The Pie by Gary Sotto

Match the following parts of the story to the pieces of Freytag's pyramid that they are categorized into.

• rising action

• Gary steals the pie

• resolution

• Gary remembers being bored as a child

• climax

• Gary crawls under the house and is guilty for having stolen the pie.

• exposition

• Gary sees pies at the German market

• inciting incident

• Gary imagines that everyone he sees knows he stole the pie.

Select the following options as to why this piece of writing qualifies as an autobiographical incident.

• short period of time

• a character that learns a lesson

• sensory, descriptive details

• advanced vocabulary

• narrative story with a clear beginning middle and end

What is the primary purpose of this phrase?

Once, at the German Market, I stood before a rack of pies, my sweet tooth gleaming and the juice of guilt wetting my underarms

• to describe how delicious the pies at the German market looked.

• to set up the time period

• to let us know that we are now in Germany

• to teach the reader the moral of the story

What is the literary device used in this section?

I got to my feet, stomach taut, mouth tired of chewing, and flung my Frisbee across the street, its shadow like the shadow of an angel fleeing bad deeds.

• allusion (a reference to another story or piece of mythology)

• hyperbole (an exaggeration)

• metaphor (a comparison without using like or as)

• simile (a comparison using like or as)

• onomatopoeia (a word that sounds like the sound its describing)

What is the literary device used in this section?

In my front yard, I leaned against a car fender and panicked about stealing the apple pie. I knew an apple got Eve in deep trouble with snakes because Sister Marie had shown us a film about Adam and Eve being cast into the desert,

• allusion (a reference to another story or piece of mythology)

• hyperbole (an exaggeration)

• metaphor (a comparison without using like or as)

• simile (a comparison using like or as)

• onomatopoeia (a word that sounds like the sound its describing)

What is the literary device used in this section?

But even that didn't stop me from clawing a chunk from the pie tin and pushing it into the cavern of my mouth.

• allusion (a reference to another story or piece of mythology)

• hyperbole (an exaggeration)

• metaphor (a comparison without using like or as)

• simile (a comparison using like or as)

• onomatopoeia (a word that sounds like the sound its describing)

What is the literary device used in this section?

My mom, peeling a mountain of potatoes at the Redi-Spud factory, knew.

• allusion (a reference to another story or piece of mythology)

• hyperbole (an exaggeration)

• metaphor (a comparison without using like or as)

• simile (a comparison using like or as)

• onomatopoeia (a word that sounds like the sound its describing)

Symbolically, what’s significant about young Gary’s sticky face, dirty fingers, and desire to find some water toward the end of the story?

The last line of the story contains Soto’s meaningful message to the reader. Look at the line and explain what Soto means.

Look at that last line again. Now, read the first line of the story. What do you notice? What’s significant about this?