In many things such as sports and school, it takes hard work to be good at them, because nobody is born good at them. In the story, “The Marble Champ” by Gary Soto, the protagonist, a shy girl named Lupe, shows throughout the story that hard work pays off.

In the beginning of the story, Lupe shows that hard work pays off by working on becoming good at marbles. She did finger push-ups, which after that her “muscles burned with exhaustion”. This shows that she is working hard. Also, she squeezed an eraser and practiced like this for 3 hours straight. This shows that Lupe is a hard worker and is very motivated, and all of the hard work she is doing will pay off and will help in the future.

As the story continues, Lupe shows that hard work pays