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Melissa Aguilar
Professor Adler
STACC English 1A #32474
16 February 2016
It is a Good Day
Jimmy Santiago Bacas book Singing at the Gates is a collection of his poetry all through
his life. I Turn My Little Fan On located on page 38-39 talk about how Baca blames his
Guardian Angel for letting him end in prison but at the end sees that this situation can be turned
into a positive one. Baca writes about his life in prison and how he felt betrayed that his
Guardian Angel would let him end up in prison. Baca uses multiple types of tones throughout
his poetry like bitter, gloomy and optimistic but also uses vivid imagery to portray these types of
tones. He uses a bitter tone to explain how why hes bitter about being in prison. Gloomy to
explain how feels trapped inside his prison cell and can barely see the sunlight enter his cell. But
then the tone shifts to an optimistic tone when he accepts being in prison was actually a good
thing for him and Baca helps emphasize these tones by using vivid imagery to get his point
across.
Baca uses a bitter tone in the first stanza when he mentions that he could in any number
of places or be any number of people but he cannot because he is in prison. This tone is
important because he is angry about being in prison so he wants to blame someone or something
for the reason he ended up in prison. He starts off the poem with saying I could be in any
number of places. / I could be any number of people (2-3). This shows that he is being bitter
about his life and who he is. He then mentions his Guardian Angel but he seems to be upset with
him because he says you step over the fallen mindless bodies, / their souls and hearts / thorns on

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barbwire that tangle up your wings (18-20). He sounds bitter in the sense that a Guardian Angel
is supposed to protect and guide you but since Baca is in prison he believes that his Guardian
Angel has betrayed him and now he is bitter about everything.
Baca uses a gloomy tone to expresses the darkness he feels from being in prison. Baca
uses the gloomy tone after the bitter tone because now he realizes that he is in prison and cannot
do anything about it so he is grieving and feeling empty. Baca starts to explain the atmosphere
of prison and is comparing it to a plague killing everyone. A plague ferments in the air, /
violence, insanity, treachery (14-15). This quote is very dark and gloomy because he does not
see hope in his life anymore. He is watching all of the madness happen in prison and notices that
many people are dying mentally or physically because of the plague so he is just waiting for
the day that either violence, insanity or treachery will kill him.
All seems lost for Baca in the poem because he started off with a bitter and gloomy tone
but then the tone shifts to optimistic and hopeful once he realizes that his Guardian Angel did not
leave him unprotected but did this for a good reason. In stanza number three he explains when
he first came in contact with his Guardian Angel, he describes it as a wild animal caught in a
trap (21-22). When Baca saw his Guardian Angel caught he was hesitant to set him free
because he thought his Guardian Angel was going to abandon him again like the first but set him
free anyways. Nonetheless, I came forward and set you free. / I thought we would go our
separate ways, / but when midnight sets in, / I hear you scratching on the closed door of my
heart (26-30). Baca did not have to set his Guardian Angel free especially since he let him end
up in prison but Baca finally came to accepting his life in prison and felt no more anger towards
his Guardian Angel setting him free. This makes a connection to Baca and realizing that his

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Guardian Angel never left him and that his Guardian Angel did this on purpose for a good
reason.
Bacas tone then shifts to being optimistic instead of gloomy or bitter. By him finally
accepting his fate with ending up in prison and can now turn this experience into a good one.
There is a pattern in his poetry starting of sad or dark but then there is a shift in tone and it
becomes optimistic. In the last stanza the tone changes from bitter/gloomy to optimistic. I
could be anyone, / anywhere. Air blows across my face. I am on / the beach at corpus Christi. / It
is a nice day (37-40). He says I could be anyone or anywhere but Im me and this is who I am
and this is where I am. He accepted the fact that his Guardian Angel could have made a mistake
in not guiding him or protecting him, but then also realizes that his Guardian Angel could have
done this on purpose. Since Baca has now become okay with the fact with being in prison he
takes it to his advantage and will get better in touch with himself and change his life making it a
very good day for him.
Baca uses different tones to better explain and get his point across but this would not be
so effective if he did not use vivid imagery. With the imagery you can visualize just how angry
he gets at his Guardian Angel and how he sees his Guardian Angel stepping over the mindless
bodies (18) of people. Or when he finally comes to accepting his fate of being in jail and
changes his perspective on prison making it a good one. I am on the beach at Corpus Christi. /
It is a nice day (39-40). Instead of wanting to blame his Guardian Angel for not protecting him
he will take it as a way to better his life.
Baca has a lot of creative ways to get his message to people and he explains things with
detail and a lot of background information. George Orwell also believes that giving a lot of
background information or detail before getting the sending a message or writing something is

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important because this gives incite on why they write what they write. George Orwells article
Why I Write talks about why people write the things they do. I give all this background
information because I do not think one can assess a writers motives without knowing something
of his early development (289). Give information before the actual point is made is the key to
help get the message across and help the reader better understand the writing. Back does this as
well with the Authors Note of his book Singing at the Gates. Without knowing his background
information most of his poems would not make sense.
Bacas poem I Turn My Little Fan On uses three different types of tones in this poem.
The tones are bitter, gloomy and optimistic. Baca was able to portray these tones by using vivid
imagery to help better understand what he was feeling. Baca would feel bitter about being in
prison, then gloomy because he realized he was going to die of violence or insanity but then he
was optimistic and saw that this could be turned into a good experience. At the end It is a nice
day (40).