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Chelsea Eom

Klimas

English 10 Pre-AP H

26 September 2017

One Man’s Epiphany

Raymond Barrio’s excerpt from The ​Plum Plum Pickers​ depicts the life of a migrant

worker struggling to maintain his humanity. Barrio’s use of striking kinesthetic imagery, staccato

syntax, and despairing tone creates a moment of epiphany in one man’s life.

Raymond Barrio’s use of striking kinesthetic imagery help one use their senses to pick up

the colors, textures, smells, and sounds of the environment. “His half-filled bucket slipped from

his grasp and fell in slow motion, splattering the fruit he’d so laboriously picked. To the ground

Roberto happened by and shook his head. “Whatsamatter, can’t you see straight, pendejo. “

Manuel was too tired to even curse. He should have had some salt pills.” (Barrio) When it is said

that his “half-filled bucket slipped from his grasp and fell in slow motion,” (Barrio) one can feel

it happening to himself and see the “half-filled bucket.” Barrio creates this imagery in a simple,

familiar manner yet making it staggeringly complex at the same time. It is stated “splattering the

fruit he’d so laboriously picked” (Barrio). With this passage one can feel the fruit splattering

onto their leg and see the mess that was caused in the making of this. Along with the physical

feeling of the fruit splattering onto their leg, one can also feel the rush of distress that is felt

because the “laboriously picked” fruit has fallen, splattered, and has ultimately gone to waste.

Along with the use of imagery Barrio made use of syntax.

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Raymond Barrio’s utilization of stacco syntax aids in making the literature more

emotional and conveys a negative connotation in to the text. “Then up again. The trees. The

branches again. The briarly branches. The scratching leaves. The twigs tearing at his shirt

sleeves. The ladder. The rough bark.” (Barrio) When it is stated “The trees. The branches.”

(Barrio), Barrio changes the definition of a sentence. Originally sentences need a subject and a

verb to be a sentence, but Barrio just uses a subject and makes that his new definition of

sentence. The staccato syntax Barrio made use of is like stomping instead of dancing in the grass.

When one is happy they dance in the grass and take longer steps, thus like using long extended

sentences to convey happiness. Meanwhile, one stomps in anger and makes the steps very short

and staccato-like, like using staccato sentences to convey anger in the text. Both syntax and

imagery contribute to the overall tone of​ The Plum Plum Pickers.

The despairing tone utilized by Robert Barrio is the core and emotion of ​The Plum Plum

Pickers.​ “He felt alone. Though surrounded by other pickers. Beast. Though he was perspiring

heavily, his shirt was powder dry. Savage. The hot air. The hot dry air sucking every drop of

living moisture from his brute body.” (Barrio) When it is stated that “he felt alone” (Barrio) it

shows the loss of hope that was felt, which also just happens to be the denotation of despairing. It

is stated that “the hot dry air sucking every drop of living moisture from his brute body.”

(Barrio). This conveys that he has lost all energy, and that he just doesn’t seem to care anymore.

The tone, syntax and imagery that Raymond Barrio contributed to ​The Plum Plum Pickers​ helps

bring the story to life and portray the pain that Moralis, the main character, feels.

Raymond Barrio’s utilization of striking imagery, staccato syntax, and despairing tone

helps contribute to making his literature, T​he Plum Plum Pickers​, and emotion character building
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story about a moment of epiphany in one man’s life. The tone, imagery and syntax also

contribute to the overall, universal truth of the story, which is “honor and pride equals life.” As

the story progresses one can see the all of the despair that was happening in the main character,

Robert Morales’s life would later contribute to his newfound knowledge of honor and pride

equaling life, which eventually play a role in Morales standing up from himself and gaining

self-confidence.
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Works Cited

Barrio, Raymond. ​The Plum plum pickers​. Tempe, Bilingual Review = Editorial Bilingue, 1984.