They said that jose was born with a ring of dirt around his neck with grime under his fingernails and skin calloused from the grainy twist of a shovel they said his palms were already rough by the time he was three and soon after he learned his primary colors his squint was the squint of an aged laborer they said he was a born worker. Joses mother works at a sewing machine all day think about characteristics character motivation plot and theme when you read this selection project activity create a collage to portray the characters jose and arnie joses father works for the telephone company and is. Born worker by gary soto is about a young man names jose now jose and his cousin arnie come from very different back grounds jose was born to work and is known more than his own parents . While some people slave away working hard others cheat themselves by taking shortcuts and running scared this is what gary sotos theme is in born worker in the story jose is known as a born worker he has worked since the age of three his family is considered low class. The born worker by gary soto draft 6th 7th grade 1123 times english 84 average accuracy 2 years ago teamt 1 save edit edit the born worker by gary soto draft 2 years ago by teamt gary soto gabriel garcia marquez tags question 25 survey 30 seconds q how are jose and arnie different