The story of Broken Chains by Gary Soto. Gary Soto was born and raised in Fresno, California, the setting of many of his stories, poems, and autobiographical pieces. In his writing, Soto tries to recreate the sights and sounds of the Mexican American neighbourhood in which he grew up.
The story is about Alfonso's first date. The story presents problems like the ones many of us face. He worries a lot about how he looks, and everything seems to go wrong.
Here we have a sentence that shows a theme related to working towards a goal from the novel Broken Chain:
He did the morning dishes as his mother had asked and raked the leaves. After finishing his chores, he did a hundred sit-ups, pushed on his teeth until they hurt, showered, and combed his hair into a perfect butch.