First of all, Manuel’s friends’ and other characters’ reactions to his performance made him realize that overall, his school talent show wasn’t too bad and that he really had fun, despite himself nearly crying at his supposed “terrible” performance. When Manuel was was getting up on stage, his audience got distracted and didn’t pay much attention to what he was doing, as he was the last act to present. When the record started playing, Soto states that “people were paying attention to him, and his brother and sisters looked at him with a mixture of jealousy and awe.” His singing of La Bamba captivated the crowd, although Manuel didn’t perceive this as he was fully concentrated on his own act. This represents how he was attempting to make it perfect and make the crowd notice him, which it did do. The author adds, “when the entire cast lined up for a curtain call, Manuel received a burst of applause that was so loud it shook the walls of the cafeteria.” Manuel believed his performance wasn’t at all how he wanted it to be and that only made him seem like a fool. Soto uses this quote to describe how his was one of the best…show more content… One event that displays this is when he was preparing to go onto stage and he wonders to himself, “Why did he raise his hand and volunteer? Why couldn’t he have just say there like the rest of the kids and not say anything?” This excerpt shows that Manuel feels apprehensive about the talent show, and is having second thoughts. He regrets even volunteering in the first place. In the end, Soto states that “Next year, when they asked for volunteers for the talent show, he wouldn’t raise his hand. Probably.” Which only contributes to the idea that overall, Manuel truly did think it turned out well, even though he was very nervous about it to begin with. The moral is to not be anxious about having
