A WORLD OF PROSE

Berry (Pages 182-188)

BIOGRAPHY OF AUTHOR

Langston Hughes – American poet and author

born James Mercer Langston Hughes on February 1, 1902,
in Joplin, Missouri.
Died May 22, 1967

His parents divorced when he was a young child, and his father moved to Mexico.
He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen, when he moved to
Lincoln, Illinois, to live with his mother and her husband, before the family
eventually settled in Cleveland, Ohio.
It was in Lincoln that Hughes began writing poetry.
After graduating from high school, he spent a year in Mexico followed by a year at
Columbia University in New York City. During this time, he worked as an
assistant cook, launderer, and busboy. He also travelled to Africa and Europe
working as a seaman. 
His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions
of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Hughes refused to differentiate between
his personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted
to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including
their love of music, laughter, and language itself alongside their suffering.
ABOUT THE STORY (A World of Prose, 3rd Edition, Hazel Simmons- McDonald and Mark McWatt)

‘Berry’ is a straightforward narrative that recounts the process by which

a black man becomes indispensable to a Home for Crippled Children
and is inevitably made the scapegoat when an accident occurs. The story
presents racism and stereotyping as lived experience, utilizing several
perspectives, including that of the black man, whose viewpoint is the
only trustworthy one. The ugly assumptions of racism are set off against
the authentic affection which this man arouses in the children, whose
physical disabilities are the counterpart of the social disability of being
black.

CONSIDER:

1) The difference between reality and appearance

2) How the author prepares the reader for the climax of the story
3) What we learn about the relationships that white people have with
each other
4) Berry is presented as morally superior to those who perceive him to
naturally inferior to him
5) The effect of the writer’s use of single-sentence paragraphs.
SUMMARY https://csecenglishmadeeasy.com/2016/03/2016-03-analysis-of-berry-by-langston-hughes-html/

Berry is about a young black man called Milberry Jones who is employed at Dr. Renfield’s
Home for Crippled Children. He was reluctantly employed by Mrs. Osborn, the housekeeper,
because the Scandinavian kitchen boy had left without notice, leaving her no choice in hiring
Berry. Her reluctance to hire Berry stemmed from his race, which initiated questions such as
where he would sleep, as well as how the other employees would react to the presence of a
Negro. She had a meeting with Dr. Renfield and they decided to hire Milberry on a reduced
salary. He was overworked and underpaid, but took solace in the children whom he loved. An
unfortunate incident occurred, however, where a child fell from his wheelchair while in the care
of Berry. The result was that Berry was fired and given no salary for the week that he had
worked.

CHARACTERS
Milberry Jones (Berry)

A Black male, approximately 20 years old.

Described as good natured and strong.
Poor and uneducated.
Very observant and intuitive about people and places.
Very good with children due to his gentleness.

Mrs. Osborn

The housekeeper at the children’s home.

Rumoured to be in love with Dr. Renfield.
Very high handed with her staff, but docile with Dr. Renfield.
Displays racist characteristics in subtle forms.

Dr. Renfield

Rumoured to have romantic affairs with his female staff.

Berry observes that the Home is ‘Doc Renfield’s own private gyp game’ (Hughes, p. 162),
meaning that he runs his establishment for his own profit, instead of a desire to take genuine care
of the children. He is blatantly racist. 
 

THEMES
Racism

This theme is apparent when Berry was being considered for employment at the Home. Mrs.
Osborn was concerned about where Berry would sleep, implying that he could not sleep with the
white servants because he was considered to be beneath them. His salary was also cut due to his
race, and he was overworked, with no discussions of days off, ‘everybody was imposing on him
in that taken-for-granted way white folks do with Negro help.’ (Hughes, 162). Even more
importantly, when the unfortunate accident occurred with the child, there was no attempt at
discerning what led to the incident, but blame was laid on the obvious person – Berry. As a
result, he was relieved of his job in a hail of racist slurs. The students will be placed in their peer
groups to analyze various aspects of the story.

Oppression
 The theme of oppression is expressed repetitively throughout this story. White workers and
superiors kept expecting Milberry to do more and more. Milberry’s response to these requests
was a quiet acceptance without bitterness because he was happy and thankful enough to have this
job and food. In the story Milberry found happiness in helping the crippled children at play
during his brief rest period. At first the nurses were hesitant whether they should allow it or not.
At the end of the story the nurses had changed their mind frame about Berry and would come
looking for and demanding his immediate help.

In his typical nature in responding to and accepting their demand he unknowingly caused his
own demise. While Berry was helping a boy in a wheelchair down the stairs, due to know fault
of Berry’s own doing, the boy fell out of the chair onto the grass and the wheelchair onto the
walk. In the fall the boy was not hurt but the wheelchairs back was snapped off. In this scene
Langston Hughes uses the wheelchair as a symbol of Milberry’s undoing. The wheelchair’s
falling represents Berry’s falling from the grace of the white people’s acceptance. The snapped
back of the wheelchair foreshadows Berry’s immediate termination of employment. Even though
it was the white nurses responsibility and job they quickly and gladly placed all the blame for the
accident upon Berry. This truly exemplifies the use of oppression of white people over blacks.

ANALYSIS

In Berry by Langston Hughes we have the theme of connection, racism, dishonesty, greed,
acceptance, compassion and responsibility. Narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator.
See 182, 184, 187

Hughes may be exploring the theme of connection. Milberry through his efforts at the Home
manages to connect with the young disabled children. It is as though he understands their
difficulties and rather than ignore them as others do. He helps them to the best of his abilities.
Spending most of his time after he has finished working playing with the children. Symbolically
Milberry’s connection with the children may also be important as Hughes could be using the
physical disabilities of the children to highlight the social disability that Milberry has to endure
due to his skin colour. Everybody, apart from the children, takes advantage of Milberry. He is
paid less than the previous kitchen-boy simply because of his skin colour and those who work in
the home are prepared to see Milberry do their work rather than do the work for themselves.
Hughes may be highlighting how dishonest those in the Home actually are. Something that is
clear to Milberry and the reader by way of the fact that the children are treated so badly.

The theme of greed can be seen in the suggestion that the main purpose of the Home is not to
take care of the children but rather to make a profit. Those in charge of the home are
monetizing the misfortune of others for their own gain. It may also be a case that Milberry is
wise enough to know that he is being taken advantage of. He appears to have a good insight into
each of the employees at the Home and the reader leans towards Milberry’s assertions about
them. Though Milberry looks unfavourably towards others he is not wrong in his assessment of
each individual’s character.

The theme of racism is highlighted by the fact that Milberry is the only black person at the Home
suggesting that Milberry due to his skin colour is in the minority. That he faces an uphill battle
when it comes to the other employees in the home. If this is the case, then Hughes is again
placing a spotlight on racism and how widespread it may actually have been at the time the story
was written.
The theme of acceptance is seen in Milberry never complains about the position he is put in by
the other employees due to his skin colour shows that he accepts the role that he must play in the
Home. Something that would have been common at the time for many black people. Not only
did black people have to take a lower wage than white people but they also had to accept that
white people considered themselves to be superior and as such would dictate to black people.
Hughes (author) may also be suggesting that Milberry only stays at the Home for one reason. He
knows what it is like to be hungry and does not wish to experience that feeling again.
Though he knows he is being taken advantage of he would prefer to be in employment than not
having a job at all. Also, Milberry is attached to the children in the Home. He is the only one
who feels for them or cares about them. This may be important as not only does it suggest that
Milberry has the ability to connect with the children, but he also is compassionate enough to
understand their pain. (Moral Superiority)

The end of the story is also interesting as Hughes appears to be exploring the theme of
responsibility. Milberry is blamed for the breaking of the wheelchair yet he is not responsible.
The reader left feeling that if Milberry were white, then Dr Renfield would have accepted that
the breaking of the wheelchair was an accident. The dishonesty of Dr Renfield is made clear by
the fact that he fires Milberry and deducts eight dollars from his wages. Leaving Milberry with
no money or no prospects. It is possible that Hughes is suggesting that black people at the time
were reliant on white people in order to survive. By firing Milberry for no good reason, Dr
Renfield has created an obstacle for Milberry. The children too will be at a loss. Something that
does not seem to register with Dr Renfield and further suggests to the reader that the Home is
being run for profit. It is also interesting that nobody helps Milberry or intervenes. It is as
though Milberry is being judged not only for something he did not do but by his skin
colour too. If anything, there are two injustices in the story – how the children are treated and
how Milberry is treated.