Gary Soto (b.1952) was born to parents of Mexican descent in Fresno, California. His father died when he was five years old, and Soto worked in the fields and factories when he was young. He struggled in school, but he managed to enroll in college, where a book of poetry inspired him to begin writing. Much of Soto’s poetry, fiction, and nonfiction reflects his experience growing up as a Mexican American.

SETTING A PURPOSE As you read, notice Soto’s experiences and attitudes about work. Think about how his family history affects the way he thinks about working.
Yesterday I saw the movie Gandhi[1] and recognized a few of the people—not in the theater but in the film. I saw my relatives, dusty and thin as sparrows, returning from the fields with hoes balanced on their shoulders. The workers were squinting, eyes small and veined, and were using their hands to say what there was to say to those in the audience with popcorn. . . . I didn’t have any, though. I sat thinking of my family and their years in the fields, beginning with Grandmother who came to the United States after the Mexican revolution[2]to settle in Fresno where she met her

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