The bike ok! - reading guide

The bike ok! - reading guide

1. UNIVERSIDAD DE LA SALLE
BY: LILIANA CASTILLO/KAREN VERA
THE BIKE
BY Gary Soto
READING GUIDE FOR TEACHERS
PLOT:
This story is narrated
in first person. The
narrator describes
himself as a five
years old child, who
rides a bicycle on Sarah Street. The
narrator talks about what his mother
warnings and advice about Sarah Street.
In spite of what she says, he wants to
adventure on Sarah Street, but he did not
find anything but a normal place, and
nothing about the warnings that his
mother says, like hungry dogs with red
eyes. The difference was that he wanted
to show off for another boy on a tricycle,
allow him to ride over his legs causes him
an injury but he apparently seems to be
brave and acts as if nothing has
happened.
When he decides to come back home
some dogs barked and he was scared, his
pants were tangled with the bike’s chain,
he felt down, when he was arriving, his
mother was there, looking at him with a
belt on her hand, waiting to punish him.
The story ends with the narrator taking
complete blame for the injury and
punishment.
CHARACTERS:
The mother:She seems to be a little bit
angry but at the same time gives advice
to her son in order to protect him from
street danger, in special Sarah Street.
The narrator:Is a little boy, apparently 5
years old. He is curious and wants to
explore what is around his house and his
neighborhood riding his bike, but he
always takes into account his mother
advice to be ready and face the danger,
but at the same time he is questioning all
she says to him.
The small child:He is the same age as the
narrator, but he rides a tricycle,
apparently he is not afraid and seems to
be irreverent.
VOCABULARY/ GLOSARY:
Junkyard:A place to which people take
large things such as old furniture or
machines that they no longer want.
Scuttle: To hurry with short, quick steps.

2. Sparks:A very small amount of a
particular emotion or quality in a person.
Squint:To have the physical defect of
having the eyes turning towards or away
from each other or to cause the eyes to
do this.
SCENARY:
The story is developed on the street that
is probably located in a Spanish
neighborhood. Taking into account that
the writer is a Chicano and wants to
recreate the barrio world where he grew
up. It seems to be the representation of a
common neighborhood, children outside
their houses, playing and riding bikes
exploring what is around them.
BIOGRAPHY AND INFLUENCES
Gary Soto was born on April 12, 1952, in
Fresno, California. His parents were
Mexican American, and Soto was born
into not only a Chicano culture but also a
culture of poverty. He is known for a
body of work that deals with the realities
of growing up in Mexican -American
communities; in his poems, novels, short
stories, plays and over a two dozen books
for young people, Soto has recreated the
world of the barrio, the urban, Spanish-
speaking neighborhood where he was
raised, bringing the sights, sounds and
smells vividly to life within the pages of
his books. Soto is perhaps best known
and most beloved as a writer for children
and young adults. Exploring universal
themes like alienation, family life, and
choices, Soto’s work for young and
adolescent readers has been praised for
his honest portrayal of communities too
often relegated to the margins of
American life.
His influences from 1974 include Edward
Field, James Wright, Pablo Neruda and
Gabriel García Márquez. Soto earned an
MFA from the University of California-
Irvine in those times. His first book, The
Elements of San Joaquin (1977), offers a
grim portrait of Mexi can-American
life.Soto's ability to tell a story, to
recreate moments of his own past in a
manner that transcends the boundaries of
race or age, and to transport his reader to
the world of his own childhood is felt
within each of his written works. "Soto's
remembrances are as sharply defined and
appealing as bright new coins," wrote
Alicia Fields in the “Bloomsbury Review”.
Taken from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/gary-
soto. Consulted in November 2014
Taken from: http://www.enotes.com/topics/gary-
soto.Consulted in November 2014.

3. Analysis
This story portrays a common situation
between a mother and her son and the
ordinary commonly situations generally
this dynamic brings about: limitations,
regulations set by mothers and the
endless attempt of children to go over
these statements and get away with their
will. Also children getting hurt because
they don’t listen to their mothers and the
latter ones saying the well known phrase
that every single kid has heard at least
once in their lifetime “I told you so”
IMAGENERY/ SYMBOLISM
THE RAINBOW:
Is shown in the story as a representation
used by the mother to create an example
about the things the boy isn’t allowed to
do due to the bad consequences he might
get if he doesn’t obey.
THE HUNGRY DOGS WITH RED ANGRY
EYES:
A personification of something scary
unknown used to keep children under
control and in a safe zone under the
watch of the mothers.



Workshop Questions…
1. How does the mother describe
Sarah Street to discourage her son
to go there?
2. Explain what the narrator means
when he says, “this was like one of
those false rainbow warnings.”
3. Why the main character pretends it
didn’t’t hurt when the other boy
ran him over on his tricycle?
4. What is the connection in the story
with the Latino culture related to
the children’s education and how
parents try to keep their children
under control by fear?