandfather is would be a short story because it doesn’t have all the characters from a novel or play and The Grandfather has a clear problem that gets solved at the end. The narrative point of view in The Grandfather is first-person because The grandfather is telling his own story, which takes place between him reminiscing about the past and working.
