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The rush of the bad is amazing but if really think about it it is really bad and it may feel good at the time but you will have regrets after your sin

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His thirst represents him straying from religion

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You may know a lot about the good but the bad is always there to make you sin and he probably knew what may happen he just was not strong enough

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He wasn't old enough to comprehend

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If God tries to make people innocent why would he tell someone to do all these bad things that are bad and forbidden to do in the bible

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Whenever he was alone your emotions and mentalities may make you do bad things in that you forget what is good

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Gary said God was howling in the plumbing, God wouldn't be telling him to do bad things...

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well that was the reason he stole the pie in the first place.......because he was bored and wanted to try new things.

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jordan has a point about little gary still being young and still learning and didnt know much about hell and sinning but i also still agree with jocelyn, that the pie may have had a bigger meaning , this story may not even be about the food pie , it can referre to something else , something bigger.

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Could Gary Soto have been mentally ill due to the voices that he has been hearing? Hearing voices isn't normal...

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I think that religion is being forced on soto so he is acting out by stealing the pie.

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yes. because he said he hears angels. they could be good or bad. and maybe as religious kid he hopes its god, but in reality its bad

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yes. because he said he hears angels. they could be good or bad. and maybe as religious kid he hopes its god, but in reality its bad

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i agree with jocelyn , i think the pie has a bigger meaning.

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I think he has a problem with stealing not eating,"the best things in life came stolen."

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wrong!!! i disagree with Danielle and the eating disorder . just because you have shoved chunky pies down your throat doesn't mean anything,people jug water down their throat that doesn't mean you have a eating disorder

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He stole the pie because he's bored?

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Food maybe be the only thing that fills him up emotionally and physically and at the moment he was in front of the pie so the tempt him to do a sin

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In this story what is the deeper meaning of the pie? What does it show?

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I think that this could be Gary Soto in the future talking about his first experience with his eating disorder because younger Gary Soto is eating the pie in an excessive manner

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the devil is usually like an ugly creature when expressed. so maybe cross eyed johnny was the devil. telling gary he's bad now. his hands are dirty.

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Cross eyed johnny can be viewed as a the innocent one or the good person so Gary´s actions are a bad influence for Johnny.

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Cross-eyed johnny represents another form of guilt that little gary ignores

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In my opinion cross-eyed Johnny to me would be a character that is a deeper meaning to Gary, and by him saying no to Johnny then he did another sin if it was an angel or his conscience.

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I don´t feel like it is an eating disorder i feel like the description of the him eating the pie was the guilt that he swallowed.

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What does Johnny falling off of the roof represent

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I agree with Nathan & Kayla cross-eye Johnny brings something different to the table. he is like a angel figure . he represent the so little innocent in Gary

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i think that we need to ask questions

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Cross-eyed Johnny was showing Soto that his sin was seen through his greed when he did not share his pie with Johnny.

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Kayla no

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Kayla no questions!

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he belives strongly because in the way he was raised in his religion stealing is a sin

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was cross

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Gary came from a religious background, where he was taught what is right and wrong. When he stole, he knew the reasons for why it was wrong. Therefore, religiously, he believed that stealing was a sin

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Why would he not think that what he did was a sin? if you're asking why he thinks it was a sin then ask why not

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Why was crossed eyes included

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Ask about the connection with water and it's typical religious uses >.

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I really like the comment about how the dirty hands represents sin and that the stealing had corrupted him

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How do you think Gary was able to enjoy the pie so much, even with so much guilt on his shoulders?

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To me, the comment "Your hands are dirty" is kind of has a biblical meaning. A sin is dirty. By stealing the pie and eating it, Gary's hands become dirty and therefore he becomes dirty with sin.

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¨Your hands are dirty.¨ I think this represents sin, and how stealing had corrupted him in a way.

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It reflects on what a he had committed of stealing the pie which is a sin and that can not be washed off

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To me the sentence "your hands are dirty", means hes done so much bad that its noticable to others, and the sins hes done has made him act differently in a negative way.

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he believes what he did was wrong and in his religious doing something wrong is a sin and what he did wrong was steal.

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It means that he committed the sins with his hands and that dirty represented how he is not holy by sinning for the pie which Johnny showed he was more than just a boy.

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Your hands are dirty importance- He wanted to illustrate the point that everyone does it, that the things you do are important. I think the author wanted the readers to know that adult Gary, when he reflects on this, knows that what he did was wrong

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The line, "Your hands are dirty," could mean that Cross-Eyed Johnny sort of knows of what Gary has done and how he refused to give him a piece of the food too. It could also be an allusion to sin, as

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What do you think is wrong with Gary´s statement, ¨the best things in life, are stolen.¨

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I believe that Gary means that when you take something, it can't be taken back or undone.

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Sin is something that you will always carry for your whole life.

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Your hands are dirty resembles that he is full of sin that simple. Johnny, I felt like, was resembling God as he was looking over his shoulder but the more important part was when he gave Gary a chance to repent for his actions, but Gary failed Johnny so J replies by your hands are dirty (Sin

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i think the phrase represented that sin is something that cannot be taken back after one has committed a sin so he could not undo it

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Think of sin, as Garyś innocence. He lost his innocence when he chose to steal the pie.

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Once you sin, theres no making it any better, or making it okay.

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"i knew sin was what you took and didn't give back" to me that means that once you commit a sin it will always stay with you.

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I knew sin was what you took and didnt give back- this means that the things you do cant be undone and the same goes for sins, when you sin you cant erase what you did or how you made others feel because time only goes forward and we learn from these things that we cant change

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I think that the reason Gary shared his story was to show how even though it may start out feeling good, stealing isn't good.

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A sin is something that can be forgiven, by whoever, but can never truly be forgotten in someone's life.

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There was a huge parallel about Gary and the Adam and Eve story, after all temptation was what got Adam and Eve in trouble and in that case Gary was tempted by doing wrong.

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I believe Gary shared his story to shed light on stealing and his personal experience which reflected major religious concerns.

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We learn from our actions and for people to understand wrong, he needed to have done wrong

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I think the concept of stealing pie is something far bigger than just a pie. Theres more meaning to the action itself.

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I think the goal was to reflect on small sins as a child and to kind of get a relief from just a personal idea that was wrong.

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His relationship with food seems to be unhealthy, maybe he has a food disorder and this story is part of a therapy group.

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What was the deeper meaning of the last sentence?

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What was the deeper meaning of the last sentence?

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I agree with Obed in that it was Soto's first time sinning and it was sort of relating to the theme topic of "Lord of The Flies" about loss of innocence and how it does not come with age, but of free will. It was also meant to remind the audience and himself that although a sin is irreversible, it should not outweigh a person's good deeds.

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He may not steal much more but he still probably would considering we are all human

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I think it was to shed a little light on his past and teach the lesson to never steal

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The goal, I feel, Gary had recounting this story is to show other kids young in their faith that sin and desire can change a person and to let this experience guide kids on a better path. That's just me though.

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I agree with Kayla and Kevin. When he was younger and he stole the pie, he knew it was wrong but when he realized his mistake, he went to religion.

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I agree that his goal for telling this story was so that he can relieve himself because what he did was wrong and he knows it was wrong and he really believes it was a sin.

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no because he still remembers his guilt

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Yeah i agree bc older Gary learned from his actions and reflected so he's now more religious or at least understands

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I dont think he would steal the pie again because of how much doubt he had towards stealing the pie.

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Have yall thought about how the tone and attitude he created helped the biblical allusions come to life

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The biblical influence revealed how Gary valued sins and religion as a kid rather than being an adult as he is writing The Pie

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I feel like the biblical allusions are due to the fact that he, Gary, is still innocent and when being exposed to the real world, how that changes his beliefs and such. But that's just me.

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I agree with Gavon that older Gary is more religious than younger Gary.

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The religious things tied into his feelings and how he felt and as he grew older he was able to see it from a different point of view and seeing how wrong he was.

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The biblical allusions contributed to how he felt, how he wanted to readers to feel, and to make connections to the world on how he acted and everyone else

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To me, the biblical influence is to give an insight to how he is raised in a biblical setting and how it influences him.

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younger gary is more religious because he seemed really guilty about it and called it a fall form grace

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Older Gary was definitely more religious. Younger Gary was oblivious to what he did while Old G was regretful of his actions. Also I would like to say that in some cases, you're born into a religion and you just follow the rules as a kid but as an adult and having your own responsibilities you get to actually choose what to believe and he chose to stay with Christianity.

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What was the purpose of Soto's biblical allusions?

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What was the purpose of Soto's biblical allusions?

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The biblical allusions are to emphasize the influence of religion into his thoughts and actions. As he reflects on his choices, Soto is reminded of different stories that make up his principles.

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The author is most likely a Religious Fanatic, connecting everything to religion. ->Tionne
Very true, the point of view could be tainted with hindsight. ->Galvin