Preview

Blackberries in June

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
804 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Blackberries in June
Bryan Blejski
ENG 101-F11
October 6, 2011
“Blackberries in June” In Ron Rash’s “Blackberries in June,” it was easy to be immediately drawn into the story. People can relate to the life of Matt and Jamie. Their life of being married after high school and having a house of their own is a plan many people work to strive towards when in love after high school. Their life seems almost perfect or typical throughout the story. A wonderful and happy marriage with the wholesome relations with the other family members, and some tenseness between an in-law shows how Matt and Jamie’s lives are what seems to be, normal. When Charlton (Jamie’s brother) has an accident and loses his leg, Matt is determined to still follow their dreams and plans while helping Charlton’s family. This sets an impression to try and make the best of everything and always stick to the plans people make for their lives. The conflict of how Linda and Jamie’s mother think that Matt and Jamie need to give up everything in their life for Charlton’s family causes a great dilemma for their future. Matt and Jamie work hard and make many sacrifices to accomplish their dreams. Their plans that Jamie state “First get the house fixed up… Then when that was done she and Matt would start taking night classes again at the technical college. In a year they would have their degrees. Then good jobs and children” (Rash 239). Jamie’s sister in-law, Linda, almost seems to hate Matt and Jamie because of how they are successful with their lives. Linda believes that it is just luck when it is the self-discipline Matt and Jamie have to stick to their plans and not blow their money on things they do not need, unlike Linda and Charlton. Linda states “Good luck follows…(Matt and Jamie) like a dog that needs petting all the time” (Rash 242). It can actually be considered Linda not being responsible because of her bad decisions with having three kids the first five years of marriage when she cannot support them. That
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    What Is Matte Silver's Tragic Flaw
    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages

    What Is Matte Silver's Tragic Flaw

    Mattie Silver arrives at the Frome farm with the purpose of taking on the household chores in order to help out the bedridden Zeena Frome. This the first and last time Mattie puts anyone’s wants above her own. When she realizes that she has feelings for Ethan, Zeena’s husband, Mattie does the bare minimum to keep these feelings hidden. She spends time alone with Ethan without a second thought about…

    • 364 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Blackberries By Yusef Komunyakaa
    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Summary Of Blackberries By Yusef Komunyakaa

    The poem “Blackberries” is about a young man spending his day eating handfuls of blackberries. Narrator Yusef Komunyakaa paints a picture of the day. The perfect stains left from the juices of the berries, as well as concluding the day of picking wild blackberries by describing a memory of when he was younger. His fingers not only stained from the berries, also by the blood from picking the berries that were “too ripe to touch.” This poem is about forgiveness and the affects of how limbo can change a person. Firstly, picking blackberries is a symbol of the narrators need for forgiveness. Secondly, personal feelings are brought into the poem adding a sympathetic feel. Lastly memories become reality, rising to the surface of guilt filled through the vines of the poem.…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    PCN-515: Case Study Paper
    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages

    PCN-515: Case Study Paper

    The twins also go to after care there once school is out. Most of the money earned by Blanca goes for food, activities for the children and utility bills Aaron is one of the top engineers on his job and really does not want Blanca to work at all. Blanca feels she has been cheated out of her education and wants to fit college into their schedule somehow. Her husband refuses. Blanca feels worthless and left out and after thinking things through she decides to tell her husband she wants a divorce. She feels that even though they are married she provides financially but all the other responsibilities are on…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Grace Poured Out Summary
    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Grace Poured Out Summary

    Herndon transparently describes the state of her family before Katie’s sickness. With three children and busy schedules, Herndon and her husband, Wes, have practically been living separate lives. Katie’s condition forces the family’s dynamics to shift, and the shift is most powerfully uncovered in the book’s distinctive, thought-provoking ending.…

    • 558 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Deborah Samson's Role In The Revolutionary War
    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Deborah Samson's Role In The Revolutionary War

    In Deborah Samson’s child and teenage years were rough because she lived in poverty. It didn’t make anything any better when her father left on a expedition at sea and never came back. She was taken from her mother and was in the care of her grandparents. When her grandparents passed away she moved in with a farmer living in Middleborough. She was only ten years old and was expected to work as an indentured…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analysis Of Conflicts In Laurie Halse Anderson's Fever 1793
    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Analysis Of Conflicts In Laurie Halse Anderson's Fever 1793

    The Ogilvie’s are rich, greedy, and selfish people. Mattie’s mother, Mrs. Cook wants Mattie to marry one of the Ogilvie boys. So when mother tries to hint at it, the Ogilvie girls realize it. In the text it says “‘Mama must you be so thick headed ? Mrs.Cook is asking if you might consider miss Cook as a wife for one of our brothers”’(53). One of the Ogilvie girls, Jeanine specifically points out that mother is planning on marrying Mattie to one of the Ogilvies. The Ogilvies believe that they are above the Cooks because of their money. There is an ironic part of the story though. Colette, the oldest Ogilvie girl had been faking being the wife of a respected figure, Roger Garthing and was actually married to her french tutor. In the novel it says “‘miss Colette came down with an awful case of the fever… The girl is burning up. The whole family gathers at her bedside, thinking she’s going to Jesus, when she sits straight up in bed and starts screaming for ‘Loueey!Loueey!’ Turns out this Louis is her husband”(186). This shows that although the rich seem better off, they have their flaws. It is ironic that the mean and selfish Ogilvies, who thought they were above everyone else, were then the laughingstock of the city. Mattie realizes that being humble and respectable pays off rather than being stuck - up and imperious. Mattie is starting to believe that what she is doing will lead to to good because…

    • 598 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    black berries in june
    • 694 Words
    • 2 Pages

    black berries in june

    Jamie’s family, with the exception of her brother Charlton, is very negative about her and Matts so called “good luck”. Linda, Charlton’s wife, thinks that Charlton over pays Matt. She is very bitter about Jamie and Matt having such luck and buying a lake house at such a young age. Rash writes, ‘”I reckon we don’t all get lucky with lake houses and such,’ Linda said, looking not at Matt but at Jamie, ‘but that doesn’t mean we don’t deserve it just as much. You just make sure your husband saves enough of his strength to do the job Charlton’s over paying him to do”’(241). Matt always reassures Jamie that Linda is just envious and that the two of them do work very hard and have earned everything that they have. After Charlton got into an accident at work, even Jamie’s mother wasn’t very encouraging about them having such nice things so young and expected Jamie to help Linda and Charlton out, what seems to be a little too much. Jamie’s mother tells her, ‘”That lake house, you had no right to expect…

    • 694 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    "Of Mice and Men" Dbq
    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages

    "Of Mice and Men" Dbq

    Aside from the struggle to find a decent location to own a home, a number of factors delayed the pursuit of Lennie and George’s dream. For example, when Candy overhears Lennie and George speaking of their dreams, he wants in. Candy has a sum of money he is willing to contribute towards a down payment on a home. It is then revealed to the reader that one of the factors to the delay of the progression…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    The Other Wes Moore essay
    • 1321 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Other Wes Moore essay

    While the environments that both boys grew up in were similar, there are key differences that influenced each Wes Moore into making different decisions later in their lives. The book begins with a discussion of their fathers; the author Wes Moore, although for a short time in his life, had a loving father who was involved and active. The other Wes Moore, however, had an alcoholic father who was absent his entire life, not bothering to get involved with his son. The second Wes Moore, unlike the author of this novel, never had a father figure and the only male role model he had was his elder brother who eventually dropped out of school to sell drugs. Both boys were also raised by their mothers but were raised in entirely different matters. Joy was a hardworking, strong and independent woman who had an education and grew up in a disciplined and structured environment. Joy was determined to provide the same for her three children, going as far as moving in with her parents and working multiple jobs to allow her children to go to private school instead of the failing public schools of the Bronx. Joy and Wes’ grandparents were strict and provided a stable household with high expectations and respect for rules and severe punishments for breaking those rules. For example, when Wes started to fail in school and did not improve his grades or his behavior his mother sent him to military school. Joy was a strict disciplinarian. Mary, the mother of the other Wes Moore, was not a strict disciplinarian and did not grow up in a stable environment. Mary’s mother died when she…

    • 1321 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Monkey Paw
    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Monkey Paw

    The Smiths are a typical family, one we could see anywhere in life—a family that any of us could be a part of. Neither the father, nor the mother, nor the son has any unusual desires or relationships. In fact, the only wish they could think of is for two hundred pounds, a sum to pay off their house. This is a logical wish, neither unreasonable nor underhanded. By creating wishes and characters that seem familiar to the reader, Jacobs, makes it effortless for the reader to sink into the story and relate to it. Even the setting, a house in the city, is easy enough to relate too. But more than just using a house for relating purposes, a home is a place of safety and comfort in our minds. The horrific consequences occur in the Smith’s home, give the reader an extra edge of anxiety to the story since most do not imagine that actual terrors invade the places we consider ourselves safest. In the beginning, there are references to India and the jungle. Through the subtle references, faint images of savage lands and untamed nature manifest, as do the fears that come with them. By having the events take place at a normal, family home, the savage lands seem to invade civilization and taint that safety people have created there. The rough and untamed lands are places where we can expect horrific things to happen, but we never expect these things to happen in our own…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    ELLA 4 ... A LEVEL ENGLISH LANG AND LIT
    • 2674 Words
    • 11 Pages

    ELLA 4 ... A LEVEL ENGLISH LANG AND LIT

    ‘Blackberry Picking’ by Heaney, is a chronological and descriptive poem in which the poet uses a nostalgic tone to recall his childhood world of ‘Blackberry Picking’. The poet begins with a pathetic fallacy “Late August” which directly reflects the attitude portrayed in the poem by creating a happy atmosphere even though it is the end of summer as blackberries ripen in late summers in which children gather and collect enough blackberries to fill a whole bath but cannot eat them all. The action of Blackberry picking illustrates the loss of innocence as one enters the stage of puberty and discovers new feelings which can be portrayed through the quote “Blackberries would ripen” in which the maturity of a youth which its pleasures are experienced by the tasting of the blackberries is highlighted. A semantic field of religion also adds to the concept of loss of innocence, with lexical choices such as “thickened wine” and “summer’s blood” which is a clear reference to Jesus Christ’s flesh and blood in which he sacrificed his life for us as well as the children’s sacrifice on giving up their childhood to a…

    • 2674 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Bullied- a Film Response
    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Bullied- a Film Response

    While back at school a beating turned so bad that Jamie ended up in the hospital, had surgery, and stayed for five days. Jamie ran away to Minneapolis again, at the youth shelter he met with a legal advocate who encouraged him to file charges. He also issued an ultimatum to his parents; either you let me go to school here or you will not see me until I turn 18. They let him finish his schooling in the cities.…

    • 822 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    And The Earth Didnt Devour Him
    • 440 Words
    • 1 Page

    And The Earth Didnt Devour Him

    his father insists that he finishes school. This demonstrates that his father wants a better life for…

    • 440 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Blackberries in June
    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Blackberries in June

    Matt and Jamie have been planning their life together since high school and set goals for themselves to make their dream happen. Matt reminds Jamie after a disheartening visit to her grandmother’s house that this is what they have always dreamed of. “Some will say we are lucky when you’re working in a dentist’s office and I’m a shift supervisor in a plant, like we hadn’t been planning that very life since we were juniors in high school” (Rash 243). They have been making the necessary sacrifices to help them get that much closer to achieving their goals, as Matt points out in the conversation they are having on the drive home. “They’ll forget how we worked near full-time jobs in high school and saved that money when they wasted theirs on new trucks and fancy clothes” (Rash 243). The willingness to give up some luxuries in life to keep their priorities straight shows how committed Matt and Jamie are to their future. Even if it is at an inconvenience to others, as her mother clearly states when they get to the family dinner. “I know you all are trying to save money, but I wish you had a phone” (Rash 239). The young couple has put their immediate desires on hold so they can achieve the big picture they have dreamed of, planned for, and worked hard to…

    • 855 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Analysis of Barefoot Heart
    • 1879 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Analysis of Barefoot Heart

    Hart draws a childhood picture of endurance, inconsistency, and wants on many levels as well as the struggle to escape and the compulsion to remain in her migrant society. Elva had to struggle with living in the different societies as her family travelled each year to Minnesota from Texas so the adults and older children could work in the beet fields as manual laborers. Elva also didn’t have the sense of belonging or the security of her siblings of belonging to that community of the other families working together in the fields. Her father (Apa) did require that his family return early each year to Pearsall, Texas so his children could receive a proper education. He was very adamant about all of his kids graduating from school. In her own family, she had a sense of isolation since she was the youngest child and was unable to work the fields; she could only stay on the sidelines and watch. The first summer, Elva and her sister were separated from their family and had to live in a place supervised by nuns. The following summers while on the side of the fields watching for Apa’s signal to bring them water, she passed most of her time in virtual solitude. Elva remembers her birthday being celebrated only once during her…

    • 1879 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More

Related Topics