Poetry Analysis "Oranges"

                                           "Oranges"

        Based off  the title "Oranges" I predict the poem will be about the start of a new journey or family during a hot summer. Lines 1-7 talks about a twelve year old boy walking with a girl. It also describes the weather as being cold. Lines 8-20 talks about how the boy walks to a girls house and the light on her porch is always on no matter what time of the day it is nor the weather. While the boy is at the girls the girls dark continues to bark at him until the girl comes out. They then leave together and end up at a drug store.Lines 21-end talks about them entering a drug store and going to the section full of candy. The boy then asks the girl if she wants something and she chooses a chocolate r worth 10 cents and the boy only has 5 cents, but somehow he manages to get her the chocolate and they then they leave the store and walk down a few blocks to eat. The girl eats the chocolate and the boy eats his bright oranges that look as if it was lit on fire. Line 28 "light in her eyes", suggests a positive connotation of happiness, because the girl is full of happiness and joy after the boy on line 27 asked the girl if she wanted anything from the candy section. Line 45 "Fog hanging like old coats between the trees" is a simile, this line suggests a positive and negative connotation of loneness because this line is stated after the  boy and the girl walked far from the drug store to eat and this simile was used to show isolation the quote is showing that the fog covers their surroundings.

        The tone of this poem is a mixture of excitement and apprehensiveness due the fact that the boy is excited during his first date but worried about how it may end or where would go and the attitude is positive overall until there is a shift towards the end starting on line 31 when the boy realizes he only has a nickel and what the girl wants costs a dime and the boy is determined to get her the chocolate  due to the fact that he is not capable of telling her he cannot afford it because is worried her reaction. After examining the title for a second time after reading the poem I can say that the title refers to light and heat because within the poem light is symbolized through the girls porch and oranges referring to it as bright as a fire. For example in line 10 it states "porch light burned yellow" and on lines 51-52 it states "I peeled my orange that was so bright...". The theme of  the poem "Oranges" is about a first love and doing anything you can to obtain the girls desire as showed on lines 31-34 when the boy knew he only had a nickel and still did not say the no to the girl about her wanting the chocolate. The theme of this poem is you will do anything for your first love "love". The theme of this poem relates to all humanity because everyone has had their first love and know what they are capable off to give their significant other what they want.

Gary Soto
Oranges
The first time I walked
With a girl, I was twelve,
Cold, and weighted down
With two oranges in my jacket.
December. Frost cracking
Beneath my steps, my breath
Before me, then gone,
As I walked toward
Her house, the one whose
Porch light burned yellow
Night and day, in any weather.
A dog barked at me, until
She came out pulling
At her gloves, face bright
With rouge. I smiled,
Touched her shoulder, and led
Her down the street, across
A used car lot and a line
Of newly planted trees,
Until we were breathing
Before a drugstore. We
Entered, the tiny bell
Bringing a saleslady
Down a narrow aisle of goods.
I turned to the candies
Tiered like bleachers,
And asked what she wanted -
Light in her eyes, a smile
Starting at the corners
Of her mouth. I fingered
A nickle in my pocket,
And when she lifted a chocolate
That cost a dime,
I didn’t say anything.
I took the nickle from
My pocket, then an orange,
And set them quietly on
The counter. When I looked up,
The lady’s eyes met mine,
And held them, knowing
Very well what it was all
About.

Outside,
A few cars hissing past,
Fog hanging like old
Coats between the trees.
I took my girl’s hand
In mine for two blocks,
Then released it to let
Her unwrap the chocolate.
I peeled my orange
That was so bright against
The gray of December
That, from some distance,
Someone might have thought
I was making a fire in my hands.