Saturday At The Canal Analysis

I was hoping to be happy by seventeen.
School was a sharp check mark in the roll book,
An obnoxious tuba playing at noon because our team
Was going to win at night. The teachers were
Too close to dying to understand. The hallways
Stank of poor grades and unwashed hair. Thus,
A friend and I sat watching the water on Saturday,
Neither of us talking much, just warming ourselves
By hurling large rocks at the dusty ground
And feeling awful because San Francisco was a postcard
On a bedroom wall. We wanted to go there,
Hitchhike under the last migrating birds
And be with people who knew more than three chords
On a guitar. We didn't drink or smoke,
But our hair was shoulder length, wild when
The wind picked up and the shadows of
This loneliness gripped loose dirt. By bus or car,
By the sway of train over a long bridge,
We wanted to get out. The years froze
As we sat on the bank. Our eyes followed the water,
White-tipped but dark underneath, racing out of town.

.: :.



The Restless Dreams of Youth

Regardless of class or place in society, all people dream of a better place; some dreams are unattainable. [p1] In Gary Soto’s poem “Saturday at the Canal[p2] ,” the speaker and his friend sit by the edge of a canal, dreaming of a better place. High school holds no meaning for the speaker and his friend. They desire to be away from the set expectations of their hometown and dream of all things new. [p3] These boys, this voice of discontent, express a deeply honest theme. Essentially, some dreams cannot be fulfilled during the teen years. Soto creates this thematic landscape through the use of metaphor and vivid imagery. [p4]

Through the use of metaphor, Soto brings the poem to a symbolic level, going beyond the literal image of two friends and their desire to leave town. [p5] In the initial reflection of the speaker, high school is decribed as “a sharp check mark in the roll book…”(Line 2). Here, the image of a sharp check mark captures the sameness of the speakers experience at school. Kids are not individuals, they are merely marks in a teachers book, meaningless in the long run.[p6] Additionally, the boys’ dream of escape. Soto writes, “San Francisco was just a postcard / on a bedroom wall” (Lines 10-11). San Fransisco is set up at the place, the dream, the boys want to attain, a place where “people …knew more than three chords / on a guitar” (Lines 13-14). The postcard metaphor turns a city into a bit of paper and ink rather than an actual possibility for the speaker and his friend. [p7] These metaphors develop the depper message of the poem—the message related to unattainable dreams.

Imagery, vivid words written to engage the senses, is present throughout the poem. The speaker and his friend are described as unsatisfied. They “hurl large rocks at the dusty ground” (Line ). The image of a pointless activity captures the pointless, frustration thoughts the boys are having. Another image is that of “loose dirt” (Line ). The loose dirt seems to suggest a poor foundation, a place where the inhabitants are looks to lose the weak foundation in order to find new ground. The desire is unavailable.

In conclusion, the image of boys and their unfulfilled dreams is powerful Finally, Soto ends with a summative image or metaphor: “Our eyes followed the water, / White-tipped but dark underneath, racing out of town” (Lines ). Like the water the boys look the part of seventeen-year-old students, but their true selves remin dark below the façade of the teen image.






| Posted on 2007-05-11 | by a guest