AP Lit: FRQ Notes

Poetry Devices
● alliteration- repetition of identical sounds at the beginnings of words
● antithesis- strongly contrasting words, clauses, sentences, or ideas, as in “Man
proposes; God disposes.”
● apostrophe- speaker, character, or writer speaks directly to person/ object/ deity/ idea
who is not present in scene, often in exclamatory break in dialogue/ thought
● internal rhyme- rhyme that occurs within a line
● oxymoron- a form of paradox that combines a pair of contrary terms into a single
expression, ex: wise fool
● satire- writing that seeks to arouse a reader’s disapproval of an object by ridicule
● end-stopped- a line with a pause at the end. Lines that end with a period, a comma, a
colon, a semicolon, an exclamation point, or a question mark
● enjambment- the continuation of the sense and grammatical construction from one
line of poetry to the next

Prose Devices
● Circular structure: story starts and ends in similar fashion, but MC has grown
● Narrative jumps: temporary gaps in narrative: flash forwards/ back
● Conceit: extended metaphor between 2 things that are very dissimilar

FRQ 1 & 2: Example Thesis

In Sally Rooney’s Normal People, she uses the idealized imagery of the town and the
symbolism of the doors to illustrate that although Marianne is socially and physically
connected to her brother and mother, she is emotionally closed to both of them and their
home due to the gendered boundaries set by her mother.

In his poem ”Digging,” Seamus Heaney uses the spade-pen metaphor and the imagery of
potato roots to illustrate that although the narrator pursues intellectual labor, he still respects
his father and grandfather’s farming profession and their manual toil, appreciating their
sacrifices to give him the toil-free life he has now and hoping to pass down their hard
working spirit.

FRQ 1 & 2: Feedback

● Don’t use many pieces of evidence that prove the same thing
● Although the speaker struggles to reconcile God’s ability to create earthly beings but
allowing them to suffer spiritually and physically at the hands of humans, the speaker
still supplicants to God’s power over both worlds to amend these ills.

FRQ 1 & 2: Interpretation

What? – Identify & analyze what is actually happening in evidence
Why? – Why does this make your claim correct? Why does it allow for interpretation?
How? – How is this assertion being illustrated in this evidence? What devices, elements,
techniques are used?
So what?— Why should anyone care about this? This significance should connect to a part of
the significance of the thesis interpretation.

O’Hara Example
Claim: Some obstacles that impede us are out of our control.
 E: The speaker “got caught/in some moorings” trying to be with his lover.
What? – Obstacles presented by other people/ institutions are impeding him from reaching
his lover
Why? – He doesn’t appear to be purposely impeded but rather obstructed by accidentally
going over other’s ropes in the harbor
How? – This is illustrated through the conceit of the lovers connecting with that of boat
docking.
So what?— Obstacles that impede us from our goals are not always obstructing us purposely
or maliciously, but by happenstance and through the intricate machinations of our societies.

FRQ 3: Example Thesis

Jack, or Ernest, Worthing’s unknown familial origins creates an obstacle in his quest to marry
Algernon’s cousin Gwendolyn due to the conflict with Lady Bracknell, a tension that affects
his relationship with Algernon and ultimately leads to a revelation that highlights the
hypocrisy and idiocy that social hierarchies both create and reinforce in Victorian England.

FRQ 3: Preparation
Opening scene of a work
Conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter 7.
. 9. Similarities and differences in a sequence of parallel or recurring events in a work 10.
Implausible or unrealistic incident or character - how it relates to the realistic elements in the
work 11. Character who confronts a mystery - identify the mystery and its investigation 12.

In Anthony Doerr’s “All the Light We Cannot See,” the novel’s optimistic title suggests that

Anthony Doerr/ All the Light We Cannot See/ Novel

Significance knowledge & beauty of science
of a title ● At eight, Werner finds a broken radio and meticulously repairs it. Over time, he
becomes adept at understanding how the radio works. With the radio, Werner and
the other orphans can hear broadcasts. Werner is transfixed by a French
broadcast that features a man speaking about science interspersed with pieces of
music. Listening to the broadcast, Werner nurtures hopes and ambitions for his
future.
● Werner’s initial scope of experience is quite limited because he grows up as an
impoverished orphan in a rural region of Germany. However, once he acquires a
radio and succeeds in getting it to work, his horizon of experience widens.
Werner becomes fascinated with the science program he listens to, and it gives
him a sense that there could be a wider world for him to connect to. He takes
advantage of every opportunity to build his knowledge and skills.

courage & light that guides Marie through world she cannot see
● Marie-Laure, despite her blindness, "sees" the world through her imagination and
touch, finding light in the wonder of nature. Marie-Laure does not resign herself
to a limited and sheltered life despite going blind at a young age. Instead, she
takes her father’s advice and commits to learning to read Braille and navigating
the world by studying small scale models of the places she lives.
● She finds joy in things like exploring the beach, touching natural specimens, and
reading adventure stories. She eventually goes on to become a well-known
scientist who conducts field work and makes new discoveries.
 ● At first, Marie-Laure is afraid and unsure of her ability to ever be able to
navigate without sight. However, she eventually becomes skilled at being able to
find her way through the streets of Paris.

literal darkness in novel & darkness of war

● represents feelings of powerlessness
● In Saint-Malo in 1944, bombs began to rain down. The hotel building where
Werner is hiding in the cellar is bombed, and he is briefly unconscious before
awakening in the darkness. Werner realizes he is trapped in the rubble with no
way out.
● In Etienne’s house, Marie-Laure is hiding in the cellar with a small supply of
food.

theme: never give up on hope even during the most difficult circumstances
author’s sections taking place during the Battle of Saint-Malo in August 1944 are interspersed
manipulation with sections about earlier times
of time ● character development: readers are able to learn more & more about the past of
Marie-Laurie and Werner with each flashback
○ present: Werner is part of the Nazi army. They are eventually able to use
the system Werner developed in order to locate Russian enemies. Once
their position has been pinpointed, Volkheimer shoots and kills two
Russians, who may be civilians, and steals their equipment and supplies.
Throughout 1943, Werner and his team continue to locate illegal radio
transmissions. Volkheimer also sometimes steals supplies from Russian
prisoners, condemning them to death.
○ past: Werner is a curious child, recruited to Hitler Youth and eventually
taken to the front to work on transceiver equipment
● highlight impact of war
○ contrast Marie Laurie’s isolation in the cellar to her visits to her father’s
museum, their strolls down Paris

It’s organized in two different time frames throughout most of the book and mainly
follows Marie-Laure and Werner.
● The novel makes clear that Werner and Marie-Laure are just two people out of
millions who lived through the war, each with a unique story to tell. A character
who’s important to Marie-Laure’s story, such as Etienne, her great-uncle, is
relatively unimportant to Werner’s story, and vice-versa. When an explosion kills
Werner at the end of the novel, we experience this as a tragedy, while also
recognizing that Werner’s cruel, meaningless death is only a microscopic part of
the total tragedy of the war. Furthermore, Doerr implies that Werner’s life is also
relatively unimportant in the “grand scheme” of Marie-Laure’s life, and vice
versa. Werner may save Marie-Laure’s life, but this doesn’t mean that
Marie-Laure spends the rest of her life contemplating her savior.

theme: no innocence can be protected from the cruelty of the war, and individuals are
insignificant in its grand course
predominant Jules Verne →
allusion in a father and daughter love
work ● Marie Laure’s father, Daniel LeBlanc, is selflessly devoted to his daughter. He
spends long hours teaching her Braille. When Marie-Laure turns nine, Daniel
 gives her a large Braille book: Around the World in 80 Days, by Jules Verne,
though he is very poor. He later gives her the two volumes of 20,000 Leagues
Under the Sea.
● On Marie-Laure’s 16th birthday, Etienne presents her with a package. The
package contains two books—both parts of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under
the Sea, written in Braille. That the book in question is by Jules Verne reminds us
that Etienne is becoming something of a surrogate father to Marie-Laure, in the
absence of Daniel LeBlanc.

bravery
● When she is trapped in the garret with no way to access human connection,
Marie-Laure begins to read aloud into the radio from her copy of Jules Verne’s
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This action offers her a way to feel less alone, as
it did Etienne before her. Her choice to read the Jules Verne novel is powerful
because that novel features a brave explorer who refuses to give up despite
intense obstacles, and Marie-Laure channels this spirit of brave hopefulness into
herself by reading.

theme: there is still love, passion, and hope even during the most difficult circumstances
Internal His bunkmate is a frail boy named Frederick. Werner is both an insider and an outsider
events at his new school. He’s admired for his Aryan appearance, but seems to align himself
(mental/psyc with the nerdiest and least Nazi-like student there, Frederick. Frederick is similar to
hological) - Werner—they both have a love for science and understanding how the world works.
how they Werner takes pleasure in spending time with Frederick, who entertains him by pointing
impact out the different types of birds in the fields. For the time being, Werner’s love for his
external sister, passion for science, and friendship with Frederick are more powerful than any
action in a loyalty to Hitler or nationalistic sense of superiority.
work/ A
scene or Werner, who’s stayed close friends with Frederick, notices that Frederick is falling
scenes of behind in his studies and his training. Werner helps Frederick study for exams and
violence/ improve his marksmanship. Frederick, for his part, seems to obsess over the flight
Spiritual patterns of birds, especially birds that fly south in the winter.
reassessment
or moral In Werner’s storyline Doerr now throws the idea of “duty” in to complicate the mix. On
reconciliation his own, Werner wouldn’t want to actively be aiding the Nazi cause, but his sense of
” evident in duty to his country and benefactors, Volkheimer and Hauptmann, acts like a force as
the ending of inexorable as fate (or a diamond’s curse).
a work/
Character One day, the boys are asked to point to the weakest boy in the group. To Werner’s
whose mind horror, someone points to Frederick. Frederick has to run—the other boys will have to
is pulled in catch him before he reaches the tree. Frederick runs fairly fast, but not fast enough to
conflicting beat the rest of his peers. Bastian demands that Frederick prove that he’s not the
directions by weakest. He orders Helmut to beat Frederick with a heavy hose. Frederick withstands
two the beating, but only barely. Bastian orders everyone to sing a patriotic German song,
compelling and then he dismisses his students. Werner can’t force himself to look at Frederick.
desires or Werner is losing his innocence by becoming complicit in bullying and violence.
influences
Later at night, Werner and Frederick sit down and discuss their futures. Frederick
suggests that they don’t have to go back to the National Institute. Naturally, Werner
disagrees with this, explaining that he and Frederick need education to become an
 engineer and a birdwatcher, respectively. Frederick smiles sadly and tells Werner, “Your
problem is that you still believe you own your life.” Frederick pities Werner for
believing so desperately in his own ambitions, and in his ability to determine his destiny
through his own intelligence, skill, or perseverance—he’s discounting the role of big,
unbeatable forces like the Nazis and WWII.

A prisoner tried to escape from a work camp. Bastian orders every person in the
school—both the students and the teachers—to soak the man with a bucket of cold
water. It’s freezing out, and this will surely cause the prisoner to die eventually. Werner
takes his place in line, and soaks the prisoner when it’s his turn, even though the man
looks pathetic and harmless. When it’s Frederick’s turn, however, he pours his bucket of
water on the ground. Bastian, furious, tells Frederick to soak the prisoner, but Frederick
refuses.

This is one of the turning points in Werner’s life—a close friend of his, with whom he
has a lot in common, chooses to disobey the Nazis, but Werner still goes along with the
crowd and does his “duty.”

Frederick is picked again and again as the weakest soldier, and each time, he’s forced to
outrun the rest of the soldiers, then beaten for failing to do so. Werner tries to focus on
his work in Hauptmann’s laboratory. Werner tries to avoid thinking about this, and
instead focuses on the objective, ideal world of physics. The problem is that his amoral
science will be put to work for immoral purposes.

In the coming weeks, the students bully Frederick by leaving dead animals in his bed
and pushing him around. Werner tries to look out for Frederick by helping him with
work and polishing his boots. Werner is trying his best to be a good person and help out
his friend, but he will help Frederick in private, but not stand up for him in the face of
authority. hypocrisy

Frederick is assaulted, sent home to recover, and becomes permanently disabled.

As a young child, Werner’s first instinct was to use his intelligence to improve life for
the people around him. Now, Werner realizes that he has essentially sold himself to the
Nazi state, where his intelligence is being used to hurt and oppress people.

They are eventually able to use the system Werner developed in order to locate Russian
enemies. Once their position has been pinpointed, Volkheimer shoots and kills two
Russians, who may be civilians, and steals their equipment and supplies. Throughout
1943, Werner and his team continue to locate illegal radio transmissions. Volkheimer
also sometimes steals supplies from Russian prisoners, condemning them to death.

Werner continues to hide the illegal broadcasts and dream about the beautiful young girl
he saw. He goes to her house, kills von Rumpel, and helps her escape from the town
during the ceasefire, eventually separating because she’ll be safer without a German
soldier by her side. Werner’s connection to Marie-Laure has finally inspired him to
break from the Nazis completely.
How and Marie-Laure is working as a scientist at the Museum of Natural History in Paris.
why an
ending
appropriately In 2014, Marie-Laure is still living in Paris where she visits with her grandson, Michel.
or She marvels at the way the world has changed and yet feels sure that her memories will
inappropriate live on.
ly concludes
the work Marie-Laure’s ending, though, showcases resilience and wonder and suggests that,
though the past cannot be escaped, the future can be embraced. Marie-Laure was able to
get a high-quality education and became a pioneering scientist as well as an avid
traveler. She did not let her disability stop her from achieving the things she wanted or
experiencing the wonders of the world. After years of being so confined and isolated,
she now makes the most of the freedom she has and tries to contribute to making the
world a better place. Marie-Laure also has her own daughter, whom she raised alone,
showcasing her independence and strength. This choice would not have been
conventional during the 1950s and 1960s, but Marie-Laure has learned that she can
make choices which reflect her own values, and she does not have to follow society’s
expectations. She lives long enough to see the world become a radically different place,
shaped by new forms of technology which far exceed the scope of the radio.
Marie-Laure has learned that the desire to find connection and retain memories is a basic
human need which will never change.
Explain the
“pleasure and
disquietude”
experienced
by the
readers of a
particular
work
How and
why
important
elements of a
work are
“distorted”
Character Sergeant Major Reinhold von Rumpel is a cruel, greedy trained gemologist who worked
who appraising gems before the war. Von Rumpel is being sent in pursuit of various famous
confronts a treasures, but he is especially intrigued by the legend of the Sea of Flames diamond, and
mystery - wonders if he would be able to locate it.
identify the
mystery and In Paris, von Rumpel visits the Museum of Natural History. He pressures the museum
its directors to show him where the Sea of Flames is kept; they initially refuse, but he
investigation threatens their children using information he has gathered from surveillance. Eventually,
they show him the ingeniously constructed locked box where a blue diamond is housed.
Von Rumpel’s character also shows how power and corruption can impact individuals.

He tracks down the man who most likely would have been responsible for creating
duplicates of the stone and arranges for him to be arrested. Von Rumpel questions the
man and learns that there are three duplicates of the stone. His sense of urgency to find
these other stones is heightened by the news that he has been diagnosed with cancer. He
is familiar with the legend that whoever possesses the Sea of Flames will live forever,
and he becomes obsessed with the idea that obtaining the stone will prevent his
impending death.
 Although it takes him four years, von Rumpel eventually tracks down the location of all
the other diamonds, and traces the story of the Leblanc family back to Saint-Malo. His
plotline shows his ruthless determination but also his desperation.

After four days of fruitlessly searching the house, von Rumpel is close to giving up.

Jane Austen/ Persuasion/ Novel

Particular social In Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion, the comically shallow character of Sir Walter Elliot
attitudes or who prizes status and luxury and the brave, honest character of Captain Wentworth
traditions that the whose modest background hinders his marriage with Anne are used to express Austen’s
author apparently disapproval of Regency England society’s superficial values of wealth and status,
wishes to change ultimately illustrating that we should not judge someone based on their social ranking
but their integrity and character.

● Sir Walter Elliot constantly reads about the Baronetage, a book which holds
record of the most important families in England, and which, most importantly
records Sir Walter's own personal history. He was vain about his familial origins.
● He was also not frugal, and wanted the best of everything to show his class so he
spent, putting his family in some much debt that they have to leave Kellynch.

● Captain Wentworth is intelligent, passionate, and brave. As a young sailor, he

was confident and ambitious that he would have his own ship one day. He was
able to earn a fortune and capture countless pirates despite commanding an old
ship barely fit for service.
● Anne’s father and friend Lady Russell persuade her to call off her engagement to
Captain Wentworth because of his lack of wealth and status.
Arguments for or In Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion, the harmonious and balanced marriage of the Crofts
against the and Captain Wentworth’s self-made fortune from the navy highlight Austen’s
work’s relevance forward-looking disapproval of separate spheres and the increased social mobility in
in today’s world Regency England. This makes the novel more relevant to modern society, ultimately
illustrating that people should not be judged and held back by their social ranking or
status.

● The idea of separate spheres and responsibilities for men and women is
destroyed in the Crofts’ marriage. When renting Kellynch Hall, Mrs. Crofts asks
more questions about taxes and business than her husband. She is also the only
woman on her husband’s ship, and they take joy in driving the carriage and
fixing Kellynch’s door together.

● Captain Wentworth is born into a lower class family with no name and wealth.
His brother is a pastor and his sister the wife of another naval officer, so his
family was not rich. However, he was able to earn a lot of prize money from
fighting the Napoleonic Wars and marry Anne, the daughter of a baronet from a
family with a much higher social status.
Characters In Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion, Captain Wentworth’s modest background that
alienated from estranges him from Anne and her friends and Mrs. Smith’s outcast by society as a
society because widow show Regency England society’s superficial values of wealth and status,
of gender, race, ultimately illustrating that we should not judge someone based on their social ranking
class, or creed - but their integrity and character.
how that
alienation reveals ● As a young sailor, Captain Wentworth is ambitious, intelligent, and has great
society’s manners. Yet, Sir Walter Elliot found his engagement to his daughter degrading.
assumptions or He was astonished and immediately became cold towards Anne.
moral values ● Lady Russell strongly opposed the match, believing it her duty to protect Anne
from throwing herself away in such an unequal match. She eventually persuaded
Anne to call off their engagement.

● During her marriage to Charles Smith, Mrs. Smith helped Mr. Elliot, who had
been younger and significantly poorer than them. She invited him to stay when
he had lost lodgings, and treated him whenever they socialized.
● Her husband’s death left Mrs. Smith impoverished. In addition, she has been
crippled from a severe rheumatic fever and has arrived in Bath for reasons of
recovering her health and saving expenses. Unable to afford even a servant, she
is excluded from society.
● Mrs. Smith is the first impoverished character in the novel, and she illustrates the
extent to which women are dependent on numerous factors (primarily men) for
their health, wealth, and rank. Further, as an impoverished and crippled widow,
she is a social pariah.
● The Elliots receive an invitation to the Dalrymples' place, and Anne tells her
family she must decline it because she has an engagement to visit Mrs. Smith. Sir
Walter is horrified that Anne should be visiting such a poor neighborhood and is
appalled that she chooses to associate with someone so much lower in
consequence than herself.
A conventional In Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion, Sir Walter Elliot’s superficial prize of his baronetcy
or stereotyped and lavish spendings, and his failures as a father of Anne are used to express Austen’s
character’s disapproval of Regency England society’s shallow values of wealth and status,
function in ultimately illustrating that we should not judge someone based on their social ranking
achieving the but their integrity and character.
author’s purpose
● Sir Walter Elliot constantly reads about the Baronetage, a book which holds
record of the most important families in England, and which, most importantly
records Sir Walter's own personal history. He was vain about his familial origins.
● He was also not frugal, and wanted the best of everything to show his class so he
spent, putting his family in some much debt that they have to leave Kellynch.

● Anne and her father do not get along, mostly due to her past involving Captain
Wentworth. She is her father's least favorite daughter, and he even favors
non-family members over her.
A scene or
character which
awakens
“thoughtful
laughter” in the
reader

Mary Shelley/ Frankenstein/ Novel

The nature of a Victor’s ambition: spends two years working relentlessly to create monster, uses
character’s carcasses & bones from tombs, dissecting rooms, slaughterhouses; blinded by dreams of
villainy glory, they fail to consider the consequences of their actions.

Victor’s selfishness: fearing that others would think he is insane, he lets Justine be
executed for his brother’s murder

human beings are deeply ambitious, and yet also deeply flawed
How and why a
particular
immoral
character in a
work makes us
react
sympathetically

Mary Shelley/ Frankenstein/ Novel

A work which In Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion, the harmonious and balanced marriage of the Crofts
you initially and Captain Wentworth’s self-made fortune from the navy highlight Austen’s
considered forward-looking disapproval of separate spheres and support for increased social
conventional, but mobility, ultimately illustrating that people should not be judged and held back by their
now see as social ranking or status.
“uncivilized free
and wild
thinking”

Jane Austen/ Pride and Prejudice/ Novel

A scene of social Long’s assembly & Netherfield ball, prejudice
occasion ● Mr. Darcy struggles with pride and prejudice towards those of lower social
(wedding, standing, especially those who lack propriety. The first is at the Longs’ assembly,
funeral, party…) when Bingley attempts to persuade Darcy to dance with Elizabeth; Darcy
– how it shows adamantly voices his objections to Bingley’s suggestion. Darcy either does not
the values of the realize, or does not care, that Elizabeth overhears his tirade, but Elizabeth cares
character /society very much. She is determined never to allow Darcy to gain the advantage or the
opportunity of pointing out her weaknesses again.

● Darcy’s final dance proposal takes place during the ball at Netherfield. Dancing
with Darcy, Elizabeth is “amazed at the dignity to which she was arrived in being
allowed to stand opposite to Mr. Darcy, and reading in her neighbors’ looks their
equal amazement in beholding it” (Austen 61). The dignity of her standing with
Darcy sharply contrasts with her embarrassment of dancing with Collins. Darcy
overcomes his prejudice, at least in his heart, when he asks Elizabeth to dance on
his own volition.

Prompt Guessing
Read the following poem carefully, paying particular attention to the physical intensity of the
language. Then write a well-organized essay in which you explain how the poet conveys not
just a literal description of picking blackberries but a deeper understanding of the whole
experience. You may wish to include analysis of such elements as diction, imagery, metaphor,
rhyme, rhythm, and form.

Blackberry-Picking
BY SEAMUS HEANEY

Late August, given heavy rain and sun

For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger
Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots
Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.
Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills
We trekked and picked until the cans were full,
Until the tinkling bottom had been covered
With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned
Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered
With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.

We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.

But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.
The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush
The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.
I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair
That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.
Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.

In “Blackberry Picking” by Seamus Heaney, contrasting imagery and abrupt poetic structure
are used to illustrate that although fruit picking seems like an idyllic, innocent childhood
memory, it marks the speaker’s transition into challenging adolescence, ultimately losing his
innocence to ominous adulthood.

Idyllic and physically intense imagery are juxtaposed to illustrate the speaker’s seemingly
innocent memory of picking blackberries and the injuries he sustained during the experience,
conveying both the sweet innocence and darker, more challenging side to growing up. At the
start of the poem, the speaker and his friends are excited that the blackberries would ripen in
a week and be “sweet like thickened wine.” The speaker looks forward to the ripening of the
blackberries, which he believes will be sweet and savory, and does not worry about the
possibility of their ruin from rains or other accidents. This optimistic waiting builds up a
sense of anticipation and feeling of hope that characterizes childhood. The imagery also
implies a similarity between the fruit and the speaker, as both the blackberries and speaker
are fresh and young and have yet ripened, or matured. This also suggests that the speaker still
possesses sweetness and innocence during the time of the experience. However, the gustatory
comparison of blackberries to wine, a drink for adults, also hints that the speaker may not be
perfectly innocent. As the speaker picks blackberries, the “briars scratched,” wet grass
“bleached” his boots, and his hands become “peppered/ With thorn pricks.” Scratched by
prickly shrubs, hindered by wet grass, and covered in thorn pricks, the speaker is physically
challenged and injured as he picks the fruit. This implies a darker side of the childhood
memory. The intense imagery also suggests a similarity between the experience of growing
up and blackberry-picking. Both seemingly innocent and easy tasks are in fact riddled with
obstacles that hurt the speaker.

The abrupt poetic structure highlights the discrepancy between the innocent childhood
memory of blackberry picking and the speaker’s desolation over the ruin of the fruit,
illustrating the decay of his innocence and disappointment he faces as he enters adulthood.
While the first stanza describes the blackberries as fresh and sweet, they become covered in
“rat-gray fungus” and its “juice was stinking” in the second stanza. The revolting imagery
compares the fuzzy mold on blackberries to the fur of rats and describes the reek of the
blackberries. This is contrasted with the first stanza’s description of the fruit as savory. The
stark, abrupt difference between the blackberries in the two consecutive stanzas highlight the
decay of the fruit and bring in a sense of conflict and disappointment. Stanza one’s
blackberries can also represent childhood, as both are fresh and pleasant; while the rotting of
the blackberries in stanza two symbolize the speaker’s transition to adulthood, as both are
characterized by the passage of time, maturity, and the loss of pure sweetness.