Life Is Not Always A Walk In The Park
Leslie Norris’ “Blackberries” develops the theme of growing up and emphasizes the inevitability of maturing. Growing up is a large part of every child’s life and there are many experiences one goes through when growing up. At the beginning of the story, the boy goes to a shop and gets “his hair cut for the first time in his life” (79). This is such a simple act done in one’s everyday life, but changes the way the boy views himself and is the beginning of the boy maturing. Parents have a large impact on their children’s lives, especially when their children are discovering who they are, and learning that things do not always go as planned. The father wants to go for a walk with the boy on Sunday so that…show more content… Norris purposely uses these words in order to compare blackberries to a child growing up; when describing the blackberry as sweet and warm, he compares the sweetness of the blackberry to the innocence of the boy’s childhood. When using the contradicting words such as hard and cracked to describe the berries, Norris implies how growing up has its ups and downs, just as the sweet berry has a certain hardness. When the boy and his father return home and the mother notices the blackberry stains on the boy’s new hat, the parents have their first argument in front of their son. While watching his parents argue, the boy experiences an epiphany where he realizes for the first time that not everything is perfect. This is the first time he sees his parents fight, showing him a brutal reality. This moment relates to the title of the story, “Blackberries”. Blackberries are sweet, but hard on the inside, just like the sweet and innocent of beginning of one’s childhood that fades when facing reality and growing up. Watching his parents fight left a stain on the boy, just like blackberries leave a stain on his hat. Just as the boy does, everyone must accept the reality of life no matter how difficult. When growing up, one will experience both good and bad moments, which will
