Gary Soto Biography

This Study Guide consists of approximately 44 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Buried Onions.

Gary Soto Biography

This Study Guide consists of approximately 44 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of Buried Onions.
This section contains 1,118 words
(approx. 3 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the Buried Onions Study Guide

Gary Soto was born April 12, 1952, in Fresno, California, son of Manuel and Angie (Trevino) Soto. Like many Mexican Americans in Fresno, Soto's parents and grandparents had once worked as farmworkers in the surrounding countryside. Although both of his parents were American born, their Mexican heritage remained a vital influence in their home.

When Soto's father was killed in a factory accident when Gary was five, his mother was forced to struggle to provide for the family. For young Gary, survival took precedence over any dreams of writing. Soto tells interviewer, Jean W. Ross, "I don't think I had any literary aspirations when I was a kid. In fact we were pretty much an illiterate family .. . So my wanting to write poetry was a sort of fluke."

When Soto enrolled at Fresno City College in 1970, he began to focus on literature.

Fiis dreams of a...

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This section contains 1,118 words
(approx. 3 pages at 400 words per page)
Buy the Buried Onions Study Guide
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Buried Onions from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.