How does Walter Dean Myers develop the theme of “The Treasure of Lemon Brown”? The general topic and theme that is emerging from the passage “The Treasure of Lemon Brown” is everybody has a valuable aspect in their life that brings meaning into it even if you can’t see it at first. Walter Dean Myers short story “The Treasure of Lemon Brown” takes place in Harlem, New York in the late nineteen hundreds. Greg a thirteen year old boy is walking home awaiting his endless punishment from his father. “The dark sky filled with swirling clouds, reflected Greg Ridley's mood as he sat on the stoop of his building.” Lemon Brown the jazz player with the treasure, the thugs go after him for it. Greg knows him as the man in rags who gets his clothes from the salvation army. What kind of treasure could he have but Lemon Brown shows Greg that everybody has a treasure it just sometimes takes a little while to find it. The lesson is emphasized throughout the story by three literary devices metaphor, hyperbole and descriptive words. Throughout the passage “The Treasure of Lemon Brown”there are many literary devices in the story the first one being a metaphor. After Greg's endless argument with his father about his poor grades he pretty much has come to the conclusion that basketball is finished, he just can’t believe it and it had only been two nights ago, but,”his father's words are like the distant thunder that now echoed through the streets of Harlem, still rumbled softly in his
“A Raisin in the Sun” and "Harlem (A Dream Deferred)," written by Lorraine Hansberry and Langston Hughes, respectively, represent the complimentary themes of dreams. “A Raisin in the Sun” depicts a family’s struggle for survival. The Younger family who lives in Southside, Chicago, fights for their civil rights during the 1960’s. They each have dreams and goals. Hughes illustrates, in “Harlem” that sometimes dreams dry up like raisins in the sun. Two stories analytically provide unexpected irony at the end. Jason Miller’s article, “Foreground and Prereading,” references these pieces to illustrate ideas and obstacles in the character’s lives – defining how obstacles strengthen the family’s perseverance while demonstrating how dreams and hopes can be deferred but are not soon forgotten.
The author uses tone and images throughout to compare and contrast the concepts of “black wealth” and a “hard life”. The author combines the use of images with blunt word combinations to make her point; for example, “you always remember things like living in Woodlawn with no inside toilet”. This image evokes the warmth of remembering a special community with the negative, have to use outdoor facilities. Another example of this combination of tone and imagery is “how good the water felt when you got your bath from one of those big tubs that folk in Chicago barbecue in”. Again the author’s positive memory is of feeling fresh after her bath combined with a negative, the fact that it was a barbecue drum.
Living in the tall skyscrapers and smoggy air of Harlem is very different than living in a small town with barns and grassy fields. You will see how living in Harlem effects parenting, compared to the parenting in a normal neighborhood. In this essay on The Treasure of Lemon Brown by Walter Dean Myers, the differences in parenting style, discipline of grades, and activeness of fathers between Greg’s father and my father are made clear.
In the realistic fiction story, "The Treasure of Lemon Brown" by Walter Dean Myers, Greg Ridley a fourteen-year-old boy, starts off by getting a lecture from his dad, about his poor grades in math. Greg is upset and he walks away from his house to get some alone time. As Greg is walking, a rainstorm strikes. While he is trying to find shelter, he comes upon an abandoned apartment complex. As Greg walks in he finds out that he isn't the only one in the apartment, an old man named Lemon Brown is also there. Lemon is there for a different reason though. He is trying to hide his treasure, an old harmonica, from the neighborhood thugs. The thugs weren't successful in getting Lemon's treasure. Greg returns home with a valuable lesson learned, that he should value things in life. Greg changes from the beginning of the story to the end of the story. At the beginning, Greg was careless about his grades in math. Next, he was curious when looking for a place to hide from the rain. Lastly, he ends the story off by being a caring person when he continuously asked Lemon Brown if he was okay. Greg Ridley was a dynamic character who changed from careless, to curious, to caring, after his encounters with Lemon Brown.
When Greg enters an abandoned tenement where he meets Lemon Brown. When Greg first meets this figure, Greg judges him before he tells him his story. He says “ I’m not looking for your treasure,’ Greg answered, smiling. ‘If you have one.’ “ This implies that Greg is judging Lemon by his wealth, since he is wearing rags as stated in page 8, paragraph 11. Lemon responds to Greg by explaining “ ‘What do you mean, if I have one,’ Lemon Brown said. ‘Every man got a treasure. You don’t know that, you must be a fool!’ “ This demonstrates the theme by helping Greg change his thoughts about Lemon, and also think about what his treasure might be. Most importantly, Greg now knows now to not judge a book by their cover.
According to Vocabulary.com, a sympathetic character in literature is a character who is likable or who evokes feelings of sympathy from the audience. A prime example of a sympathetic character is Walter Lee Younger from A Raisin in the Sun. This is because he is the protagonist, his qualities are highlighted well, he is a victim, and he is a sacrificer..
The theme of the story is to never underestimate what a warning has to say. Everyone should be prepared for what is coming. Blue Skin of the Sea said, “When I awoke the next morning, something was not right.” (pg. 96) This explains how Sonny and his family were not prepared for the tsunami. His family had no clue that a wave had hit because it was early in the morning. The book also stated, “But surely they would have heard the warnings. They would have headed to higher ground.” (pg. 100) This quotes explains how Sonny’s dad and Uncle Raz probably headed to a safer area. Because they went out early that morning, they listened to the sirens. The last quote that includes the theme is, “Some came back just before the waves hit, thinking it
In the story “The Treasure of Lemon Brown”, the author uses figurative language to relate to the mood and the setting. In the story, the author described the setting by using personification by saying “Gusts of
The new house, the money and even Mama’s “raggedy looking” plant are all symbols of the book A Raisin in the Sun which is portrayed to parallel the difficulties presented to minorities in America. A Raisin in the Sun, yet more specifically, captures the concept of the struggles the African Americans endured during the period of the book, late 1940s to 1950. In the book the characters each reflects the stereotype of the typical Afro-American in America trying to make the best out of their opportunities, each symbol in the book represents the ideal situations correlated with it the struggles.
In Lorraine's Hansberry A Raisin In The Sun. Walter wants to make money to support his family. He wants money because he thinks it makes him a “man”. How ever when his money is stolen, Walter’s perceptions of manhood shifts from valuing wealth and power to valuing family and pride.
In the short story “Sonny’s Blues,” James Baldwin sets the scene in Harlem, New York of the 1950s. By setting the scene in Harlem, Baldwin is able to create an ambience of struggles, not only from the city itself, but from the characters, as well. Such struggles provides as the foundation for Sonny’s drug abuse and his passion for music, in hopes to capture a moment of relief. Baldwin utilizes Sonny as a prime example of how individuals express their suffering through different approaches. Baldwin uses the setting of Harlem to create a central theme that the means of suffering can be articulated through different acts of pursuits.
This displays the dismissal of overwhelming issues that are masked by wealth. Furthermore, the livelihood of the rich is displayed through their belongings identifying their wealth, but captures the misfortune that comes with it: “Throwing open the french windows of the drawing-room, we sat smoking out into the darkness” (Fitzgerald 165). Assets such as “french windows” (Fitzgerald 165) originating in 16th to 17th century France represents the wealth of the rich, but the “throwing open” (Fitzgerald 165) of them displays the impulsive need to escape the falsehood and burden money plays in their daily lives affecting the emotions and actions of the characters. Ergo, the only way of addressing the issue is through “smoking” in the “darkness” to portray the pain felt through color and action as a way of using it to distract from the agony instigated by money. Therefore, the encumbrance of wealth on the filthy rich mind results in the misguided view of their lives, ultimately being captured through the incorporation of windows.
In Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun, the author reveals a hard-working, honest African-American family struggling to make their dreams come true. Langston Hughes' poem, "Harlem," illustrates what could happen if those dreams never came to fruition. Together, both Hansberry and Hughes show the effects on human beings when a long-awaited dream is thwarted by economic and social hardships.
In ''A Raisin in the Sun'' Hansberry uses Walter Lee Younger to represent the ambitious but, uninformed African American family. Walter's main role in 'A Raisin in the Sun' is to personify the African American families that make many gambles, which eventually lead to complete failure. Walter is shadowed by greed and ignorance which causes him to fail to achieve the success he wishes to gain. Walter Lee Youngers' greed is exemplified when he talks about, "Check coming today." (Hansberry 26). Walter's lack of wisdom and hard headedness allows him to portray American success, which he hopes of achieving in a very short time. When Walter Younger fails at what he has been trying to do he exclaims, "THAT MONEY IS MADE OUT OF MY FATHER'S FLESH."
Why does this title have a peculiar title to it and what is it about? The short story “The Treasure of Lemon Brown,” by Walter Dean Myers, is about a young boy named Greg Ridley who really struggles with school. At the time he was fourteen and failed his math class. His father would always give him lectures about how failing in school is not okay and in turn isn't aloud to play basketball. One day he got so mad that he ran away and ended up in some old run-down building with graffiti all over it. Greg has four big coming of age moments all throughout this story. Coming of age moments are big moments that happen in life. His first big moments is failing his first math class.