Despite the fact he may not have gone to school, the man certainly works hard. In the poem as he chops the rows off cotton, he is adding up the things he can buy for his family. He is definitely a selfless person as well because he is only adding up things he wants to provide for his family, milk, meat, bread, and full cupboards. There are no treats for himself that he talks about. The phrase "10 hours and then the cupboards creek" signals the end to his work day (the cupboards are full). After his workday he finally rests: Soto uses the simile "the minutes jerk like flies" to show that his day is slowing down after all his …show more content…
I don't think it was difficult to get the gist of what the author is trying to show. It was written in a way that relates to the everyday man. The character was really stuck in his daily grind of life, and although he knew that, he seemed accepting of it. The pace of the poem was steady and tired like the man in the fields. One thinks of the clock ticking as he cuts, cuts, cuts. The character was a good provider for his family and he worked hard for his possessions. This poem could easily be derived from a day-in-the-life of a cotton field owner, or it could have been found in someone's