The short story ‘Seventh Grade’ was written by Gary Soto. The story’s main character is Victor Rodriguez. Victor was a Mexican who just turned to a new school, and he had a crush on a girl called Teresa. Teresa was in the same class with Victor, he and his friend Michael discussed scowling, which Michael thought would make him look handsome. When the first period began, Teresa chatted with the homeroom teacher. Victor planned a perfect encounter, but when he actually met her, he was overwhelmed and nervous, which made the conversation short and imperfect. When the teacher asked him to give an example of a noun, he said ‘Teresa’ unconsciously, which made other girls giggle. During math class, Victor sat at the back of the classroom, because it was his weakest subject that h e had no confidence. Victor peeked for Teresa during lunch, and pretended that he was studying. In French class, he pretended he spoke French just to impress Teresa. Actually he didn’t know anything, Mr. Bueller understood his situation and showed sympathy. Teresa asked if Victor could teach her French, Victor agreed, so he went to study French hard after school.
The stereotypes of lies are mainly negative, but actually the properties of lies depend on its intention. Lies are not always spiteful, sometimes lies can be used as a shield that protects one’s pride and fantasy, or it can be used as a powerful tool. In the story ‘Seventh Grade’, Victor Rodriguez had a crush on Teresa, they both had French class. When the French teacher Mr. Bueller asked the students who can speak French, Victor pretended he knew how to speak French just to impress Teresa and win her attention. But actually he lied, he didn’t know how to speak French. Victor lied, because he wanted Teresa to notice him desperately. Even though he made a lie, his intention wasn’t bad. The teacher Mr. Bueller, being an insider, could have told Teresa the truth, but he didn’t. He silently made a positive lie that protects Victor. We shouldn’t tell lies from a negative intention just like most people’s stereotypes, lies should be used well to be meaningful.
Love is hard to define, it is blurry and omnifarious, especially to the teenagers. For the teenagers who are still immature at some point of their thoughts, their understanding of love can be one - sided, simple and shallow. In the story ‘Seventh Grade’, Victor had a crush on a girl called Teresa. He promised himself that Teresa will be his girl in the year. Victor worked hard on grabbing her attention. He created chances in school for him and Teresa. For example, he practiced scowling in class, which he thought could make him look handsome. But to be honest, Victor didn’t have a clear thought about ‘love’ or ‘like’. He misunderstood the concept of how to attract the girls’ attention, this was his current understanding on how to ‘love’. But actually, practicing scowling during class time and doing all the other things cannot benefit him. Generally speaking, it was a kind of waste of time. When we don't know what exactly love means, it is not worth it for us to do things for such a ‘love’ that we are not actually familiar with.
Liaisons are very necessary and crucial in our daily life. Effective liaisons played an important role when we tried to transmit our thoughts and information. In the story ‘Seventh Grade’, Victor had a crush on Teresa. At the beginning of the first period, Victor noticed that Teresa was talking to the teacher, so he lost a chance to talk to her. Then when Teresa was just about to leave, he also left, which attracted Teresa. Teresa made her basic greeting with Victor. Victor’s original plan was to begin a deeper conversation with her, but he was too nervous so that he answered her simply. With this unsuccessful liaison, Victor lost a good chance to get to know each other with Teresa. Because of liaisons, men are able to be friends with each other. Successful liaisons connect people’s thoughts and ideas together that makes it so important.
In conclusion, the themes of the short story ‘Seventh Grade’ written by Gary Soto was surrounded by lie, love and liaison. The stereotypes of lies are mainly negative, but actually the properties of lies depend on its intention. Lies are not always spiteful, sometimes lies can be used as a shield that protects one’s pride and fantasy, or it can be used as a powerful tool. Love cannot be fully defined, it is blurry and omnifarious, especially to the teenagers. For the teenagers who are still immature at some point of their thoughts, their understanding of love can be one - sided, simple and shallow. Liaisons are very necessary and crucial in our daily life. Effective liaisons played an important role when we tried to transmit our thoughts and information.
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